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So a radical, anti-Roman Catholic, gay activist group called, charmingly, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence gravely disrespected the church. Two men from the activist group — dressed in white face, garish makeup and nuns’ habits — received the sacrament of Holy Communion a few weeks ago from San Francisco’s top Catholic official.
Ann Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is a prolific religion writer. Using the hook of a seminar scheduled at a Roman Catholic seminary, Rodgers looks at the pain endured by religious adherents suffering from infertility.
For all the navel-gazing that journalists do, one problem area they seem completely blind to is religion coverage. So I love to highlight examples of journalists calling for better religion coverage.
Did you catch this story about abortion rates worldwide? It’s based on a new study done by researchers with the Guttmacher Institute (Planned Parenthood’s research arm) and the World Health Institute that was published in The Lancet.
Boss Mattingly asked me to take a look at the latest Newsweek and write up my thoughts. After I read it all — and I do mean all — I couldn’t figure out why he thought it was GetReligion-worthy.
As interesting as celebrity scandals are, celebrity mea culpas are close behind. After Patrick Kennedy, Mel Gibson, Mark Foley and Ted Haggard ran off to rehab as part of their public repentance (and I’m sure at least two of them legitimately needed it), some began to wonder if we’d ever see an apology not tied to a substance abuse claim.
Every time President Bush speaks of his Christian faith, the mainstream media get all roiled up. Here’s how a 2003 story in The Christian Science Monitor began:
Remember four years ago when St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke roiled various groups by saying he would deny Democratic Sen. John Kerry communion if he presented himself for it? Four years later the most prominent Roman Catholic running for the highest office in the land is a Republican and, shockingly, Burke has the same position on communion as he did before.
After a few of my friends decided against circumcising their newborn sons, I began paying attention to the issue. Every year I happen to be walking around the Capitol during the annual anti-circumcision rally held there. The circumcision rate in the U.S. has been on the decline. And there are all those hipster authors loudly proclaiming against the ancient rite. And the dramatic Andrew Sullivan, of course.
