We normally focus on covering news in our posts, rather than commentary about news. After all, everyone’s entitled to their opinion.
Sue them: First Amendment news ghost?
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All kinds of Godbeat top 10s
All kinds of people do all kinds of Top 10 lists at the end of the year. Some people like ‘em, some people don’t.
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Obama, Person of the Year, isn't religious?
Time magazine’s Person of the Year feature rightly focused on President-elect Barack Obama. Unfortunately, while the magazine managed to slip in an unremarkable (but first-person) look at Obama’s basketball skills and its influence on his life, none of the magazine’s four articles on the Person of the Year Obama touched on the influence of religion on the campaign of the influence faith has had on Obama’s life.
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Apples to apples to oranges
It’s always interesting to see which data analysis or surveys get covered by mainstream media outlets and which don’t. A bunch of media outlets chose to highlight a study this week comparing 289 teens (average age of 17 in 1996) who took abstinence pledges at that time with 645 teens who were otherwise similar but didn’t take abstinence pledges. That is, the two groups shared, among other things, similar religious, sexual and political views. The study did not in any way compare either of these groups with the 11,000 or so teens from the same data set who didn’t take pledges and weren’t similar in their political views or religious views.
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A pew more 2009 religion predictions
Following in the footsteps of Brother LeBlanc (or at a respectful distance behind him), here are a few semi-serious, and semi-safe, predictions for the New Year.
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Religion plus politics equals 2008
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Fearless predictions
Inspired by David Gibson on his Pontifications blog, I will float these predictions for the Godbeat in 2009. I lack the courage to commit myself to any one answer, or the insight to write every item with serious intent.
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In Jesus' name
Unlike all other Americans (give or take a few) I’m not a big fan of civil religion. I dislike the way it forces a syncretism and watering down of sacred beliefs in service to political goals. But there is a long-standing tradition of civil religion in America — invocations at political events, mentions of religious texts in inaugural speeches, veneration of Lincoln and other great politicians, interfaith events for political causes, etc. And so we will be witnessing a tremendous amount of civil religion in a few weeks when President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office to lead our country.
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The theology of liberation
Sometimes I get the feeling that reporters struggle to cover annual events. This leads to less coverage of the liturgical calendar and its festive celebrations and penitential seasons than to events marked by trend-driven church bodies. You don’t see much coverage of Pentecost, marked annually by millions of American Christians, compared to, say, the sex sermon series being pushed by some pastor in Michigan.
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