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Do you ever wish that you could have been present during an interview between a major newspaper and a major newsmaker or popular personality? This happens to me when I read a really amazing quote and then think to myself, “OK, if the reporter didn’t follow up on that by asking this question, he (or she) should be abandoned in journalism purgatory.”
The latest wave of Pat Robertson madness has rolled on throughout the day. Here is a large chunk of one of my favorite statements. The name of this game is to guess the source.
I wanted to make a note of a remarkably weird religion story playing out in Italy where a judge has ordered a priest to prove “that Jesus Christ existed,” reports The Times.
Here we go again. Click here. Then click here, again and again. Then leave your comments. Your friends at GetReligion will attempt to read them if we have the strength.
I believe the woman’s name was Anna Casto. She appeared several times during the Wednesday NBC Nightly News coverage of the Sago Mine disaster. Her comments were blunt, agonizing and stunningly on target. I wish I could quote them to you, but I do not have Tivo and, for once, got caught without a notepad nearby.
I know it sounds weird, but I think December is the hardest time of year to be a practicing liturgical Christian. During Advent we mark a solemn time of prayer and preparation for Christmas. And then when we’re ready to party and celebrate the 12-day Christmas season, very few other people are. Just when I get my tree up, everyone else is taking theirs down. There’s a predominant cultural feeling that Christmas has passed and it’s on to New Year’s, college football champsionships and the Superbowl. In fact, the notion that Christmas is a 12-day season is so forgotten that most people have no clue what that Days of Christmas song references. Which is probably why no one brought me my 12 drummers drumming today.
Monday night, on my way to Monkeytown in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, I stepped out of the Bedford stop to the sight of a large menorah in the back of a pickup truck. Lubavitcher Jews were mingling about asking people if they were Jewish. My response of “no” got me a “Happy New Year anway!” but those who are Jewish were offered information about improving their religious life. Or so I assume. Judaism is not exactly the most inclusive religion out there. They could have been sharing information about how to build tree houses or commit a heist for all I know. That’s why I was struck by the missionary-type zeal of the group. Of course, Chasidim are kind of known for that.
There is something in this sprawling Mark Steyn essay to fire up just about anyone. I realize that this is off the normal GetReligion path, but there are the hooks of major news stories — many rarely covered — throughout the text.
