Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
This week in religion news begins with glad tidings for Anglicans and comedy fans alike: the producers of The Simpsons have invited Rowan Williams, the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, to consider a guest appearance.
Friend of GetReligion Rod Dreher at the Dallas Morning News has flown a red alert flag on the blog operated by the newspaper’s editorial page staff.
Sharon Tubbs does a great job in today’s St. Petersburg Times of relating the play God’s Man in Texas to church-growth pressures faced by clergy across the nation.
The June 21 issue of Time devotes a 10-page cover story to the volatile questions of faith and politics. Time supplements other recent stories about the religion gap:
Yesterday was one of those days when it was frustrating to be a God-beat blogger. You may have noticed that the U.S. Supreme Court punted on the “Under God” pledge case. I’m sure this was a great relief on the Democratic side of the church aisle and a disappointment to the Republicans. A strong, clear decision would have been great for fundraising on both sides.
On Friday the Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane welcomed retired Senator John Danforth as celebrant and homilist during the national funeral for Ronald Reagan. In this interview with Nan Cobbey of Episcopal Life, Chane discussed the elaborate advance preparations for the funeral. Some of Chane’s fellow bishops, who have shown certain imperious tendencies in recent months, would have behaved more like this.
Through the years, I have heard many people speculate about the percentage of Rush Limbaugh’s listening audience that would fall into the “Religious Right” camp.
The indispensable John Allen Jr. of The National Catholic Reporter writes this week about Pope John Paul II’s visit to Switzerland and President Bush’s visit to the Vatican.
Oliver Pritchett of the Telegraph knocks it out of the park in satirizing Christian Aid’s Pocket Prayers for Peace and Justice. The one example Pritchett cites from Pocket Prayers is quite enough: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death” becomes “Even if a full-scale violent confrontation breaks out I will not be afraid, Lord.”
