Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Based on personal email, I know there are GetReligion readers who want to know what I think of that small — but fascinating — USA Today story about one of the statistical mysteries in Christianity here in the American context. The question is, “What in the world is actually happening in Eastern Orthodoxy?”
Time for a confession: I am not so bothered, as a matter of journalism, by Jon Meacham’s two recent cover essays for Newsweek. Terry critiqued Meacham’s previous essay, and I’ll reflect more on this week’s essay, “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Blue.”
The Los Angeles Times ran two stories about the California marriage proposition that deal heavily with religion. The first is a puff piece — a pro-same-sex marriage press release, really — about the gay weddings a rabbi has performed:
Writing about Episcopalians befuddles journalists. Part of the conundrum, for anyone trying to cover one of the many property disputes and international realignments, is that the situation is so fluid that you really need a scorecard to keep track of all the players.
Back when I worked in retail management, secret shoppers were the bane of our existence. The corporation would hire people to come in and rate our service, orderliness, appearance, etc. You never knew when they were coming and their results seemed to vary wildly. You’d be praised on a day when you knew you and your team weren’t giving their best and rated viciously on another day when you were slammed and keeping everything going despite numerous obstacles.
The concept of “religious rights” makes a walk-on appearance in a recent Los Angeles Times article — only to be yanked unceremoniously off the stage.
Given all the coverage of the New Atheist movement, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more religion beat stories on average atheists. Peter Smith of the Louisville Courier-Journal wrote a story about local atheists and freethinkers a few weeks ago that has been getting republished throughout the country. It begins with an anecdote about a woman who experienced a feeling of euphoria when she became an atheist a few years ago:
Newsweek‘s Lisa Miller has written a mostly thoughtful and revealing profile of Kirbyjon Caldwell this week. The story describes how Caldwell, pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston, introduced George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention in 2000, voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004 and has now changed his political loyalties.
