On Friday, Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel — who covered conservative groups — resigned his position after incendiary partisan emails he had sent were published by the Daily Caller. The day before, some of his intemperate emails were published by Fishbowl DC. He had apologized already for those and chalked them up to a bad day.
Breaking the confessional seal?
I once knew a member of the clergy who warned parishioners that if they told him about anything illegal, he’d be compelled to report them. Now, usually when I confess my sins they’re of the variety where the state doesn’t have an interest. But it’s probably a good idea to clarify whether your confessor is bound to secrecy or not.
Got news? Religious freedom edition
Religion Dispatches, a progressive blog for religion news and analysis, has a post about President Barack Obama’s newly appointed religion ambassador. The headline sums up the story very well:
Catholic U: Click, click, connect
When people ask me to describe the toughest part of what we do here at GetReligion (other than trying to keep up with all of the blog-related emails flying around all day, with most of these cyber-gnats originating with yours truly), I always offer a two-part answer.
Playing pin the sin on the pastor
The other day, Cathy Lynn Grossman suggested that some of ironic twists she’s seen in the news come from someone who offers truth claims and then turns out to be hypocritical. You might think another one of those stories is brewing if you read Poynter’s Romenesko blog.
Poor, uneducated and easy to barbecue?
Manute Bol: Tall tower of faith
If you dig around on the Washington Post site you can find the following weblog post that quotes a U.S. Senate tribute by Sen. Sam Brownback to the late Manute Bol of Sudan, who, at 7-foot-7, with a fingertip-to-fingertip wingspan of 8-feet-6, was one of the most unusual athletes to ever play in the National Basketball Association.
The problem with breaking news
Breaking news coverage is very difficult. The moment when people most desire updates coincides with the moment when a news outlet knows the least on the given topic.
Huckabee in the holy lands
Last week we looked at a piece by Newsweek that suggested Sarah Palin was the new leader of the religious right. I suggested then that Newsweek should have at least mentioned one of Palin’s potential contenders: Mike Huckabee.
