Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
There is no question that Rep. John Murtha was a giant on the Democratic side of the aisle in the House of Representatives. Thus, it was no surprise that his funeral received significant coverage in the publications that specialize in covering life on the Hill.
Just last month I wrote about the “gospel of easy money,” and in that post were a few links to stories of pastors living unusually lavish lifestyles. If you read that post, and easily discerned my contempt for such behavior, you’d expect that similar stories immediately grab my attention. Stories like this one from WFAA News 8 in Dallas/Fort Worth:
Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent for Western Christians. On this day, Christians have traditionally focused on their utter and complete sinfulness and the necessity of Christ’s suffering and death to earn their salvation.
A neurobiologist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville is accused of killing three colleagues on Friday. She opened fire at a faculty meeting and also injured other faculty. The full story is still coming out and, as the New York Times put it in a headline, “Twists Multiply in Alabama Shooting Case.” She fatally shot her brother 20-plus years ago and some question how the case was handled by the police. And she and her husband were questioned, though not charged, in a bombing incident at Harvard.
Remember that recent burst of coverage about the Vatican being interested in aliens and, thus, the question of whether little green men would, or would not, have eternal souls?
It probably either feels like “eternity” or “just yesterday” when we first read reports of Haiti’s devastating earthquake that has left over 200,000 people dead.
Frequently we criticize reporters for ignoring or obscuring the role religion might play in stories about socio-economic trends. But here’s a case where a reporter led with the religious angle when looking at a new report that shows that Utah had the fifth-highest foreclosure rate in the nation.
