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The initial reports that attempted to paint terrorist Anders Behring Breivik as some type of Christian fundamentalist have fizzled out as reporters have gotten access to his actual manifesto explaining (such as he is able) his actions last week.
The story of the day, of course, is the massacre in Norway. Thus, let’s start with a note from a GetReligion reader in Norway, which was attached to a URL for the main story in the New York Times:
Like many other Americans, I paused Friday afternoon to watch the liftoff of Atlantis Mission: STS-135. This will be the last Space Shuttle mission and the end of an exciting era of space exploration. As a kid, I used to go with my family to Edwards Air Force Base to watch shuttle landings. The early 1980s in California were so cool and fun. I still recall my spotting of Ricky Schroeder in the gift shop. But the landings were a huge party. Families from all around came and camped out and when the shuttle landed it was exhilarating. My husband and oldest daughter and I joined his family a few years back to watch a launch piloted by a friend of the family. Even though we allotted a full week in case the take-off was rescheduled, it took off after we had left.
Anyone who has been near a news rack knows that one of the major stories in the world today is the birth of South Sudan as a nation, rising out of an ocean of bloodshed and oppression over the past few decades.
So, let’s say that you are very interested in the unfolding drama of political changes in Egypt. The logical thing to do is to try to find out who is who and which political/religious party is saying what, correct?
For this week’s Crossroads, host Todd Wilken and I talked about media coverage of changes in New York’s marriage laws and why the media isn’t more interested in exploring how those changes might affect religious adherents and their institutions.
I guess it was about a week ago that I first saw the news that the Council on American-Islamic Relations was in some trouble with the IRS. The Investigative Project on Terrorism reported that the group was one of 275,000 to lose its tax-exempt status following three years of failure to file a Form 990.
A couple weeks ago, I went to the liturgy at a Greek Orthodox church in Brooklyn. One of my best friends goes there and her fiance is taking instruction there at Sts. Constantine and Helen Cathedral. My daughters will be in their wedding and they thought it might be good for them to have a refresher on what Greek services are like before the big wedding day.
