Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
The New York Times’ Diana Henriques filed the latest installment for her series examining, as she says, how religious organizations benefit from an increasingly accommodating government. You may recall we took a look at the first four parts in October.
In case you have been on another planet for the past few days, 37-year-old Mary Cheney, the high-profile gay daughter of the Vice President Dick Cheney, is pregnant. The mainstream press accounts all note that she is expecting this child “with” Mary Poe, her partner of 15 years, but journalists are allowing the couple a rare zone of privacy and are not exploring the precise meaning of the word “with.”
Ever since Doug LeBlanc and I started this blog, we have had problems explaining to some people what GetReligion is about and what it is not about.
I am not a regular presence at the theater or a frequent reader of theater reviews. So it goes without saying that I know little about writing a good review of acting or singing. With that said, I thought the New York Times article on singer/actress Kristin Chenoweth was a half-decent read.
John Dickerson of Slate has a solid piece that fleshes out Mitt Romney’s Mormon issue and provides us with some interesting news tidbits. Dickerson calls on Romney to explain his beliefs in a clear, concise way that gives voters an idea of how his faith will affect his life. According to Dickerson, Romney’s people say he will address such questions once he officially announces his candidacy sometime early next year.
I realize there are people who read GetReligion who believe that Peggy Noonan is on the payroll of the White House — pick a GOP White House, any GOP White House — and that she is simply a fax machine for NeoCon talking points.
There’s turmoil over at the Christian Coalition. Florida megachurch pastor Joel Hunter, who supports raising the minimum wage, opposes the death penalty and wants to take on global warming, was scheduled to take over Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition in January. But according to The Washington Post‘s Alan Cooperman, the organization’s chairwoman, Roberta Combs, has decided to rescind that offer.
Due to a busy class schedule, I have not had the time to address much of the new coverage of the liturgical meetings between Pope Benedict XVI and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, celebrating the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. I think most of the symbolism and the substance in those meetings will be included in the major stories tomorrow and I should be able to catch up a bit.
Shaila Dewann of the New York Times wants every municipal government to know something: get with it or your city will go the way of VHS tapes. While I’m sure Dewann’s article on the competition between cities to attract the young is documenting a response to what could be a very real movement, it fails to challenge any of the stereotypes that are driving what appears to just be trends. The Times can do better.
