Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
The years-long property battle between Virginia’s Episcopal Diocese and congregations that departed from it looks to be about settled. As anyone who has been following can attest, the Episcopal Church and the congregations that have departed from it have been engaged in some epic legal battles. I wrote about one angle in this fight a few months ago for the Wall Street Journal Houses of Worship column. That piece began:
On one level, the ongoing New York Times coverage of the church-state showdown over rental policies in city public schools has shown an admirable interest in the plight of specific churches that are struggling to find new homes.
For several years now (click here for an early post) I have been asking a rather basic journalistic question: “What is Newsweek?”
Yesterday, a retired general was supposed to speak at a prayer breakfast but withdrew after backlash from various groups. This piece from the New York Times covering Lt. Gen William Boykin’s withdrawal has been sitting in my guilt file because of the complexities involved.
The front page of Tuesday’s New York Times including a “side bar” by Supreme Court reporter Adam Liptak headlined “âWe the Peopleâ Loses Appeal With People Around the World.”
Sometimes it’s easy to spot those stories where you think, “Wow, you should not try to tackle that subject in 5,000 words.” Or 500 words. Or three minutes.
It’s a subject that causes editors to sweat, knowing that their newsroom switchboards will almost certainly to explode if they dare to cover it. We are talking, of course, about (cue: drumroll) Mormon underwear.
If you’ve been reading GetReligion for very long, you probably know that “cult” is the kind of word that is almost impossible to use in public media without causing riots. Are we talking about a dangerous sociological cult? A doctrinal cult? If so, which religious group’s doctrines are providing the frame of reference in this case?
