Journalism

And now for something completely different

Warning: The following post contains highly offensive language of a doctrinal nature, whether the journalists covering this event knew it or not. Proceed with care.


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Everybody behead an artist day

A few months ago, we covered the free speech campaign called “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.” This was the campaign launched by a Seattle cartoonist who was disappointed in Comedy Central’s censorship of a South Park cartoon that, well, didn’t depict Muhammad. But it came too close for comfort and the media network engaged in censorship. Reason Magazine ended up picking up the ball and running with it and you can see the winners of the contest there, as well as some great discussion of the back story.


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A tale of travel

I’m down here in Houston where my church body — the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod — is having its 64th triennial convention. This is the second convention I’ve attended as an adult and it’s always a lot of fun to catch up with folks from across the country and have those in-depth conversations about theology and practice.


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Orthodox 'fundamentalism' and obscenity

Apparently, a major religious obscenity trial in Moscow has been going on. I only know this thanks to a New York Times story, the Times being one of the few papers left these days that has the resources to do its own foreign coverage:


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Who dreamed a dream?

Kate Murphy recently wrote for The New York Times about the proliferation of dream groups where people gather to discuss their sleep experiences. The story is mostly experience-quote-experience-”expert” opinion, but I was glad she at least mentioned that dreams might be associated with religion.


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Tell us Y, please

What we have here is another one of those branding stories, kind of like the old trend story about Southern Baptist churches taking “Baptist” off their church signs or a certain purple campus in Fort Worth that is trying to focus on a TCU image, as opposed to the old Texas You Know What University thing.


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A political 'truce' on abortion?

He hasn’t exactly reached Sarah Palin levels of media saturation, nor is he about to host his own syndicated talk show like Mike Huckabee — but Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is generating quite a bit of excitement within the ranks of the Republican party. Based on his stellar gubernatorial track record, more than a few people want to see him run for President. (I should confess that, having written a cover story for National Review on the governor last year, I’ve played a minor role in spurring the chatter around Daniels.)


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A few strange words from 'El Mas Loco'

Does anyone out there remember that recent post about that bizarre and very powerful narcotics gang down in Mexico that calls itself La Familia Michoacana? If that doesn’t ring a bell, you may remember the following memorable headline about this bunch in Time magazine: “Mexico’s Meth Warriors: Fueled by Evangelical zeal and America’s appetite for meth, a provincial Mexican gang breaks into the big time.”


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