The way I see it, Rupert Murdoch is, all by himself, one of the most interesting puzzles in all of journalism.
Marriage or funeral for Beliefnet?
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Praying to plug the oil spill
As Gulf Coast residents deal with the worst oil spill in U.S. history, The Washington Post reports that — surprise, surprise — some people are finding comfort in prayer.
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Holy courts! The Christians are coming
There are two sad elements to this story from the Los Angeles Times, titled “Gaveling for God: Christian lawyers seek judgeships in move that could blur church-state line.”
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Army of Muhammad returns?
As I was working throughout the early hours of Monday morning, I had a front-row seat to the unbelievably tragic conflict unfolding in the Mediterranean Sea between Israeli commandos and pro-Palestinian activists. Except that most of the networks were limited by the holiday and the wee hours. That meant I was getting a lot of information by searching the flotilla hashtag on Twitter. What popped up was a fascinating mix of heartbreak, passionate outrage, shocking anti-Semitism and information of varying veracity.
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Symbolic details for Memorial Day
Anyone who has spent more than a few hours in Arlington National Cemetery has probably seen, from a distance, a military funeral of some kind. For me, it’s impossible not to get caught up in the specifics of these rites, the symbolic details that offer details of the life, rank and service of the deceased. If Arlington is a cathedral in American civil religion, then these details are part of its high-church liturgical rites.
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Confucianism and Communism
I’ve been spending my Memorial Day reading articles from my own personal GetReligion “guilt folder,” stories that I knew would be interesting but would take time to digest.
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The Times answers its own question
Tragic news in Pakistan a few days ago. According to the The New York Times, 70 people were killed in religious violence in an attack by the Taliban:
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Unearthing the truth about Copernicus
When I think of a classic example of a mainstream news story that is in urgent need of GetReligion treatment, the opening goes something like this:
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Catholic teachers, Catholic unbelievers?
The other day we had a lively comments-page discussion of whether it is acceptable for Catholic schools to ask the parents of students to either affirm or, harder yet, live by the central teachings of the Catholic faith.
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