Politics

Gay rights and religious freedom

Every year I steel myself for the onslaught of Holy Week stories the mainstream media love. You know the ones — media pieces attempting to undermine miraculous stories about Jesus and his life. Some of them have been very bad. But this year those attacks have not been limited to Holy Week. Hurrah.


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Looking back on the raid

The one-year anniversary of the removal of 400-plus children from West Texas ranch operated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a tremendous reminder of the valuable asset newspapers are in providing substantive coverage of issues and events that require lengthy and rigorous review of records and in-depth investigation.


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Tony to pope: grin and Blair it

Former British Prime-Minister Tony Blair and the British press do seem to be a match made…well, somewhere. The Catholic convert has been outraging conservatives ever since he left Downing Street in 2007. In a fascinating symbiosis between Blair and the press, he natters on about religion, which gains him publicity for himself and his foundation, and the media outlets publish his utterances, focusing on his many controversial statements (and perhaps attracting more readers).


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Can you believe that reporting, Wolf?

On my way to church tonight, a media friend living in another country called me to tell me she couldn’t believe what she just saw on CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. She said it was so dismissive of Christian prayer that she almost wondered if she’d misheard.


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This radical Catholic gets respect

Long ago, while I was on the religion beat at the Rocky Mountain News, I covered several protests linked to military facilities — including a memorable day following Catholic activists out across the prairies of Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas looking for nuclear missile silos. Sometimes people got arrested, but most of the time the authorities looked the other way.


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Why did Dungy say no?

National Public Radio had an interesting interview a few days ago regarding the announcement of former Indianapolis Colts coach and Super Bowl champion Tony Dungy’s invitation to President Obama’s White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Yes, the invitation was officially announced (nice work Dan Gilgoff), and yes, Dungy declined that invitation for the stated reason of the time constraints of a retired NFL coach.


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A journalistic thaw on the deep freeze

Considering how common in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technologies are, isn’t it surprising how little the media discuss the attendant issues?


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