Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Today’s New York Times front page features a story about a hotly debated issue at many Christian colleges and universities. Yes, gay, lesbian and bisexual students attend religious schools and yes, many of them disagree school policies ranging from behavior to campus activism.
As a rule, I am not a fan of those little mini-opinion features that editors have started attaching to online news stories in order to gain an extra click or two for the website’s daily statistics. However, I thought that the following question offered an important insight into a Washington Post story that focuses on one of the most symbolic and emotional issues facing Islam today in the Western world.
Yesterday was Palm Sunday, which meant special services for many Christians. My congregation gathered outside with palms for the first reading, then sang the 9th century hymn “All Glory, Laud and Honor” as we all processed into the sanctuary. Our children’s choir, bell choir and horns were all in action. And we also had what I’m sure is the longest Gospel reading of the year, so long that we took six singing breaks. The reading is literally 141 verses long, All of Matthew 26 and all of Matthew 27. I wrangled and threatened my children and somehow we got through it. I’m also happy to report that my 1-year-old has stopped shouting “No!” during the sermon. Mostly.
One of the reasons so many big stories in our mainstream press are “haunted” by religion ghosts is that many reporters are confused about what is and what is not “religious.”
Forgiving the poor attempt at humor in the lede, the Los Angeles Times had a good, informative story about the existential crisis facing the Conservative movement of American Judaism.
I love writing about religion and economics, but my true passion is baseball. If I could combine writing about baseball with writing about religion or economics, that would be the best.
It’s time for another Crossroads podcast, so please click here to tune that in on your computer or head on over to iTunes. We’re talking Bob Dylan and I think that it’s safe to say that Dylan is in better shape right now on the whole China sellout thing than, oh, Maureen Dowd & Co.
Filed conveniently under “odd news,” UPI has picked up a story that has been across blogs, Twitter, and provided convenient fodder for the outraged.
Some people look at Newsweek‘s precipitous decline as an example of how to destroy a magazine. (Its most recent issue had six ads.) Other people apparently want to emulate it. Or so I’m led to believe by TIME magazine’s decision to have former Newsweek editor Jon Meacham write its cover story celebrating Rob Bell and his views on hell.
