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Every now and then, a star in the National Football League gets into trouble and, during his ritual of repentance, decides to play the God card. In some cases this even involves Jesus language, which is always risky in today’s media marketplace.
The other day I received this letter asking, quite simply, “Who is this ‘Mark’ person who keeps writing posts for GetReligion?”
Wise and faithful GetReligion readers! Is it a mainstream news story that the beleaguered social-events staff at the White House sent out an invitation card for the First Family’s second Hanakkah party (not the first, the second party) that referred to it as a “holiday reception”? And does this have anything whatsoever to do with the strained relations between liberal Democrats and, believe it or not, Jewish voters (see “Catholic voters”)?
The church-state junkie in me really does not know where to begin when it comes to evaluating the mainstream media coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case pitting the University of California’s Hastings College of Law in San Francisco against the campus chapter of the Christian Legal Society.
Back in my teen years, I was a bit of a classical music nerd. Then someone gave me a copy of the second Blood, Sweat & Tears record and, before you knew it, I was into jazz and forms of rock that required the musicians to know more than three chords.
Unless you have been on another planet for several decades, you have heard the phrase “War on Christmas” tossed about in the mainstream press and Fox News, too (cue: rim shot and cymbal).
A long, long time ago, while doing my first round of graduate studies, I took a class that focused on contemporary cults, sects and religious movements and their impact on church-state law. Now before everyone goes nuts talking about what is and what is not a “cult,” please be aware that we were working primarily with doctrinal definitions (as opposed to focusing on some of the more controversial elements of sociology).
Based on what you know about religion, news and religion in the news, do you think that, when meditating on Adam Lambert’s performance on the American Music Awards, cultural conservatives in this great nation of ours are upset about:
Each semester, in the very first class session at the Washington Journalism Center, I have my students read the New York Times self-study document from 2005 entitled “Preserving Our Readers’ Trust (.pdf).” Then I require them to carefully read your response, “Assuring Our Credibility (.pdf).”
