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I meant to post an update on the ongoing story of Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt, but I have been a bit under the weather. Earlier this week, both Washington newspapers covered another protest event at the White House, during which the Navy chaplain ended his 18-day fast — insisting that he had been victorious in his fight to be able to give public prayers in the name of Jesus.
OK, it’s time for another edition of “You Write the Lead.” So you are a reporter for a mainstream newspaper in North America and you are sent to cover this rally of Iranian pilgrims headed to Mecca. What is the lead? Click here for exerpts from the text. (Hat tip to Rod Dreher at the Dallas Morning News editorial blog.)
Many of you faithful readers have been notifying us about this Wall Street Journal article published Saturday (for non-WSJ subscribers, this article is thankfully available to all) on the firing of former Wheaton College assistant professor Joshua Hochschild, who was quite popular with students and highly skilled, before and after his conversion to Catholicism.
As a sidebar to the Divine Ms. M’s post on the Stephanie Simon’s abortion-coverage commentary, let me note that the Washington Post has its U.S. Supreme Court hearings blog up and running again. When I hit the blog this a.m., this excellent multi-media overview of the Samuel Alito grilling was topped by a banner ad for the dispassionate folks at NARAL Pro-Choice America. What are the other blogs that GetReligion readers are watching?
Young master Pulliam previously praised the Los Angeles Times‘ Stephanie Simon for her Nov. 29 piece that profiled a number of women who had abortions at a clinic in Arkansas.
In her weekend column, Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell offered a gentle defense of the newspaper’s work on the religion beat. It is particularly interesting for her to take a look at the topic, because of her years working at Religion News Service and Newhouse News Service. To say that she has some authority on this topic is an understatement.
As I get hyped up for this weekend’s Colts vs. Steelers game, The Indianapolis Star managed to remind me that NFL players are as human as any of us. They make mistakes, they have problems and they need guidance from above.
Honest, I had nothing to do with this! Besides, this “Christians Against Pat Speaking” petition isn’t much of a story at the moment, seeing as how it has only 25 online signatures. The opening sentence is a grabber, however:
