, , ,

Michael Vick, sinner

, , ,

It should be clear to just about anyone who reads major newspapers that we live in an age in which it is is safer to use religious language when describing secular sins than when describing what used to be called religious sins. It’s safer to talk about the sin of burning too much gasoline than the sin of lust. It is acceptable to judge certain secular forms of behavior, but not other forms of behavior that we have said are purely religious and private.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , ,

Mammon's global reach

, , , , , ,

Michael Linton of First Things‘ blog, Public Square, has highlighted an emerging story that touches on a favorite theme of GetReligion’s editors: The intersection of faith and commerce. In “The Malling of Mecca,” Linton describes the construction of Abraj al Bait, which will offer space for 600 retail outlets, hotel rooms and posh apartments, all towering over the holiest site in Islam.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , , ,

Day of mourning for secular fundies

, , , , , ,

The email is starting to come in asking when GetReligion is going to have something to say about that New York Times Magazine cover story from this past weekend, the massive piece called “The Politics of God” by Mark Lilla. The sad thing about it is that I am three time zones away from my office and involved in some long, long meetings in which a circle of journalists and academics are, during the break times, talking about this piece.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , ,

God's Warriors: blatant moral equivalency

, , , , ,

Christiane Amanpour’s CNN series, God’s Warriors, seems to be a well-intended effort at explaining in-depth religious issues prominent in today’s world. Amanpour deserves credit for raising the visibility of international issues. That she has a total of six hours of prime-time television over the course of three days this week to focus on these issues is also a plus.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, ,

Sources, anyone?

, ,

An Episcopal priest in Louisiana sent along a story that ran on KSLA-TV in Shreveport. The provocative headline — “Homeland Security Enlists Clergy to Quell Public Unrest if Martial Law Ever Declared” — promises a juicy story. Particularly for civil libertarians like myself who fear just such hypotheticals. Here’s the lede:


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , ,

The uncovered story of religious repression

, , ,

One of the things we like to do at GetReligion is watch a story develop and jump on it once the momentum has reached a certain level (or that could just be whenever we get around to it). That can work with those multiple-day stories that are likely to make it into the newsweeklies, while other times the stories are built on similar themes over a longer stretch of time.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , ,

Wrestling with lies and demons

, , , ,

As I rode home on the MARC train the other night, I saw several people reading the sprawling Washington Post features section piece on the sad lives and early deaths of professional wrestlers Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit. This led into a series of hard-to-answer questions about why so many wrestlers die young, other than the assumed impact of illegal steroids on their hearts.


Please respect our Commenting Policy
, , , , ,

What do emerging churches believe?

, , , , ,

Eileen Flynn of the Austin American-Statesman had a huge package of stories on the emerging Christian church movement, both in Austin and throughout the country. The four-story series (here, here, here and here), along with solid photos by Laura Skelding, covers the emergent church movement that started in the late 1990s by a group of young Christians who worried about the gap between traditional churches and young people without formal church backgrounds or were frustrated with traditional churches.


Please respect our Commenting Policy