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The Tennessean had a front-page story last week with lots of religion in it. You can get a good feel for the tone of the piece from the headline “Tennessee bill would jail Shariah followers: Proposed law is ‘nonsense,’ critic says.”
As I have said many times here at GetReligion, I cannot think of a topic in my work for the Scripps Howard News Service that draws a higher rate of response from readers than columns I about changes in how believers worship — especially changes affecting the Church of Rome.
Once again, let me stress that I know that newspapers and magazines are going to have to receive payments — somehow — for the work they produce. It’s hard to keep giving your product away day after day and stay in business.
Believe it or not, St. Valentine’s Day was not created by the people who sell chocolates, flowers and strange jewelry. And, believe it or not, the rites that used to be celebrated in churches on Feb. 14 focused on a hero and martyr, not the alleged patron saint of lovers.
So, once again there is a major error in a major story out there in the major media and we cannot really discuss its contents because it is behind a pay-for-content firewall. Trust me, I know that the future of journalism depends on journalists getting paid for the product that they produce, yet I also know that the future includes interactivity and blogging. ‘Tis a puzzlement.
A Tennessee pastor refused to baptize a couple’s baby in church unless they get married. WMC reports.
It is very ironic that one of the only mainstream news-media reports I have read about the plight of Coptic believers in Egypt was in the Baltimore Sun and it centered on the insights of people in — wait for it — Baltimore.
Do you remember that post more than a week ago about the issue of Catholics (and other believers in ancient communions) praying “with,” and not “to,” the saints? This issue came up in the context of the rapid movement of the late Pope John Paul II toward sainthood in the Catholic Church. Click here the original post on that.
We’ve had many days of protests and the conditions are dramatically different now than even yesterday. Protesters, police and military are on the streets of cities throughout Egypt, despite a curfew and unbelievable crackdown on communications. News outlets are reporting that their staff are being beaten up, arrested, or thwarted in their attempts to get the news published and broadcast. There was a surreal moment when Al Jazeera was broadcasting while police were trying to shut them down. Reuters reports that more than 400 have been wounded, some with bullets.
