Of all the odd jobs I’ve held over the years — ask me about selling steak on a stake — election judge was one of the less memorable.
Don't make me vote there
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Godtalk update from public square
You can’t study church-state separation issues without studying civil religion and it is very, very hard to study civil religion without taking a look at the whole issue of how presidents talk about faith and, in particular, God. I was already thinking about this issue when I wrote my Scripps Howard News Service column this week, which was a follow-up, sort of, to the whole Mike Huckabee “vertical” credo flap (with insights from Mike Gerson about the whole issue of “soaring” language in political rhetoric).
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Vatican tells journalists to speak truth
It is not often that members of the clergy use their position to discuss journalistic ethics. Most of the complaints from clergy that I have witnessed firsthand deal with the way a particular story was handled or how their church or parish was portrayed in the local newspaper. Ministers and priests often reflect the theme we espouse here at GetReligion, that the media just does not get it when it comes to religion.
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Not all sources are created equal
Yesterday I highlighted some of the thoughtful and interesting media coverage of the death of Gordon Hinckley, the president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Commenters began discussing whether it was a lock that the next president would be the most senior (in terms of experience) church leader.
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Latinos prefer low (church worship)
I have a pet theory about the educational value of the printed page. Newspaper stories tell us what happened; books why it happened; and features stories a bit of both.
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Better late than never
Last week the Associated Press put out over the wires a news story on Donald Miller and his bestselling book Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality. The story was picked up in a number of newspapers’ religion sections over the weekend leaving many readers wondering what took so long.
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Remembering Gordon Hinckley
Gordon Hinckley, the prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died Sunday at his home in Salt Lake City. News of his death was carried on most media outlets. I thought most media outlets did a great job conveying Hinckley’s importance to the church.
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Faith on the diamond
You really can’t write about major league baseball player Josh Hamilton without focusing on the faith aspect of his story. Even the reporters writing about him admit this in their articles.
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Losing their religion
The January/February issue of Psychology Today features a 5,000 word story, ostensibly on clergymen who lose their faith. While you have to get a copy of the dead tree version to read the whole thing, you can read the first few hundred words here. Having just finished writing a history of atheism for another magazine, I was excited to read the piece.
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