Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
The other night I caught just a portion of Soledad O’Brien’s interview of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. I rarely watch television news shows but I enjoyed the interview. O’Brien had a good “get,” as they say, and made sure to make the most of it.
As always, the High Holy Days season has inspired quite a bit of coverage of issues linked to modern and postmodern Judaism. Covering the major religious holidays can be a chore for Godbeat veterans, since we are always looking for some hook that is both new and newsy. It’s hard work to get it right. Trust me, I know.
Amid all the chaos, noise, headlines, politics and, yes, religious debates, it’s sometimes easy to forget the gravity of what occurred that day. Terrorists killed nearly 3,000 Americans in unfathomable attacks on this nation’s way of life.
Do you wonder if every religion news story from here on out is going to involve some kind of clash of civilizations? I hope not but here’s another entry into that category. We’ve covered the various stories surrounding the Danish cartoon controversy that erupted a few years ago. German Chancellor Angela Merkel honored the creator of some of the controversial cartoons at a ceremony this week. Since 2006, Kurt Westergaard has had his life repeatedly threatened by Muslims angry over his art. Here’s how AFP put it:
Everyone from Barack Obama to Glenn Beck to Sarah Palin to Franklin Graham has denounced a Florida pastor’s Quran-burning plans.
Several weeks ago, there was a flurry of stories about someone in Israel convicted of “rape by deception.” Here is a typical lede for the story, this one from the BBC:
I hadn’t really been following the news about the congregation in Florida that plans to burn a Quran. Gen. David Petraeus weighed in against the plan and it’s receiving a lot of coverage in countries with predominately Muslim populations. This picture is of a protest in Kabul. In fact, it’s downright surprising how much coverage this story has received considering that this is a tiny congregation. Of course, in the day and age of Westoboro-media-paloozas, I shouldn’t be surprised …
Thousands of people demonstrated outside California’s state Capitol this past weekend. I assume — and, yes, I know how fraught with potential disaster that course of action can be — that The Associated Press didn’t consider the rally any big deal.
