Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
This is a strange one and I know that. I wasn’t sure that I was going to post a link to this story — “Who says religion is boring?” — until the link went live at Romenesko’s virtual water cooler and I started hearing from friends, colleagues and even a critic or two.
The Los Angeles Times had an interesting feature recently. It’s a look at the 13 of the most “faith-offending films.” Reporters Patrick Kevin Day and Jevon Phillips write:
Which is more newsworthy? Well, the answer very much depends on the lens journalists are using to cover the nomination of Dr. Francis Collins to head the National Institutes of Health. President Barack Obama’s nomination of the renowned geneticist and public Christian hasn’t flooded the news pages — but it is making waves on the opinion pages and the blogosphere.
Because we’re seeing so many stories about bioethics, I’ve been trying to learn a bit more the field of thought. I recently read G.K. Chesterton’s “Eugenics and Other Evils: An Argument Against the Scientifically Organized State.” It’s a collection of essays written in the 1920s at the height of the eugenics movement. One of the things I found so interesting about the book is that if it were read in the 1920s, one would think that Chesterton was fighting a lonely and losing battle. But a few more decades of eugenics — punctuated by the Nazi embrace, of course — and people began questioning and rejecting it.
Having spent the past two years almost exclusively reporting on the American Jewish community, it’s easy to forget how foreign some parts of traditional Jewish life are to most Americans. That’s why I could really appreciate this story from the Associated Press that does an excellent job of educating readers while informing them about a development in Big Sky country:
Any longtime reader of GetReligion knows that the gang here likes Q&A interviews, especially when they allow newsmakers to dig deeper into complex topics and tell their own stories in their own words. I think this journalistic tool is especially valuable on the religion beat — which is so rich in history, symbolism and doctrine.
As you may have noticed, we don’t ignore hot button topics, even when they involve sex, sexuality and the sex lives of politicians. There are many places where sex and religion coverage intersect. One of those places is in the arena of sex and values education — a topic which traditionally was the province of families and religious communities.
It’s been weeks since I first read Caitlin Flanagan’s cover story for Time magazine titled “Is There Hope for the American Marriage?” The article was incredibly provocative and interesting.
Remember when President George Bush nominated Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court? As readers and viewers were told for months, Alito would become the fifth Catholic on the court — the most ever.
