Six shot in an apparent hate crime. One person dead. One man, antagonistic toward Jewish organizations, acting on his own.
Talking to the middle ground
The mainstream media are covering intelligent debate over religion and science. And it’s about time.
Sorry, no ghosts in Newsweek's scoop
Alas, I am sad to report that there are no ghosts at all in Newsweek‘s much ballyhooed front-page exclusive look behind the secret curtain that hid the real President George W. Bush from the eyes of the secular world during his lengthy trip to Russia for the G8 summit. This is the feature story with the heavy subheadline “Behind the Scenes With President Bush As the Middle East Explodes.”
The church of punditry
It’s so difficult to write about Ann Coulter. Sometimes I think that those of us who do are all pawns in her game of making hoards of money. Having read her first book — which was harsh but not a bad read at all — I have come to the conclusion that she writes them and then inserts completely over the top and uncharitable statements at the last minute. This is for the sole purpose of having the mainstream media get outraged and bring her on the air to discuss it. She then goes home and watches the Amazon counter spin out of control.
Putting "theocracy" fears in their place
Ross Douthat, an associate editor at The Atlantic, wrote an inspired piece in the August/September edition of First Things taking apart, piece by piece, theories about a “theocracy movement” in America. Here’s a snippet:
Mutually assured destruction
I read an op-ed in Monday’s New York Times that has stayed with me. It’s not religious in the sense that we normally discuss on these pixels, but I can’t help but think it’s a great example of how religious writing could be deepened.
Ghosts in conservative documentaries
Buried throughout this New York Times piece on the attempts of conservatives to get into the documentary film business is the question of whether these conservatives are motivated by something more than a political desire to promote conservative ideas.
That secretive Anschutz
A 6,800-word Los Angeles Times article by Glenn Bunting on the cigar-chomping, money-making, deal-cutting multibillionaire Philip Anschutz is a piece of journalism for which newspapers live.
Watching that circle go round and round
Fred Phelps is getting help from the American Civil Liberties Union. Phelps, of the Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, is suing in federal court, challenging a Missouri law that prohibits protesting at military funerals.
