Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
On Saturday, a multi-bylined story in the Washington Post wrote that terrorists became helpful intelligence assets after — and only after — they were subjected to the CIA’s harshest interrogation methods, including waterboarding.
Sometimes the most interesting religion stories are about some small angle in daily life. And the Washington Post‘s William Wan has found a great one. He looks at how folks have filled out the “religious views” box on Facebook. Mine says “Confessional Lutheran,” for instance.
The mainstream media really hasn’t done a very good job covering the heated debate over whether to extend the institution of marriage to same-sex couples. It’s been a problem for years and the coverage has been so amazingly one-sided that it’s surprising that all 30 states that have asked voters to define marriage as a heterosexual institution have done so. Part of it is that the mainstream media has long been an elite institution with views on homosexuality somewhat out-of-step with the general populace.
We’ve been complaining a bit about the meager inclusion of religion angles in some of the political coverage of the various legislative efforts to reform health care and health insurance. So David Kirkpatrick’s piece in the New York Times this week was welcome. Headlined “Some Catholic Bishops Assail Health Plan,” here’s how it began:
I’ve wanted to look at some of the coverage of the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy but haven’t quite been sure what to say of the it. From my perspective as a Capitol Hill reporter, he was a blast to cover — a fascinating man to watch in action either at work or play. And not that I would “cover” him at worship but I even saw him once at St. Joseph’s — the Senate-side Catholic Church that I have visited with friends.
You might remember the unbelievable story of Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton. He’s the guy who had the unbelievable performance at last year’s Home Run Derby. It wasn’t just that he had a first-round record — crushing 28 home runs in the first round and at one point hitting 13 home runs in 13 swings. But what was particularly noteworthy about the whole thing is that he’s a recovering addict. And what puts this into GetReligion territory is his incessant discussion of his faith and how God saved him from a rather miserable life.
So last week, President Obama pitched his health care reform plan to religious leaders. Elizabeth looked at some of the coverage last Thursday of the “false witness” remarks. One angle that received surprisingly little mainstream coverage was Obama’s statement that “We are God’s partners in matters of life and death.”
This was definitely the weekend for coverage of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s decision to change its position on the rostering of clergy in same-sex relationships. One of the nicer things was seeing reporters include local perspective. But one reader sent in a local piece that was not so good.
