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For months, I have complained that newspapers have given readers too little information about the electoral preferences of religious and non-religious voters. Then came last Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary. Now I know where to look for more information: the denominational press (the competing Baptist newsrooms, to be specific).
The YFZ Ranch story was supposed to be about child abuse. No one will argue that when children are being abused, the state has broad powers to step in and stop the abuse no matter what justification is used to try to legitimize the abuse. No religious belief justifies any type of child abuse.
Today is Holy Saturday and, for Orthodox Christians around the world, the great feast of Pascha is only hours away. The key is to get some rest, between the many long and stunningly beautiful services.
Could there have been two more dramatically different religion stories last week than Pope Benedict XVI’s first trip to the United States and the ongoing drama with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints? It is completely understandable that almost all religion reporting resources focused on papal coverage, but I keep hoping that we’ll see some really good coverage of the ins and outs at the Yearning For Zion compound ranch in West Texas.
How often does a reporter get to write about the 100th birthday of a religion? The Miami Herald, no stranger to covering off-beat religions (at least from the perspective of a reader in the United States), has a rather unusual story on the “uniquely Brazilian religion” of Umbanda.
It’s not mainstream media, but enough readers sent along this recent Cybercast News Service story by Pete Winn that I thought we’d take a quick look. The article features biblical scholars challenging whether a quote used by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in favor of political solutions for the environment is found in Scripture:
Regular GetReligion readers will not be surprised to know that I noticed the New York Times story that ran with the headline, “Kremlin Rules — At Expense of All Others, Putin Picks a Church.” I noticed it and other people made sure that I noticed it, too.
Blaine Harden of The Washington Post faults the Catholic church for keeping Filipinos poor. The gist of Harden’s story is that by opposing artificial contraception, the church has intimidated people in heavily Catholic Philippines into having more unwanted children.
You can find maps showing the leading church bodies per county in the United States and the state of South Carolina divided into four regions, according to the preferred style of condiment used on barbecued food. But the most recent map caught my eye, which you can see right here.
