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Several things are becoming clearer here in Beltway-land, as coverage continues of the clash between Father Marcel Guarnizo and the Buddhist-Catholic-artist-gay-activist Barbara Johnson. Before addressing a few key themes, here’s the top of the recent Washington Post article that covered the latest development in the case.
When Pat Robertson said on his show recently that he supported the legalization of marijuana, some of us didn’t blink twice. He has said things like this before, so it didn’t seem like news. But when the New York Times picked it up, people treat it like breaking news.
Once again, we the people who care about religion news are seeing another sad round of thin mainstream press stories about the decline and fall of the Rev. Robert H. Schuller and his family’s megachurch monument — the Crystal Cathedral.
On one level, it’s easy to say that private colleges and universities are voluntary associations and, thus, can limit the freedoms of their students, faculty and staff in a wide variety of ways. After all, students do not have to study there, teachers do not have to teach there and staff members do not have to work there.
It’s no surprise people seek some sort of higher power when overcoming an addiction, whether it looks like meditation, prayer or other rituals that help the process.
Watching East Coast-dominated media coverage from middle America was pretty interesting this week. While Washington was obsessed over who needs to apologize for Rush Limbaugh’s remarks and who said what over Andrew Briebart’s death, those of us in the Midwest watched different kinds of disasters unfold this week. From the Ohio school shooting earlier this week to towns flattened by tornadoes, you can imagine how pastors might be adjusting their notes for weekend sermons on tragedy.
There is much to discuss in the feature story on Rick Santorum’s faith that has been served up by The New York Times. There is lots of interesting information, some questionable information and then a pretty large chunk of missing information.
Gentle readers, I have spent much of the day dodging tornadoes and hail on the interstate from Jackson, Tenn., to Guitar Town and I am exhausted. It will take all the energy I have left to type a few paragraphs that will point GetReligion readers toward one of the must-read journalistic items of the day.
To tell you the truth, I have always thought that it is very easy for first-person journalism — especially arts and entertainment criticism — to slip into vague, self-centered mush.
