Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
As far as I know, veteran Godbeat and popular culture scribe Mark Pinsky isn’t dead (although I haven’t heard from him in a week or two, so I will check). His website is nice and up-to-date looking.
I don’t know what’s more surprising. That Joe Eszterhas became a Christian or that a mainstream media paper did such a good job of telling the story of his conversion.
In The New York Times, reporter Amy Harmon wrote about a Florida ruling that requires state schools to teach evolutionary biology. Her lede began with the story of a high school teacher who attempted to instill evolution’s principles into his students:
One of the things for which Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert was best known was his informed follow-up questions and his tenaciousness in pursuing an issue when a guest waffled or misinterpreted. Russert, a devout Catholic, was noted for his questioning of then-Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore on the issue of when life began.
I realize that authorities in the American Catholic hierarchy are currently debating the ecclesiastical status of Sen. Joseph Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
So I’m out here in beautiful Denver covering the Democratic Convention (I also came for my sister-in-law’s awesome naturalization ceremony last week!) and it’s been a blast. The spectacle is amazing, the crowds are enthusiastic, the alcohol is flowing (even in the morning!), the protesters are fun to watch. It’s everything I could have hoped for in a convention.
The general public may be tuned out, for the most part, but for political primates here inside the DC Beltway, the national political conventions remain The Shows, a kind of crazy cross between the Olympics and reality TV.
The news of poll results showing that two thirds of all British Muslims students do not believe that it is OK to kill people in the name of Islam creates an interesting case study of poll coverage. Or something like that.
Considering how many Christians follow the liturgical calendar, the media seem not to get it. In a news environment that seeks change and conflict, the liturgical calendar is a constant.
