Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
I spent most of today walking around in Istanbul, or riding a bus from one part of the city to another. It is impossible to do this without thinking about Islam, secularism, modernity and the paradoxes of this tense nation.
Anyone who knows anything about life in the USA knows that one of our strongest forms of civic religion is Christian football.
In case you were wondering, the Associated Press reports that presidential aspirants include seven Roman Catholics, three Methodists, three Baptists, one Episcopalian, one Presbyterian, one Mormon and one who is “simply” a Christian.
Hmmmmmm … A friend sent me a notice to this Faith & Law event here on Capitol Hill next Monday. I wonder if the organizers would let me attend, not to mention the Divine Ms. MZ and young master Daniel. The Rt. Rev. Doug LeBlanc is a bit out of range, but could come on Amtrak.
As you can see in the video to the right, reporting on Scientology can drive a reporter to fits of rage. In the case of reporter John Sweeney, of the BBC’s Panorama, the fits were caught on video and, thanks to YouTube, became a sidebar.
Ever since the so-called New Age era, I have been interested in the rise of Wicca and the whole neopagan scene. This trend raises all kinds of interesting issues of coven and state (Do conservative Christians really want equal access laws?), and you really can’t talk about faith in popular culture, especially Hollywood, without dealing with the new consumer-friendly forms of paganism.
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign continues to be dogged by his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here’s the fifth paragraph of a Friday New York Times piece, “Romney Works to Put Skeptics’ Doubts to Rest”:
Reader FzxGkJssFrk (is that his birth name, I wonder?), passed along a piece from ESPN’s Jemele Hill about National Football League rookie Terreal Bierria. The article is rather interesting but the reader noticed something amiss in this passage:
