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As I mentioned Tuesday night, I had been waiting 12 months for the Los Angeles Times to write the postscript on Cardinal Roger Mahony’s troubled 25-year tenure atop the largest Roman Catholic diocese in the country.
A Naval Academy graduate received an honorable discharge last week after two earlier denials from the Navy. The American Civil Liberties Union in Connecticut had sued the Navy on the graduate’s behalf, based on his religious objection to war and the potential that he might have to kill others.
Bernard Nathanson was a leading New York City abortion doctor who helped found NARAL. Originally that stood for the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws. It was later renamed the National Abortion Rights Action League. Now it’s known as NARAL Pro-Choice America. Nathanson worked with abortion rights pioneers for the legalization of abortion in the United States, a goal they accomplished with the Supreme Court’s Roe V. Wade decision. Nathanson reports that he was personally responsible for some 75,000 abortions. He performed one of these on his own unborn child. Previously he’d paid for another girlfriend to have an abortion.
GetReligion readers who are basketball fans — especially those who follow NBA hoops — know that this entire weekend is, semi-officially, a giant launch party for a young man named Blake Griffin. He is a rookie (sort of, but that’s part of the tale) who was selected to play in the All-Star Game and last night he literally jumped over an automobile (while a gospel choir sang, live, on the court) to win the slam-dunk media festival.
Back in my high school days in Texas, my minister would look out over the congregation and make the same request each Sunday.
One of the most common complaints heard by newspaper publishers and editors (other than the claim that their news teams often mangle religion news) is that they do not offer their readers enough news that is inspiring, uplifting and touching. In other words, where is the “good” news that is supposed to balance all of that “bad” news that you make us read day after day, year after year?
So 25,000 words on religion — from The New Yorker–makes me pretty giddy. OK, it’s about Scientology, which continues to keep journalists fascinated for its celebrity draw and secrecy. But hopefully this kind of piece shows how religion can make really compelling journalism. You’ll find a little bit of everything in this piece: celebrities, money, abuse, family, sex, power, etc. Religion often touches all of that and more.
It’s really hard to ignore religion when it comes to death. Those questions of what happens to us when we die often become even more heightened during the funeral, reflection and mourning periods.
