Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
I’m sure you are all as excited as I am about today’s New Hampshire Primary. However, it is interesting how the media coverage of the religious angles in the race has more or less dropped off after Iowa.
The New York Times had a fascinating story about gay Muslims in Berlin. Reporter Nicholas Kulish interviewed visitors to a gay nightclub in the Kreuzberg neighborhood and produces a piece showing how young Muslims — many of them immigrants — are navigating their sexual identity and religion:
Where I grew up in California, Saturdays were for Quinceaneras (why won’t WordPress accept the letter n with a tilde?). If you drove by the Catholic church at the right time, you’d see what looked like a wedding party pouring out. The Associated Press’ Eric Gorski uses the hook of Quinceaneras to discuss how the Roman Catholic church in America is embracing its changing identity:
One of the many reasons why I am not the world’s best reporter is that I like to ruminate on events for a while before I write about them. In a 24-hour news business, this is not the best trait.
I’m sure we all enjoyed the relative downturn in this year’s War on Christmas. One personal downside was that I didn’t get a chance to write about the war on Advent and the rest of the liturgical calendar. Why is Christmas always singled out?
At a time when elections in other countries lead to assassinations and rioting, it is sobering how relatively peaceful election battles in the United States are. Yesterday’s news that post-election violence in Kenya led to the deaths of as many as 275 people and included the torching of a church where people had sought shelter was particularly sobering.
I’m sure all of you have your countdown clocks going for the first major event in 2008 — the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses! So much drama, so many television commercials, so many cliches and platitudes. The Los Angeles Times published a story about former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and his roving army of homeschooled children/precinct captains.
I love finding religion stories in the sports pages and business pages of the newspaper. New York Times‘ reporter Douglas Quenqua had a great one this week about religious values and internet dating.
The Washington Post‘s Jacqueline Salmon and Hamil Harris wrote up their Christmas story about the pressure pastors are under to hit a home run with their Christmas Eve sermons. I love the angle, particularly because I’m the daughter of a pastor and remember how difficult the Advent and Christmas seasons are for clergy.
