Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Religion reporting is no easy task, especially when you ask to participate in usually private gatherings like Bible studies or ask to observe a worship service. And then some people want to pray with you or convert you, even if you’re trying to keep yourself out of the story like any other kind of coverage.
For those who are interested in all things Roman, one of the major stories of the day is Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to move Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput out of the free-swinging West and into the oh-so clerical Northeast.
For any successful popular culture venture, you can probably find a Christian version. GodTube anyone? Firm Believer exercise tapes?
One of the most important lessons that journalists learn as they gain experience is that accuracy is not a matter of knowing more and more things about more and more subjects. The first thing that reporters must know how much they don’t know. Humility then leads to the kinds of questions that produce accurate, insightful stories.
I’ve frequently discussed my dislike of religiously ignorant reporters playing theological “gotcha” with political candidates. Sometimes I will be sitting in church and listening to a sermon and just imagining how completely and thoroughly a reporter might miss the point, the context, the tradition, the nuance, the proper distinction of the Law and the Gospel, etc.
It’s amazing how much religion works its way into funeral services, especially into rites performed in churches that have ties that bind them to the language and the symbols of the early church. It’s really hard to edit the Godtalk out of these events.
As your GetReligionistas have said many times, this whole post-denominational age in which we now live continues to present some major challenges for mainstream reporters and editors.
Some friends of ours recently told of us of their marital disagreement over what happens to them when they die: cremation or burial. It might seem strange for a pair in their late 20s to have this discussion, but posing the possibility might come sooner for some rather than later. Their discussion included theological questions over whether God intends to raise physical bodies from the grave or whether it doesn’t matter and cremation is more environmentally friendly. Average date night conversation, you know?
Michele Bachmann has certainly drawn a media spotlight in recent weeks since she announced her candidacy, as some wonder whether she’s just the media’s “flavor of the month.â We’ve talked a little bit about how the media has handled her faith with mockery or puzzlement, and it’s a bit depressing to see little serious coverage of her beliefs so far.
