Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Talking about the clergy job market may seem a little crass — pondering the job market in the midst of widespread job loss, even more so. As an ordained minister, I tend to think of the folks in congregations who are losing their jobs, and the impact it has on their lives rather than wondering how my fellow clergy or seminarians waiting for calls to congregations are riding out the storm.
When Pope Benedict visited the Holy Land last week, every religious move he made was analyzed for its political significance. On Monday when Prime Minister Netanyahu will meet President Obama in Washington, just the opposite will be true: the political moves will be analyzed for their religious significance.
Amy Sullivan of Time launches a nearly 1,200-word report on President Obama and Notre Dame University with this ludicrous sentence: “At the rate things are going, Pope Benedict XVI may find his next trip to the U.S. dogged by airplanes overhead trailing banners with images of aborted fetuses.” Sullivan qualifies this language in her next sentence, calling it “a bit of hyperbole,” but the rest of her report proceeds in a similar vein, arguing that an article in L’Osservatore Romano “essentially urg[ed] the bishops to chill out” on Obama. She repeatedly confuses diplomatic silence with tacit endorsement of the university’s decision.
Celebrity confessionals are a vertiginous business. Not so much for the authors, who get to beat their breasts, name a few names, absolve themselves and move on, but for us, their market, consumers, fans or critics.
South African President Jacob Zuma knows how to work a political rally, as shown by the video atop this post — in which Zuma sings “Awuleth’ Umshini Wami” (“Bring Me My Machine Gun”). The Weekly Standard sounded a warning about Zuma earlier this month, and retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu has raised concerns about him for years.
Pastors sometimes rebuke congregations by comparing their subdued worship style to the more exuberant displays among sports fans. “The Chosen One,” a report this week on ESPN’s Outside the Lines, reinforces the notion that nobody worships quite like a person sitting in a sports venue. (For whatever reason, the ESPN video is no longer accessible. The video is on this page if ESPN ever brings it back by cultic demand.)
Poor Pope Benedict XVI. Wherever he goes he is plagued by the larger-than-life reputation of Pope John Paul II whose legacy keeps growing, perhaps nowhere more so than on the current visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
