Okay, not a real beat farmer — but Rainn Wilson, the actor who plays the wonderful Dwight Schrute on “The Office,” had an interesting op-ed on CNN.com. It begins with Wilson explaining that he’s not joking, and then he provides an introduction to Baha’i. He says that Baha’i began in Iran in the mid-19th century and that Baha’is believe there is only one God and one religion. All the world’s divine teachers bring the same message and Baha’u'llah refreshed it for the current day and age, he says. He talks about the historic persecution of Baha’is by Muslim authorities in Iran. And then he gets to the newsier part:
Is Rush the new Pat Robertson?
Raise your hand if you think that religious conservatives play a major role in the power structure of the Republican Party today.
My Saudi Valentine
I wondered whether we’d end up looking at any Valentine’s Day stories here at GetReligion. While rooted in Christian history, the day is not featured on the actual liturgical calendar. But the most interesting mention of Valentine’s Day came in a story about how the king of Saudi Arabia shook up the religious establishment there.
A decade of self-care?
BBC News has missed a good opportunity to explain a Welsh politician’s career change in sufficient detail. The second paragraph in the BBC’s story about Assembly Member Lorraine Barrett says that “she now wants to spend the next decade ‘on herself.’”
The Fairness Doctrine and religious broadcasters
Perhaps this reveals too much about my sailor-like vocabulary, but you have to like a religion story that begins with the F-word. The Tennessean religion reporter Bob Smietana began his story on the National Religious Broadcasters Convention this week as follows:
From our "too much info" department
In the immortal words of Meg Ryan in one of my all-time favorite flicks: “I have no response to that.”
Are you now or have you ever been a Prop. 8 supporter?
After California voters passed Proposition 8 last fall, some opponents of the measure were quite angry. In addition to public protests, some people set up web sites singling out Mormon supporters of the measure, using public records to identify them. Other web sites listed all Prop. 8 supporters, regardless of their religious background.
Saved by zero
Yesterday, I pointed out that journalists covering financial donations to California’s ballot initiative on marriage should attempt to put contributions in context. The latest filings covering donations show same-sex marriage supporters raised $43.3 million in 2008 while the measure’s sponsors raised $39.9 million. This makes it the most expensive social issue race in the nation’s history. Lots of donors and lots of big donors weighed in on this contentious issue.
The word "United" makes a difference
If you look in the Associated Press Stylebook, the entry for the Churches of Christ starts like this:
