Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Raise your hand — or click “comment” — if you have read a news report claiming that Christians in this supposedly God-fearing nation get divorced at the same rate as everybody else? Raise you other hand if you have heard this statement made in a pulpit. Yes, raising both hands makes it hard to type.
It’s been 12 months since the District of Columbia legalized gay marriage, so it’s no surprise that the Washington Post marked the anniversary with some bonus coverage of the issue. When I say “bonus coverage,” I mean that the editors published even more stories on gay rights than normally appear in a daily edition of the newspaper.
As I was reading abortion news in Mother Jones and LifeNews.com recently, it occurred to me that most of the news — and I’m not even counting opinion — that I consume regarding sanctity of life issues comes from outside the mainstream media. It’s obviously a bigger problem on the pro-life side of things. I was shocked to learn last week, for instance, that NBC has still not reported on the Planned Parenthood sting videos. The media more or less ignored the amazing updates coming out of the Philadelphia abortion doctor murder case.
Time magazine has a feature story on the death of Noor al-Maleki, a young Arizona woman who was killed by her own father. He was convicted this week of her so-called “honor killing,” and I write “so-called” because I have trouble putting the word “honor” next to any practice so barbaric as spilling your daughter’s blood in order to cleanse your family’s reputation.
For whatever reason, it’s obvious that the story of the faith-based wrestler Joel Northrup has struck some kind of national chord in the hearts and minds of evangelicals, sports fans and sports fans who are evangelicals. Young Joel’s decision to forfeit rather than to engage in combat against a female opponent — Cassy Herkelman — has really ticked of some people.
Just a few days ago, a jury convicted an Arizona man of second-degree murder, aggravated assault and leaving the scene of an accident. Faleh Hassan Almaleki’s main victim was his daughter. This crime was an “honor killing.” No one disputes that the daughter was targeted for becoming too “Westernized.” In fact, the phrase “honor killing” is everywhere in the media coverage.
GetReligion readers who are basketball fans — especially those who follow NBA hoops — know that this entire weekend is, semi-officially, a giant launch party for a young man named Blake Griffin. He is a rookie (sort of, but that’s part of the tale) who was selected to play in the All-Star Game and last night he literally jumped over an automobile (while a gospel choir sang, live, on the court) to win the slam-dunk media festival.
