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I realize that the tornado surrounding The Da Vinci Code (the book) has eased up a bit and that we are just starting to see the first media feeder bands come ashore from the category-five hurricane that will accompany the release of the movie in May 2006.
North American media are starting to tune into the scandal — scandals, actually — rocking the Greek Orthodox Church back in the motherland. Here is a CBC report. Right now, the best story to read on this is by Brian Murphy of the Associated Press. Watch for this: “On Saturday, the 102-member Holy Synod is expected to approve a series of measures proposed by the archbishop, including greater involvement of civil overseers in the church’s financial dealings and “ethical misconduct.” Seminary students may also lose their exemption from military service — an obligation for nearly every Greek man.”
Anyone who studies conflicts between conservative Christians and Hollywood — think SpongeBob and his co-conspirators — knows that the former tend to go nuts when they see the latter producing material that they think will be harmful to (a) America, (b) their beliefs or both.
One of my all-time favorite editors, the late Ralph Looney of the Rocky Mountain News, used to say that he was never amazed when errors made it into the newspaper. He was amazed that the typical daily newspaper contains as few errors as it does.
One of the classes I teach at Palm Beach Atlantic University is called “Exegete the Culture” and it focuses on the religious content of popular culture and the influence of mass media on the church. The class is built on the concept of the “signal,” defined as a single piece of popular culture that addresses a topic of eternal interest to people of faith.
First things first. Readers need to know that the three males involved in editorial work here at GetReligion decided that this was the best photo to accompany this post. It was the most modest photo and it was the wackiest one, as well.
My first full-time job in journalism was on the copy desk at a daily in Champaign, Ill., so I have been on the other side the editing process. I would like to make three comments about the Dawn Eden affair, based on what we know so far. I have never met Dawn (the logo is from her blog) and I hope we can discuss this sooner, rather than later.
