Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
I mean, talk about an evergreen topic on the religion beat. The primary problem with this story from the Detroit Free Press, which tragically got picked up by the United States’ largest newspaper, is that it suffers from dry rot.
As Bobby “Bible Belt” Ross Jr. noted the other day, this summer’s meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention did all kinds of interesting stuff. I choose to write about the Gulf of Mexico resolution for Scripps Howard, but, frankly, the divorce resolution was just as interesting and I still hope to dig into that one. It is rare to see conservative believers (or liberal believers, for that matter) point the finger of judgment at themselves.
There was something that confused me about this Associated Press story “Pope to create new office to fight secularization.” It’s by no means an in-depth story — just a quick wire report on some business that came out of Vatican City this week. But check out this lede and supporting paragraphs:
I’m a big fan of brinner: breakfast for dinner. When I found out about this addictive website called Jim’s panckes, I lost a good 15 minutes of productivity. Let’s just say pancakes could be categorized under “a few of my favorite things.”
When it comes to issues of sports and faith, your GetReligionistas have one basic rule and here it is. If journalists are going to let a sports figure play the “God card” — especially if this person is in any way controversial (think Michael Vick) — then the publication owes the reader at least one paragraph of information that actually attempts to report some basic facts about this alleged religious influence in his or her life.
The Supreme Court handed down a decision on Monday that dealt with the gay rights and religious freedom by looking at how non-discrimination clauses can come into conflict with the freedom of association. We’ve looked at Christian Legal Society v. Martinez before here, here, here and here.
The smartest piece I’ve read so far about the Twilight phenomenon, was Caitlin Flanagan’s essay for The Atlantic. To date, I haven’t read the books or seen the movies, but my Mormon upbringing has made me somewhat attuned to a subject that otherwise is primarily of interest to adolescent females. Anyway, here’s Flanagan’s take on the books’ religion and morals:
My views are simple. Political: Sober. Religious: Well … actually that’s not so simple. My Facebook profile suggests as much. There I say that I’m a “God-fearing Christian with devilishly good Jewish looks.”
Obviously, if this post is a shameless plug for The God Blog, that means that it is a shameless plug for young master Brad A. Greenberg.
