Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
For several days, I have been trying to decide what to write about the teddy bear named “Mohammed” in the Sudan. I was trying hard to avoid it, since the GetReligionistas strive to write about how the press covers religion events, as opposed to commenting on the religion events themselves.
Newsweek‘s cover story this week about the roots of Rudy Giuliani’s worldview was like a one-sided, incomplete version of 1985′s Heaven Help Us. Both depicted Catholic schools in the 1950s and ’60s in New York City as authoritarian and rigid. But in contrast to the movie, which pointed out that many priests were holy, compassionate, and down to earth, Newsweek stressed that parochial schools were a breeding ground for autocrats like “America’s Mayor”:
USA TODAY religion reporter Cathy Grossman had a great story the other day about the religion blogosphere headlined “Bloggers keep the faith, contentiously“:
In a cover story for the Dec. 3 Time, Jeffrey Kluger quickly jumps into a collective voice, oddly crediting humanity as a whole for the most noble behavior while also blaming it for the worst horrors. As early as the second paragraph, he’s revealing a tone of scientism that weaves throughout the piece:
The business section of The New York Times had another story in its series on how religious institutions in America benefit from government accommodations.
Unless you are a sports fan, you may not know that the Washington, D.C., area has headed into that strange zone in which people gather in the public square for prayer meetings that end with emotional renditions of “Hail to the Redskins.”
Kevin Eckstrom, the editor over at Religion News Service, just dropped us a line with the news that his wire service has updated and expanded its weblog.
Michigan State University’s student newspaper, The State News, had a solid feature story a couple of weeks ago by Petra Canan that takes a fresh and personal look at the local Christian Science congregation. Apologies for not mentioning this sooner, but it is important not to let this one slip by.
My two favorite parts of some newspapers are the obituary and corrections sections. And Sunday’s New York Times did not disappoint:
