Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
I am remiss in not writing about coverage of the 40th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, the papal encyclical that upheld the Roman Catholic Church’s prohibition against artificial birth control and contraception.
To my great satisfaction, a journalist has given serious coverage to the religious angle in the ongoing story of old churches being converted to new condos. Kathy McCabe of The Boston Globe does an excellent job of wading into the religious and spiritual significance of sacred places of worship being converted into high-end condo buildings.
Attention all journalists who care about religion news coverage in the mainstream press. I have some bad news and some good news.
Writing about religion really is a landmine. Definitions are difficult to come by, even for groups such as evangelicals. Much of this blog is devoted to exploring the questions about how to identify groups and treat their claims respectfully.
I know Turkey is a secular state. As a reader of books about the Middle East (such as this fine one) and as someone who got a degree in political science, I have heard all about Kemal Ataturk and the secular founding of the country. But I had never appreciated how secular Turkey was until I read reporter Laura King’s story in The Los Angeles Times.
The newspaper coverage of the Texas Supreme Court’s ruling that tossed out a lawsuit against a Pentecostal church over an incident that resulted in a 17-year-old girl being held down on the floor of the church has been more than solid. The two articles from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram have been a model in careful use of religious language and balance.
I don’t know if there is a publication in Russia that is similar to The Onion, but GetReligion reader Lars Doucet sent me a story the other day that had me going, thinking that it was some kind of cruel satire or parody. But this story wasn’t from a Russian publication, it was from The Telegraph.
I love reading Marc Ambinder and the rest of the folks over at the Atlantic, but one of his latest posts is just unbelievably wrong. I’ll go ahead and post the whole thing:
Lura Groen is a graduate of one of the seminaries that trains pastors for service in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. But because she refuses to adhere to a chastity requirement, she is not on the approved roster of the ELCA. But a Houston congregation called Groen, a lesbian who is bisexual, to be their pastor anyway.
