Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
National Public Radio’s Morning Edition is in the midst of a five-part series on Shiism this week. It’s called “The Partisans of Ali: A History of Shia Faith and Politics” and is well worth listening to or reading online.
Once upon a time, I thought I wanted to become an economics professor. This delusion lasted from early high school until I took enough postgraduate classes to be convinced otherwise. I loved my field of study and I had fantastic professors. One way in which they were helpful was to counsel me to keep my private views on everything from monetary theory to the Coase Conjecture hidden.
Yesterday I noted media coverage of the anti-religious rhetoric of two bloggers hired by John Edwards for his presidential campaign. The extreme anti-religious rhetoric was highlighted by political conservatives who are Christian.
An interesting story has been brewing out of the John Edwards campaign for the Democratic nomination for president. He hired a couple of bloggers to run outreach to the liberal blogosphere. And their credentials were so good that it kind of backfired on him.
Disgraced pastor Ted Haggard is in the news again. A few days ago his email to members of New Life Church was released to the media. Eric Gorski wrote up the story for The Denver Post:
I tried to find a religious news angle for the Super Bowl halftime show so I could discuss how awesome Prince is, but I had to give up.
So imagine that a prominent advocate of traditional marriage was exposed for having sex with someone he was not married to. Let’s say he had an affair with the wife of one of his employees. Let’s say he was married at the time but was divorcing his wife.
The relationship between the public and the press is important. The public relies on the media to give vital information about governments, medical breakthroughs, environmental threats and public safety. The media rely on the public to consume the news and keep the industry going. The relationship isn’t perfect, as evidenced by regular polls showing the cynicism that Americans feel toward the mainstream media.
Back in November when the Ted Haggard scandal broke, Terry said he hoped reporters would keep on the story. A service on Sunday provided a good reason to check back in on New Life megachurch in Colorado Springs. That’s because Mike Jones, the former prostitute whose allegations about having sex and taking drugs with Haggard broke wide on the eve of the 2006 elections, went there on Sunday.
