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Don’t tell the folks at Westboro Baptist Church, but there was a story out of Kentucky last week that was bound to be circulated in newspapers and on TV Web sites. “Church to ordain sex offender” was the headline of an AP report from the Cincinnati Enquirer. First the news, then I’ll get to what was missing from it:
Few issues in newspaper style have created as much controversy as the question of what to call the two sides in the culture wars over abortion. As I understand the style that has evolved, newspapers that seek balanced, fair coverage of the two sides have two solid options.
I love following Michael Paulson’s Articles of Faith blog but one of his posts last week depressed me. He was explaining that he was at the Religion Newswriters Association 60th annual convention where travel budgets and downsizing of the religion beat meant decreased attendance. He said that when he first started covering religion for the Boston Globe nearly 10 years ago, the beat was almost trendy:
It’s a little surreal to be pondering this post on the day after the eighth anniversary of September 11, when two hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center towers, one hit the Pentagon, and some amazingly brave men and women brought down another hijacked plane in western Pennsylvania.
The article by Matthew Kaminski, a member of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, sports a clear, concise headline: “A Coach’s Faith.”
It’s an opinion piece, not a news article, but some of you might be interested in something I wrote for the Wall Street Journal‘s Houses of Worship column yesterday. I took a look at how President Barack Obama’s faith-based initiative office compares with Bush’s. After reminiscing about some of the warnings that Bush’s office was leading the country to a theocratic form of government, I wrote:
Here’s a gridiron-and-God story for all of our readers in the beautiful state of Texas who just got home from a high school football game:
I am sorry to be returning to this topic — the missing voices of the pro-life left — so quickly. However, there’s no way around it at the moment.
I say that if you either enjoy Dan Brown’s novels or believe them to be true, you get whatever you deserve. Okay, I’ll give you Angels & Demons out of generosity but other than that, you’re on your own.
