Last week, I was pretty hard on a New York Times report about the latest round of quote, “ethnic,” unquote violence in Nigeria. This story was very light on the details when it came to describing the role that religion plays in a nation that is, literally, divided by faith.
Telling half the story
I was reading this Washington Post story about how “some” Muslims don’t want to fill out U.S. Census forms for fear of how the federal government will use that information.
Scanning the NYTs headlines
Here is a question for GetReligion readers and other consumers of mainstream news. Does the name “James Pouillon” ring any bells for you?
A Brit's ode to Joel Osteen
Joel Osteen is “the new face of Christianity.” That breaking religion news out of Houston — published 4,845 miles away in London — arrives courtesy of a 3,800-word profile in The Observer, which boldly declares:
God ghost in Haitian schools
It’s been two months since Haiti was rocked by a catastrophic earthquake, and the American attention span for this humanitarian crisis is clearly waning. That’s why it’s good we have media outlets constantly reminding us that Haiti’s problems are still ever present.
Tea parties: scalding or soothing evangelicals?
Either the religious right is cozying up to the “tea party” movement or it fears it. Depending which story you read, that is. The first article to hit our mailboxes this morning was the Los Angeles Times. “Social conservatives put religious twist on ‘tea party’ message” says that activists are working together based on a shared concern over growing government.
True confessions about confession
NYT: All of Christendom condemns Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck’s comments about social justice last week made the blog rounds earlier this week, and the reaction has been somewhat predictable. Some ignore it; some eat it up; others are ready to condemn it. Here’s what started it all:
They're BAAAAAAACCCCKKKK
Your GetReligionistas have a long, long, long, oh so long history of struggling with the question of whether mainstream reporters should continue covering the staged-for-media hatefests that seem to be the only reason for the existence of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan.
