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I knew the kerfuffle over Arizona’s tough new immigration law had to be choc-o-bloc full of religious ghosts, and I kept waiting for this angle to work its way into the coverage of the topic. Well, Cardinal Mahony of the Los Angeles diocese decided to kick start things a bit, as you can probably tell from this Associated Press headline:
This may be the pickiest post I have ever written, but, hey, the mountains of North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee are my favorite place on earth, so please allow me to share a news-related chuckle with the locals.
Let’s start with a bit of background. Last week, a federal judge ruled that a law authorizing a National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. That day is marked in early May and observances can continue until all appeals are exhausted. There’s a group called the National Day of Prayer Task Force. It focuses on Christian events and they worked with the Pentagon chaplain’s office on a National Day of Prayer event to be held next month. They had invited noted Christian evangelist Franklin Graham to give a prayer. Mikey Weinstein, who runs the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and was also in the news years ago when he fought evangelical influences at the United States Air Force Academy, complained about his invitation and by Thursday, the invitation was rescinded. (And I’m not sure if it’s coincidence or not, but President Barack Obama is actually meeting with Franklin Graham and his more famous father, the Rev. Billy Graham, today!)
It would be an understatement of epic proportions to say that Baltimore is slightly obsessed with the Ravens, its NFL franchise in the tortured era after the sinful betrayal that cost the city the Colts.
Religion is overrated. Here in the bubble of GetReligionland, we sometimes forget that. Thank you, CNN, for reminding us.
Did you read this Sunday New York Times story about Swami Ramdev headlined “Indian Who Built Yoga Empire Works on Politics“? I don’t know if it was worse as a religion news story or as a political news story but it really failed to even begin to adequately explain either the religious or political situation in India.
I’ve long complained about the puff piece profiles that run in the Washington Post‘s Style section. The last few times we’ve discussed these profiles it’s been in relation to one done on a supporter of traditional marriage laws. These profiles tend to be favorable no matter which side of the aisle the subject sits on, but in the case of National Organization for Marriage executive director Brian Brown, that was not acceptable to many of the Post‘s more liberal readers.
For better or for worse, the Westboro Baptist church does make headlines and there is no end in sight. Thus, it’s incumbent upon folks in the press to ask some questions about how this congregation operates. (We’ve been doing that a lot more of than usual this week.)
