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I love writing about religion and economics, but my true passion is baseball. If I could combine writing about baseball with writing about religion or economics, that would be the best.
Back in 2006 when the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life rolled out its massive “Spirit and Power” survey — a 10-nation survey of modern Pentecostalism — many of the most stunning statistics in its pages were linked to the rising number of Pentecostal Christians who could be found in Catholic pews and the stunningly high numbers of believers who had left the Church of Rome altogether.
One of my favorite teachers in high school — all the kids loved him — was Mr. Richard Bonacquista. He was our Colorado History teacher — no one could make Colorado history more entertaining — and our baseball coach. In any case, one of the things he showed us from early first teaching days — over in mining country in the southwest part of the state — was a wooden paddle.
It’s been 12 months since the District of Columbia legalized gay marriage, so it’s no surprise that the Washington Post marked the anniversary with some bonus coverage of the issue. When I say “bonus coverage,” I mean that the editors published even more stories on gay rights than normally appear in a daily edition of the newspaper.
As a journalist, I know why we are supposed to use the word “alleged” over and over in crime stories. The accused is not guilty until his or her trial has been completed.
I drove into the mountains of Tennessee last night listening to stories of sin, suffering, grace and forgiveness. That’s what was playing on the country music stations, of course, but that was also what was playing for part of the time on the BBC World Service.
Obviously, oil and, thus, big oil money plays a major role in the tensions between Sudan and South Sudan. Most of the current nation of Sudan’s oil reserves are in the South.
Late last week, I was visiting the Washington Post newsroom with some of my students and the professionals there were — justifiably — buzzing about a news feature that dominated that day’s front page. It was one of those mood-of-the-nation pieces in which one person’s story is used as a metaphor for the lives of many.
