Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana has been in the national news lately. The abortion provider’s offering of holiday gift certificates in $25 increments has received the most attention. However, the more important story has the organization appearing to have given council to someone on how to break the state’s law on reporting child sex-abuse.
As you would expect, the Anglican wars receive quite a bit of attention in the major newspapers today with the announcement by conservatives that they are forming the Anglican Church in North America, as opposed to the U.S. Episcopal Church.
Vikki Ortiz of the Chicago Tribune picked up a pleasant romantic story about a couple who committed to each other that they would not kiss until the wedding day. More precisely, the couple could and would kiss on the cheek (as demonstrated in the article’s photo), but that was where it ended. The purpose of the kiss limitation was to keep the couple from breaking an abstinence pledge.
The coverage of the Jonestown massacre made a strong impression on me, since I was a young journalist who wanted to become a religion-beat reporter.
Martin Luther said the meaning of the eighth commandment (Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor) is that we “should fear and love God that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slander, or defame our neighbor, but defend him, speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything.”
For those of you who are looking for prime examples of the “big ideas” that motivate us at this here weblog, here’s one.
I was watching MSNBC on Monday night, but the Home Companion heard the theme song from Countdown with Keith Olbermann begin, and then changed the channel. No one else in the room — neither I nor the three spayed female cats we liberated from the nearest no-kill animal shelter — dared voice even the briefest protest. Such is the dismal state of my life in November 2008 in what Americans, in our hubris, call the United States of America.
Well, you have to admit that this Texas-sized story is a whole lot more exciting to write about than a monk from Dallas being elected leader of the scandal-rocked Orthodox Church in America. Right?
Sometimes one or two words can make a lot of difference when you are dealing with complex issues of law and doctrine.
