The big news at Kurt Soller’s Readback blog over at nonNewsweek comes at the very end of his Dec. 10 post.
That was the year that was
Ah, December — the month of office parties, hearing “Jingle Bell Rock” in airports and reading incessant Top 10 lists. Time is ahead of the pack this year, rolling out 50 lists, and David Van Biema does the honors on the year’s top religion stories.
Jaws: The Christmas special
Tell me, you dedicated readers of religion news, can you imagine anything worse than seeing the following pairs of words in the same story — “Fred Phelps” and “Christmas wars.”
Finding God in the margins
Newsweek vs. subscribers
Earlier this week, rumors began circulating about a major drop in circulation for Newsweek. Some were suggesting a drop from a rate base of 2.6 million to 1 million. A rate base, by the way, is the circulation you guarantee to advertisers.
Thus departed Zarathustra
The ancient and formerly sizable religion of Zoroastrianism is facing dwindling numbers. Followers of the prophet Zarathustra — and devotees of the divine being Ahura Mazda — are worried about the survival of their Persian religion.
Pinsky lives and even laughs
As you may know, this here weblog has been on the move the past 24 hours from one server universe to another. So, while your GetReligionistas wrestle with all of the new bells and whistles in our updated software, let me pass on some good news from the religion-writer hereafter.
Bush's faith: still the same?
I cannot say this with absolute certainty, but the religious aspects of President George W. Bush’s ABC interviews are making bigger waves overseas than in the United States. Part of that might be due to the news of a certain stink emanating from Chicago (even this Indianapolis resident can smell it!). Another aspect may be that U.S. news outlets are less willing to report on a competitor’s exclusive interview.
Picking sources for stories
Newsweek‘s error-ridden and preachy cover story aiming, without success, to argue that the Bible has nothing meaningful to say about marriage, is meriting laughter and disbelief among the religious groups it targeted.
