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I am always amazed by the amount of information that we receive day after day, week after week, from faithful, and even faithless, GetReligion readers. We would be dead in the water if not for the many interesting URLs that people send us for “haunted” stories in their local media.
I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to report on the relief and recovery efforts in Haiti, much less manage or participate in them. I keep reading the news and feeling sicker and sicker. One of the things that struck me about personal emails or messages out of Haiti is how they all emphasize the religious lives of the survivors. And it’s nice to see that much of the mainstream media coverage is touching on that as well.
Journalists in the mainstream press often talk about covering both sides of a story fairly and accurately. I can say “Amen” to that, even while acknowledging that it is rare to cover a major story that only has two sides. Nevertheless, the key is for journalists to keep seeking multiple points of view, especially when covering a subject as complicated as religion.
It seems like over the last 10 years or so, I’ve read roughly eleventy-bajillion trend pieces about the confluence of environmentalism and religion. Most of these pieces have been fairly uncritical about or even cheerleading this commingling. So I wasn’t terribly enthused to see this New York Times story, “Pastors in Northwest Find Focus in ‘Green.’”
I have my share of friends who have consumed a bit too much Kool-Aid, when it comes to their devotion to “Lost.” I tried to watch an episode or two (and enjoyed those wonderful “Lost” in eight minutes features), but I just don’t have the commitment to hang in there for the long haul.
After I broke my leg when I was seven, I remember how painful it was to hobble up and down the steps at church. Before my leg healed, I remember asking my peers to hold one of my crutches so I could get down to a class. It felt quite dramatic, and I can’t imagine the lengths people have to go through if they are in a wheelchair. This is the issue that the Associated Press tackles in a recent story on how disabled worshipers struggle to find their place in the pews. The story is a good idea; the execution of it? Not so much.
I do not know about you, but I have been overwhelmed by the coverage of the earthquake in Haiti. I feel like I have been stranding underneath a digital waterfall of pain, trying to make some sense out of all of the details, trying to see the larger picture.
The Orthodox church that I attend is part of the ancient Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese, which means that its ancient liturgical language is Arabic, even though our pan-Orthodox congregation uses English about 99 percent of the time.
