Back when I worked in retail management, secret shoppers were the bane of our existence. The corporation would hire people to come in and rate our service, orderliness, appearance, etc. You never knew when they were coming and their results seemed to vary wildly. You’d be praised on a day when you knew you and your team weren’t giving their best and rated viciously on another day when you were slammed and keeping everything going despite numerous obstacles.
Sympathy and controversy
Remember the Episcopal priest who became a Muslim? We discussed coverage of her story here and here last year.
Sarah Palin ain't a fundie
We rarely discuss opinion columns here, unless they contain content that might be helpful to mainstream reporters who are trying to cover religion news in the mainstream.
Scarecrow journalism
The concept of “religious rights” makes a walk-on appearance in a recent Los Angeles Times article — only to be yanked unceremoniously off the stage.
Newsweek -- RIP
This post is not about Gov. Sarah Palin, even though it’s about the latest Newsweek cover story about her role in the current White House race and, should she be elected, the fall of Western Civilization.
Good without God
Given all the coverage of the New Atheist movement, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more religion beat stories on average atheists. Peter Smith of the Louisville Courier-Journal wrote a story about local atheists and freethinkers a few weeks ago that has been getting republished throughout the country. It begins with an anecdote about a woman who experienced a feeling of euphoria when she became an atheist a few years ago:
Deciding when to forgive
Whenever really dramatic news breaks, I wish I could see how the future will play out for the various parties. But reporters rarely write about the ongoing lives of people who made news in the past.
God in the flames
Nice job, Julie Bloom of the New York Times, for an article about a successful God-themed film written and produced by three Baptist pastors from Georgia. You tackled the interplay between faith, commerce and art, which can be a minefield, clearly and without condescension.
Newsweek scare-quotes non-quotes
Newsweek‘s Lisa Miller has written a mostly thoughtful and revealing profile of Kirbyjon Caldwell this week. The story describes how Caldwell, pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston, introduced George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention in 2000, voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004 and has now changed his political loyalties.
