The dead beat

The other day my three-year-old daughter told me she missed her cemetery. (Until a few weeks ago, we lived near a beautiful, historic cemetery in Washington, D.C. We’d take walks in it most days and read tombstones as we played and ran around.) I loved hearing her say that because I always loved the cemeteries I grew up around, too. As a pastor’s kid, I wasn’t shielded from death and dying. I love Lutheran funerals so much that I’ve been known to attend ones for members of my congregation I wasn’t close to. And while I never planned out my wedding, I have written down what hymns I want sung at my funeral. And I’ve told my husband I want as simple a box as possible and no embalming. I do want a nice tombstone and I want my family to come visit me often.


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Xmas Star Wars ('Happy Life Day!')

GetReligion readers who pay close attention to church-state issues this time of year — also known as the “Christmas wars” — just knew that this story was coming. Actually, in this case we are talking about a specific battle in the larger war that breaks out every year in mid-November, or thereabouts. It’s the battle over the creche in the public square (usually a civic lawn).


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Explaining Festivus to the rest of us

I’m surprised we haven’t seen more coverage of Festivus, which is something of a countercultural tradition in more ironic circles. It was the holiday that became famous after it was written into a Seinfeld episode. Thirteen years ago, believe it or not.


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Breaking terror news from 2004?

On Saturday night, Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly tried to murder as many Swedes as possible by blowing up his car and himself in crowded areas where people were busy shopping for Christmas gifts. Amazingly, and perhaps due to an inadvertent early detonation, he was the only person killed. Two others were severely injured. All signs point to radical Islam as the motivator for the deadly violence. It’s interesting to see how different media outlets lead their early stories on the terrorist once his identity was established. Here’s the Telegraph:


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Predicting '12 presidential picks

When reporters talk about the 2012 presidential election this early, it can generate the same feeling as when stores start putting up Christmas decorations before Halloween: too soon. It’s as if there aren’t any other major events going on in the world to report on, right?


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Yearning for suicide, glory or both?

The topic of this Boston Globe magazine piece could not be more explosive — literally. It’s about suicide bombers and the controversial issue of why they do what they do.


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