Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
I have been writing about the global persecution of religious minorities, especially persecuted Christians, for a long, long time. Sadly, there is no sign that I will be able to stop writing about this subject any time soon.
Josh Levin, senior editor of Slate, wrote an epic series this week on the theme “The End of America.” The series begins here, and rolls on in eight segments and about 23,000 words. That’s not counting Slate’s embedded notes and thousands more words in The Fray. Slate also offered discussions on Facebook and Twitter, so the most obsessive readers easily could have devoted an entire week to debating Levin’s reporting.
One of the bigger religion stories yesterday was the killing last weekend of seven Christians by Muslim Pakistanis. Many more were wounded in attacks on the Christian community of Gojra. Here’s how the New York Times began its story on the attack, headlined “Hate Engulfs Christians in Pakistan“:
When you are dealing with a really talented report, one who really knows how to listen and tell the stories of real people, religion can show up in the most unusual and touching places.
Did you hear the one about the Episcopal priest who decided she could be both a Muslim and a Christian?
Move over Azzam the American. You may be a spokesman for Al Qaeda, but another American in your midst has stolen the media spotlight.
When covering foreign affairs (or even religion news), journalists often end up needing to mention the names of documents, institutions or groups — in the original language. Readers get used to seeing this.
The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that Pakistan had admitted to India that the terrorists who laid siege to Mumbai last November, killing 166, had been members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a radical Muslim groups formed two decades ago to fight Indian rule in the Kashmir region.
The Los Angeles Times had an interesting feature recently. It’s a look at the 13 of the most “faith-offending films.” Reporters Patrick Kevin Day and Jevon Phillips write:
