Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
A few years ago, I had the joy of watching Dr. Martin Marty tear up a stack of newspapers during a forum (here’s a column on that) about religion and the news at the University of Nebraska.
Many theories have been tossed around for why Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling avoided discussing religion and her books. One of the more popular theories was that she didn’t want to be typecast or shunned for any personal views that could affect books sales.
Last week I expressed my disappointment in Paul Elie’s essay for The Atlantic on various efforts to claim the mantle of Reinhold Niebuhr. Wilfred McClay — who was one target of Elie’s essay and a friend of this blog before this blog even existed (i.e., a friend of mine through email) — dropped me a note to express his dismay about Elie’s treatment of his remarks.
As part of a Los Angeles Times series on homelessness, faith and values reporter Stephanie Simon spent some time in Denver looking at a government program that involves a Democratic mayor and a challenge to the area’s churches, synagogues and mosques to work with the 600 or so homeless families in the community in a mentorship program begun two years ago.
For all the navel-gazing that journalists do, one problem area they seem completely blind to is religion coverage. So I love to highlight examples of journalists calling for better religion coverage.
There’s a big religion story going on in Baltimore right now and it centers on what most evangelical or even fundamentalist Protestants would call a “revival meeting.”
The business section of any newspaper should contain a religion story every now and then. An ad for Grapes of Galilee Wine in Catholic Digest caught the attention of Los Angeles Times staff writer Alana Semuels, who put together a short, quippy article that covers all the necessary bases when one is writing about Christians and alcohol:
I am sure that all of you GetReligion readers were caught up in the Hollywood excitement about the release of the latest film from one of the most daring and independent (and profitable) filmmakers of these times. What? You weren’t racing to the local multiplex to check out Why Did I Get Married? After all of that buildup in the mainstream press, like the screaming reviews and ads for Michael Clayton?
