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I think Episcopalians get a lot of ink because: (a) there are a lot of Episcopalians in the newsrooms, (b) they tend to be urbanites and well-educated (c) the opposing camps are incredibly well-funded with huge PR machines, and (d) Americans tend to have Anglo-envy.
The Episcopal Church begins its convention in Columbus, Ohio, today. I’m not sure if there is a church body in America that gets as much ink per member as the Episcopal Church. I’m not complaining about their coverage, I just wish that other church bodies of the same size could get half as much.
Kudos to The Washington Post for picking up this Religion News Service article by Piet Levy on the problems religious broadcasters see with à la carte cable plans. The subject has been around for awhile. It has received heavy coverage in publications such as National Journal‘s Technology Daily and a segment on NPR’s On the Media, but mainstream press coverage has been scant.
A friend of this blog sent me the link to a story last week that I had totally missed, seeking my opinion of the way that Washington Post reporter Michelle Boorstein described a particular form of prayer linked to Roman Catholic piety and the Eucharist. But to set up the reference, you need to know the context.
Libby Copeland’s 2,500-word profile of Sen. Sam Brownback thoroughly analyzes his religious views. Titled “Faith-Based Intitiative: Presidential Hopeful Sam Brownback Strives to Be Humble Enough for a Higher Power,” the piece is all religion, all the time.
This Sunday’s Washington Post carried a relatively long inside-page article on the growth of home churches. I have quite a few beefs about this article, written by Michael Alison Chandler and Arianne Aryanpur, primarily that the reporters missed a key facet of Christianity that is encompassed in Matthew 18:20: Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Here’s another link that I thought I had lost. Don’t you just know that quotes from this blue-zip-code commencement address by Arthur Sulzberger Jr. are going to be showing up in, oh, Focus on the Family fundraising letters for weeks, months and even years ahead? Click here to see what I’m talking about.
I am swamped in meetings all week, so I am running late and missing out on some stories. The Divine Ms. M is on the road, too. So thanks to young master Daniel Pulliam for pulling 666 duties (somebody had to do it). Please hang in there with us.
