Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Here is another example (click here for previous discussion of a similar case) of a major story from Britain that needs — somehow — to be confirmed at a level great than the voice of one person who wields great authority. Consider the lede in the Telegraph report by Jonathan Wynne-Jones:
The headline in Saturday’s Detroit News brought the news that the “controversial” church of Scientology had paid $3.5 million for a prominent downtown building for office and outreach program use. The larger story is that Scientologists in Michigan are moving their headquarters and expanding to meet a greater demand and need for the church’s services.
That sound you heard the other day in England was nervous coughing. It seems that the leader of the U.S. Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, is determined not to let gays, lesbians and bisexuals in England sit on the sidelines while traditionalists in the rest of the world take shots at her troubled flock.
The New York Times had a fascinating story about gay Muslims in Berlin. Reporter Nicholas Kulish interviewed visitors to a gay nightclub in the Kreuzberg neighborhood and produces a piece showing how young Muslims — many of them immigrants — are navigating their sexual identity and religion:
On the TV right now, Chris Collingsworth of NBC is talking about the Washington Redskins and the belief among the players that they are playing in honor of the late superstar Sean Taylor and that he is still with them.
Where I grew up in California, Saturdays were for Quinceaneras (why won’t WordPress accept the letter n with a tilde?). If you drove by the Catholic church at the right time, you’d see what looked like a wedding party pouring out. The Associated Press’ Eric Gorski uses the hook of Quinceaneras to discuss how the Roman Catholic church in America is embracing its changing identity:
For three years, reporters told us that the Democratic Party had gotten religion; that Democratic leaders were seeking to “level the praying field” and embracing the religious left; that Democratic presidential candidates felt comfortable discussing their faith.
One of the many reasons why I am not the world’s best reporter is that I like to ruminate on events for a while before I write about them. In a 24-hour news business, this is not the best trait.
While I am not trying to turn this into a sports blog, we are in the bowls and playoff session — a series of secular holy days — and the topics keep coming up. Thus, I spend a really interesting hour the other day on the telephone with Washington Post sportswriter Kathy Orton, who will, apparently, be writing an ongoing feature at the “On Faith” weblog called “Praying Fields.”
