Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
We’ve had quite a bit of very serious content lately about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and in lands nearby. The massacre in the cathedral in Iraq set off an important wave of new coverage.
A Christian woman in Pakistan has been sentenced to death for blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad.
As you would expect, there was a wave — totally justified — of press coverage of the major speech that was delivered by President Barack Obama during his return to Jakarta, Indonesia, a city that he called home as a child. To read the speech text, click here.
In the past decade or so, the mainstream press has offered waves of news features that have attempted to explain the state of mind in our nation’s growing Islamic population. The need for these stories is obvious, although most of them end up presenting a single, unified Muslim community that does not in fact exist.
With the election finally over, I’m slowly emerging from the bunker at my newspaper in Washington, D.C. I work for an editorial page, and while I don’t strictly cover politics, obviously it has dominated the news for the last few months. I’ve been wanting to discuss something here for a while, but I’m just now getting around to it.
A few months ago, we discussed Confucianism’s comeback in China. Now the New York Times magazine considers the rise of Taoism as part of a broader religious revival in the Communist country. Ian Johnson’s article seems pretty thorough, but it also feels a little light on China’s tense relationship with religion.
Remember a few months ago when every other religion story was about the mosque to be built in Manhattan near Ground Zero? What happened with that whole thing?
Pope Benedict XVI dedicated the Basilica of the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family in Barcelona this past Sunday. I was traveling from Denver yesterday and following a bunch of Catholic bloggers as they described the mass as one of the most exquisite and inspiring they’d ever witnessed. And the church itself is considered a feat of architecture, engineering and art. Though largely completed, it won’t be totally done for another 15 years or so. It will be the tallest church in the world. Designed by Antoni Gaudi, it’s replete with Christian symbolism.
Three San Diego men appeared in federal court on Wednesday, charged with aiding the terrorist organization Al-Shabaab. You can read details of the indictment at Courthouse News Service. Al-Shabaab is an Islamic insurgent group that is active in Somalia. It’s officially linked to Al Qaeda, has an arm just for targeting Jews, and has been involved in everything from embassy bombings to attempts on the life of a Dutch cartoonist who drew images of Muhammad.
