Journalism

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The pastorpreneur

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Because I’m a new subscriber to the London-based magazine The Economist, you’ll likely hear more from me about this excellent source of news and commentary. Appropriately for the day of the week, I sat down to read an article titled “Jesus, CEO,” and was alerted to a term that I hadn’t seen in the American press, and I believe it accurately sums up the megachurch movement: the pastorpreneur.


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Please talk to the coal miners' pastors

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I believe the woman’s name was Anna Casto. She appeared several times during the Wednesday NBC Nightly News coverage of the Sago Mine disaster. Her comments were blunt, agonizing and stunningly on target. I wish I could quote them to you, but I do not have Tivo and, for once, got caught without a notepad nearby.


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Happy twelfth day of Christmas!

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I know it sounds weird, but I think December is the hardest time of year to be a practicing liturgical Christian. During Advent we mark a solemn time of prayer and preparation for Christmas. And then when we’re ready to party and celebrate the 12-day Christmas season, very few other people are. Just when I get my tree up, everyone else is taking theirs down. There’s a predominant cultural feeling that Christmas has passed and it’s on to New Year’s, college football champsionships and the Superbowl. In fact, the notion that Christmas is a 12-day season is so forgotten that most people have no clue what that Days of Christmas song references. Which is probably why no one brought me my 12 drummers drumming today.


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Mitzvah vans and lawsuits

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Monday night, on my way to Monkeytown in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, I stepped out of the Bedford stop to the sight of a large menorah in the back of a pickup truck. Lubavitcher Jews were mingling about asking people if they were Jewish. My response of “no” got me a “Happy New Year anway!” but those who are Jewish were offered information about improving their religious life. Or so I assume. Judaism is not exactly the most inclusive religion out there. They could have been sharing information about how to build tree houses or commit a heist for all I know. That’s why I was struck by the missionary-type zeal of the group. Of course, Chasidim are kind of known for that.


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Consumer religion

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The New York Times reports on teenagers in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who attend multiple churches each week. It would be nice for the Times to consider the possibility that some evangelical Christians reside outside of the city limits of Colorado Springs, but I suppose we should be thankful that they are noticing this sizable group at all.


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Shameless self-promotion: back to work

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I am back home from 10 days of travel near and far (I passed on buying the George W. Bush bobblehead doll in Crawford, Texas), which was hard since I enjoyed (or endured) varying degrees of Internet access. I don’t know how we are supposed to handle travel in the age of DSL, when things work great at home and zippo on the road. How do you folks handle it?


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