Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
As I have said many times here at GetReligion, I cannot think of a topic in my work for the Scripps Howard News Service that draws a higher rate of response from readers than columns I about changes in how believers worship — especially changes affecting the Church of Rome.
I’ve definitely read my share of interesting stories related to immigration and the U.S.-Mexico border. This one, about a Muslim cleric who had been deported from Canada getting caught while unsuccessfully being smuggled back into the United States, comes to mind. But I don’t want to sell short a story from the Los Angeles Times about a surge of illegal immigrants coming from … India.
My family and I watch Jeopardy every night. This week we got to watch IBM computer Watson beat the pants off of two human competitors. It was great fun and a good way to learn more about advancements in computer science. One big limitation with computers is their inability to interact with human language. The engineers behind Watson aimed to improve just that.
On this week’s Crossroads podcast, we talk about Newsweek‘s “What the Bible really says about sex” and some of the journalistic weaknesses it contained. We also discuss the shallowness of celebrity coverage when it comes to talking religion.
Publications often set up “experts” to write definitive pieces on certain subjects without asking them to follow some basic journalism standards, such as providing evidence for conclusions. We see this kind of piece from historian Jessica Warner the Globe & Mail on how evangelicals are getting quite sexy.
Back in my high school days in Texas, my minister would look out over the congregation and make the same request each Sunday.
First things first. Let me confess two things before I dive into this Los Angeles Times story about an extremely predictable controversy at Westmont College about homosexuality.
Of all the areas where media coverage of religion seems weak, celebrity news has to be up there. For a recent example, you can read this Associated Press account of Billy Ray Cyrus lamenting the effect of his daughter’s fame on his family. He apparently says, in a recent interview with GQ, that the Disney TV show “Hannah Montana” destroyed his family, caused his divorce and is sending daughter Miley Cyrus spinning out of control. At the end of this brief story, we learn:
