Social Issues

Hypocrisy exposed!

So imagine that a prominent advocate of traditional marriage was exposed for having sex with someone he was not married to. Let’s say he had an affair with the wife of one of his employees. Let’s say he was married at the time but was divorcing his wife.


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Reporting on the source of those values

The dominant theme in this year’s Super Bowl — one of the most media-intense events in the history of Earth — has been that this marks the first time two black coaches have led their teams to the big game. This is a compelling story line and deserves to be in the lede because of its historic significance, but there is a subtler story line that has been floating under the radar and is equally compelling.


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A Baptist preacher runs for president

Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee today officially launched his bid to be the 2008 Republican nominee for president (or, as some would say, his candidacy to be someone’s vice president). Thanks to some diligent reading and good questions from Meet the Press host Tim Russert on Sunday, we have a pretty good idea of how the former Baptist preacher understands the role of his faith in his public duties.


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Those SMU wars over Bush values

Back when I was in graduate school at Baylor University in the late 1970s, I had a classmate who was considering doing graduate work at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. This student was not a fundamentalist at all and, in fact, I believe that he soon converted to the Episcopal Church. As often happens, we lost touch after graduate school.


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The whatchamacallits

Journalists use terms and labels daily to communicate meaning and historical significance to their readers. Now and then a term or label becomes so overused, misused or underused, that a reevaluation of that term or label is needed. While most newsroom discussions are best kept off the news pages due to their sheer banality, the discussion of how to describe groups is relevant. What better way to hash out the discussion than by sharing it with your readers?


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