If you are interested in the future of Islam, which means you are interested in the future of world affairs, then you are interested in Indonesia.
Battle of (missing) ideas in Indonesia
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The medium and the message
Pope Benedict XVI is on a visit to Portugal. As is his custom for trips outside the Vatican, he takes reporters’ questions while in-flight. One of the responses has gotten quite a bit of media coverage. Here’s how Reuters put it:
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Let's play, 'Edit The New Yorker'!
When I think about great magazine features about religion news in the age of GetReligion, some of the first stories that leap into my mind are headlines like “The Jesus War,” which probed the roots of Mel Gibson’s “Passion” play on film, and “Jesus in the Classroom,” which offers an unusually balanced and nuanced account of the battles over religion and American history in the elite public-school classrooms of Cupertino, Calif.
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Why? 'Zeal' for living as a Muslim?
Anyone who knows anything about Islam knows that devout Muslim believers who practice their faith do not drink alcohol. It is not very hard to find this out, as this Google search shows (Muslim beliefs on drinking alcohol).
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Anglicans and/or Episcopalians?
Church splits, as anyone who’s ever been unlucky enough to endure one can tell you, are difficult. Writing about them is difficult, too. The point of disagreement leading to a break might not be the same for everyone. Different causes get lumped together. Personalities are wounded. It can be a mess.
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A mistake is a mistake, right?
And now, a word from Richard N. Ostling, one of the most celebrated religion-beat writers of the late 20th century.
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Instruments of worship warfare
Here is a sticky question: What is a reporter supposed to do when writing a story about a religious group that does not see itself as a denomination and strives not to use traditional (remember that word) language to describe itself and much of its work? Do you use the traditional terms and explain that the group being covered does not use them or do you use the group’s unique terms, knowing that you’ll need to translate them for readers?
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Which religious views are appropriate?
Let’s start with a bit of background. Last week, a federal judge ruled that a law authorizing a National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. That day is marked in early May and observances can continue until all appeals are exhausted. There’s a group called the National Day of Prayer Task Force. It focuses on Christian events and they worked with the Pentagon chaplain’s office on a National Day of Prayer event to be held next month. They had invited noted Christian evangelist Franklin Graham to give a prayer. Mikey Weinstein, who runs the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and was also in the news years ago when he fought evangelical influences at the United States Air Force Academy, complained about his invitation and by Thursday, the invitation was rescinded. (And I’m not sure if it’s coincidence or not, but President Barack Obama is actually meeting with Franklin Graham and his more famous father, the Rev. Billy Graham, today!)
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More than samosas and saffron
Did you read this Sunday New York Times story about Swami Ramdev headlined “Indian Who Built Yoga Empire Works on Politics“? I don’t know if it was worse as a religion news story or as a political news story but it really failed to even begin to adequately explain either the religious or political situation in India.
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