Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
What do we reporters mean when we apply the word “diverse” to religious congregations? Do we mean diversity in the pews at a service or diversity at a house of faith? Also, don’t Catholics operate by a different type of diversity: one that’s diverse but not integrated?
Is it too late to vote, yet again, in the poll to name the most important religion-news stories of 2007?
Of the many routine Christmas-themed stories that local reporters could take on, The Detroit News picked a difficult story Monday that is not quite so predictable. Reporter Catherine Jun looked at what is perceived to be an increasing trend of Muslims in southeastern Michigan celebrating Christmas.
If a producer wanted to make a movie of a day in the life of the Carmelite nuns, he or she could do worse than reading a recent story about them in The Washington Post. Reporter Michael E. Ruane’s article captured the spirit of the contemplative order’s daily rhythms:
In a day and age in which newspapers fail so miserably at answering the question “What does Christmas mean?” (apart from generic platitudes of goodwill and commercialism), I have to commend Tim Townsend and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for a story that gives a completely theological response.
That post from the other day about the Dallas Morning News Solstice coverage continues to draw interesting comments.
Before the day is done and I start the bedtime reading rituals for the night, let me share one last tale for this day one of the 2007 Christmas season.
One of my favorite reporters covering the Iraq War is the New York Times‘ Damien Cave. One of his two stories for today’s paper is about a Christmas service in Baghdad. Cave skillfully packs details into his account of the festival service:
