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As superstar reporter John L. Allen, Jr., of the National Catholic Reporter recently noted, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver refuses to remain the quiet shepherd of a flock in an obscure time zone. Instead, he keeps raising his voice on crucial issues, as you would expect from a man who keeps repeating these marching orders: “There’s no more room in American life for easy or tepid faith.”
The following information is sad, but true. It is very common for mainstream journalists, especially wire-service reporters in foreign bureaus, to have to write about events that they do not have the time or money to cover in person.
The New York Times ran a huge page one feature on Anwar al-Awlaki. He’s the American-born Muslim cleric now active with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He had ties to several of the 9/11 terrorists but his work with Fort Hood shooter and the Northwest Flight 253 underwear bomber have gotten renewed attention from the American government. President Obama recently authorized the use of a drones or other means to take him out — even though he’s an American citizen. And that was before we learned that last week’s Times Square bomb attempt was inspired — but apparently not coordinated — by al-Awlaki.
I highlighted Ross Douthat’s excellent New York Times op-ed last time we talked about the censorship of the South Park cartoon. He had written a bit about what the incident meant in larger context:
Anyone who knows anything about Islam knows that devout Muslim believers who practice their faith do not drink alcohol. It is not very hard to find this out, as this Google search shows (Muslim beliefs on drinking alcohol).
As it turns out, the Times Square bomb may not have been set by someone who was mad about Obamacare.
Every reporter has his off days. I have to think that’s what happened with this story, which ran on page 1 of Jacksonville’s Florida Times-Union. Written by an award-winning religion reporter, Jeff Brumley, the piece seems to take an almost personal interest in disparaging evangelicals. It’s kind of odd. Here’s the headline:
A reader alerted us to the airing of a PBS Frontline documentary on “The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan”. I had the chance to watch it earlier in the week and it is absolutely riveting. You can watch it online and I encourage you to do so if it has already aired in your market.
Reuters is definitely my favorite source for international religious news. But this story out of Srinagar, India, could use some help. Headlined “Visitors banned from Kashmir’s Jesus shrine,” it tells about a local Muslim fight over a shrine. And in so doing, it gives terribly short short shrift to the most fundamental Christian teachings:
