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Long ago, while I was on the religion beat at the Rocky Mountain News, I covered several protests linked to military facilities — including a memorable day following Catholic activists out across the prairies of Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas looking for nuclear missile silos. Sometimes people got arrested, but most of the time the authorities looked the other way.
National Public Radio had an interesting interview a few days ago regarding the announcement of former Indianapolis Colts coach and Super Bowl champion Tony Dungy’s invitation to President Obama’s White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Yes, the invitation was officially announced (nice work Dan Gilgoff), and yes, Dungy declined that invitation for the stated reason of the time constraints of a retired NFL coach.
Considering how common in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technologies are, isn’t it surprising how little the media discuss the attendant issues?
My only complaint about religion coverage by Zev Chafets is that it does not appear far more often. Chafets is a former columnist for the New York Daily News (an archive of his columns is available at Jewish World Review) who now contributes frequently to The New York Times Magazine.
From time to time, your GetReligionistas have enjoyed poking fun at the mainstream journalists who cannot, simply cannot, accept the fact that Focus on the Family czar James Dobson is not the Rev. James Dobson.
Passover, a time of family gatherings and a myriad of rituals, comes once every year. Birchat HaChama, the blessing of the sun, comes once every 28 years on the Jewish calendar. Owing to the journalistic principle that the rare story is often the better story, Birchat HaChama has been getting an inordinate amount of coverage this year. Both arrive on Wednesday and it looks like Birchat HaChama has already outshone Passover.
This Sunday in Bible Class, one of the parishioners said something about how ours is a “fairly liturgical” church. My pastor immediately responded, feigning offense, “What do you mean ‘fairly’?” The truth is that I am a member of a very liturgical church and our pastor puts a lot of thought into each aspect of the liturgy. He teaches us what each part means and why it’s important. And even though I learned these things as a child, I love the refresher. And I’m very grateful to attend services so rich with meaning.
In the wake of EEE’s post on the latest nonNewsweek sermon from the Rt. Rev. Jon Meacham, please allow me to jump in with a comment or two on the Wall Street Journal counter-statement — before several dozen readers send me the URL.
Many of you know that Newsweek editor Jon Meacham has written books on topics as diverse as the friendship between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, the faith of the founding Fathers, and the nation’s seventh President, Andrew Jackson. In the YouTube clip above, he’s discoursing in a Gettsburg College lecture about faith and President Abraham Lincoln.
