Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
While tmatt has his guilt folder, as the child of a Catholic and a Jew I simply have guilt. And I’ve felt an unbearable weight for more than a month now to write this post about news coverage of those de-baptism ceremonies.
Bacchanals at his residence, liaisons with prostititutes, an ambiguous relationship with a teenage girl — allegations against the Italian Prime Minister have been roiling the country for months.
Sometimes the most interesting religion stories are about some small angle in daily life. And the Washington Post‘s William Wan has found a great one. He looks at how folks have filled out the “religious views” box on Facebook. Mine says “Confessional Lutheran,” for instance.
The mainstream media really hasn’t done a very good job covering the heated debate over whether to extend the institution of marriage to same-sex couples. It’s been a problem for years and the coverage has been so amazingly one-sided that it’s surprising that all 30 states that have asked voters to define marriage as a heterosexual institution have done so. Part of it is that the mainstream media has long been an elite institution with views on homosexuality somewhat out-of-step with the general populace.
Have you ever considered branding an eighth-grader’s arm in the shape of a cross with a high voltage device?
We’ve been complaining a bit about the meager inclusion of religion angles in some of the political coverage of the various legislative efforts to reform health care and health insurance. So David Kirkpatrick’s piece in the New York Times this week was welcome. Headlined “Some Catholic Bishops Assail Health Plan,” here’s how it began:
One of the most unbelievable stories I think anyone’s heard in a long time emerged yesterday. Some are, not surprisingly, calling it a miracle. It’s certainly miraculous.
I’ve wanted to look at some of the coverage of the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy but haven’t quite been sure what to say of the it. From my perspective as a Capitol Hill reporter, he was a blast to cover — a fascinating man to watch in action either at work or play. And not that I would “cover” him at worship but I even saw him once at St. Joseph’s — the Senate-side Catholic Church that I have visited with friends.
