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Shira Schoenberg of the Concord Monitor wrote an interesting story about a Jewish Orthodox politician. Or at least her story was interesting, fascinating even, about the ritual and personal aspects of Jason Bedrick’s faith.
Tim Townsend of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has won praise for his coverage of an excommunication dispute between a priest and six laymen at a church and Archbishop Raymond Burke. As Mollie noted, Townsend has explained to readers that the battle is not over any sexy theological or moral issues, but rather over church authority.
The new folks here inside the Beltway — that would be The Politico — had a very important story the other day about a reality that will almost certainly help shape the GOP race for the White House in 2011 and 2012 (that is, if you assume that the Clintons have enough stuff on Barack Obama to force him into the VP slot and that the story plays out from there with a GOP loss).
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams gave an interview to the BBC this week that is sending shockwaves throughout England. Here’s a relevant excerpt from the full interview, in which he advocates that aspects of sharia law be introduced to England:
The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University has set up an indispensable Internet tool for those tracking religion in the 2008 presidential election. Any reference to faith by a major presidential candidate is logged on the Web site and categorized by topic.
As regular GetReligion readers know, in my day job I am the director of the Washington Journalism Center, which is one of the semester-length student programs associated with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. One of the schools that has been most active in our journalism-education work here has been Union University in Jackson, Tenn.
It is interesting to watch how journalists cover the ongoing legal saga of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church. The most recent news has a judge cutting in half the punitive damage award granted by a jury to the father of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder after the group protested at the Marine’s funeral.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee had an impressive Super Tuesday and his victory speech was covered by all the networks and major media outlets. His speech was filled with religious imagery. ABC News’ Jake Tapper filed a great report on Huckabee’s standing, full of his notable context and analysis.
Last night, while watching the election returns from Super Tuesday roll in, I pined for the Democratic presidential contests of the 1970s.
