Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
We’ve had quite a bit of very serious content lately about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and in lands nearby. The massacre in the cathedral in Iraq set off an important wave of new coverage.
One of the oddities of the current conflict with Islamic radicalism is how one bit player can have such a big effect on things. Take Zachary Adam Chesser, a Northern Virginian convert who threatened the creators of “South Park” for, well, not portraying the Prophet Muhammad. This led to an attempt to defend First Amendment freedoms through the Everybody Draw Muhammad Day. And that led not just to Pakistan blocking access to Facebook for a while but also to the founder of the day having to go into hiding, and change her livelihood, name and identity.
That was sort of my reaction to a Dallas Morning News story on a Southern Baptist church “making history” by adding women deacons.
Sports rivalries are nothing new, but when you add religion to the mix, that can create some extra drama. A Sports Illustrated feature describes the anguish Kyle Whittingham felt between coaching football at his alma mater Brigham Young University or–where he ended up–with the University of Utah.
There is a truly shocking journalistic development in the Los Angeles Times report about the sudden and surprising early retirement of one of the world’s most famous bishops — Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the leader of the tiny Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. He was, of course, the first openly gay and noncelibate bishop enthroned in the worldwide Anglican Communion.
A Christian woman in Pakistan has been sentenced to death for blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad.
As you would expect, there was a wave — totally justified — of press coverage of the major speech that was delivered by President Barack Obama during his return to Jakarta, Indonesia, a city that he called home as a child. To read the speech text, click here.
Like many Angelenos, I have long since soured on the mayor of our great city. It’s still shocking to me that he basically moonwalked into a second term. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s personal peccadillos and ethical standards aside, his tenure, like his personality, has been more show than biz; all talk, no game.
