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With that whole election thing over (yeah, right), so I suddenly feel a need to turn to Something Completely Different. Thus, it’s time to visit the tmatt folder of GetReligion guilt.
I hear, since my office is on Capitol Hill, that there is some kind of election going on today. The word on the street is that all kinds of terrified, emotional, angry people are going to march into polling places and destroy the era of hopeful, rational, optimism that has ruled our great land for the past 18 months or so. At least, that’s just what I read in the papers.
That’s my precious little cheeseburger pictured here. I also have the cutest little baby bat you’ve ever seen. We are enjoying Halloween and have been practicing our “Trick or Treat//Does that have nuts in it?//Thank you!” lines for weeks. But I have been having some scheduling issues with another holiday that falls on Oct. 31: Reformation Day.
I was on the Washington, D.C., Metro today (my normal commute is by rail from Baltimore) and, as you would imagine, things were a bit tense. Maybe I am wrong, but I think there was more security out than normal.
Just after 7 a.m. today, I found myself driving a minivan full of middle-school students. This still-dark-outside carpool duty frustrated me for two reasons. First, I was up late last night watching my suddenly vintage Texas Rangers throw batting practice to the San Francisco Giants. Second, a school bus that my children could ride for free stops just down the street from my house.
Amid a barrage of recent headlines concerning religion and gay suicides, the Mormon church’s position on homosexuality has received its share of scrutiny, from Politics Daily to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Before I jump into the heart of this piece, let me clearly state that I know it is possible to write an accurate, powerful and even emotional story about the following issue while leaving religious and moral issues completely out of the mix. After all, the Washington Post just published exactly that kind of news report.
Actually, the headline on the top of this post should say, “Why so many mainstream journalists are biting their lips and showing reluctant support for the fundamentalists — self proclaimed, fitting Associated Press style — from Westboro Baptist Church.” But that wouldn’t fit very well in our format.
