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GetReligion was launched around the idea of ghosts — religious aspects to stories that went unexplained or ignored. Sometimes those ghosts are very straightforward. Sometimes they’re more about subtext and nuance. In this week’s Crossroads podcast, we discuss some of the lingering ghosts surrounding that provocative New York Times celebration of a marriage built on the failure of two previous marriages.
GetReligion readers who pay close attention to church-state issues this time of year — also known as the “Christmas wars” — just knew that this story was coming. Actually, in this case we are talking about a specific battle in the larger war that breaks out every year in mid-November, or thereabouts. It’s the battle over the creche in the public square (usually a civic lawn).
I’m surprised we haven’t seen more coverage of Festivus, which is something of a countercultural tradition in more ironic circles. It was the holiday that became famous after it was written into a Seinfeld episode. Thirteen years ago, believe it or not.
During the press events for the Lord of the Rings movies, Peter Jackson said one wise thing over and over when talking about the legacy of writer J.R.R. Tolkien. In a session in which I was present, he put it this way:
One of my childhood heroes — right up there with “Little House” author Laura Ingalls Wilder, Celtic great Bill Russell and jazz pianist Dave Brubeck — was cartoonist Charles M. Schultz. I still cannot believe that Schultz died (February 12, 2000) only hours before his poignant farewell to his readers ran in American newspapers.
Of all the Smithsonians, my favorites are the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of Health and Medicine (or as I call it, the Museum of Medical Oddities). The NPG was closed for something like five years while undergoing a costly renovation. But it reopened a few years back and is back in the news with an exhibit (“Hide/Seek”) exploring sexual identity in art.
Most of the drama surrounding Dancing With the Stars involves Bristol Palin, daughter of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Bristol led last night’s stunning upset in Dancing With the Stars when she beat Brandy, who has topped of the leader board for several weeks. If you think DWTS is just a TV show, consider this report: A Wisconsin man enraged over Palin’s routine shot his television with a shotgun.
