Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Anyone who understands religion news at the level of pews and altars understands that few stories matter more to dedicated readers, and appeal less to mainstream editors, than stories about changes in the books, laws and traditions that shape how people worship.
There were two stories out of Saudi Arabia last week that begged for more detail. The first told of a judge who asked hospitals if they could sever a man’s spinal cord in order to paralyze him as punishment for injuries he inflicted during a fight. In many cases the stories didn’t highlight the judicial principle that motivated the judge’s request — a strict adherence to “an eye for an eye” judicial code. Or even if they mentioned the principle, they didn’t include a healthy discussion of the theology underlying it or the various interpretations of it.
Clearly, the unfolding nuclear drama in Iran is one of the world’s most important news stories. If that is the case, and I think it is, there is a strange and powerful ghost that is haunting almost all of the mainstream news coverage of what is happening.
Gentle readers, it’s time to set the wayback machine to May 12th in the year 2008, where we read the following in a New York Times op-ed page piece written by historian Edward N. Luttwak, of the Center for Strategic andInternational Studies.
We’ve had an interesting conversation going on in a recent comment thread about how the media cover Islam and Christianity. Some people have speculated that political correctness or moral relativism harms some media coverage. I wonder if it might just be some problems with history. A GetReligion reader sent in this CNN article cheerily headlined “Muslims in Spain campaign to worship alongside Christians.”
GetReligion reader Duane Shank, a Mennonite who grew up in Lancaster County, Pa., passed along a link to a front-page Philadelphia Inquirer story on the Mennonite tradition of service.
One of the big questions that specialty-beat reporters always have to ask themselves is this: “How much background information can I assume that my readers know about the subject of this complex story?”
Readers here at GetReligion aren’t surprised to hear about the troubles that some religious groups have when attempting to build new or expanded worship sites. In recent years, we’ve seen stories about attempts to thwart construction or religious practice for Hindus, Orthodox Jews, Pagans, Mormons, Muslims and even charismatic Anglicans.
