Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Anyone who has been near a news rack knows that one of the major stories in the world today is the birth of South Sudan as a nation, rising out of an ocean of bloodshed and oppression over the past few decades.
Someone alerted me to this discussion from last weekend’s Reliable Sources show hosted by Howard Kurtz on CNN. I’ve never really watched the program but it’s a media program dealing with media coverage. So meta. This past week’s segment featured a conservative radio host named Dennis Prager and a liberal blog founder named John Aravosis.
Some friends of ours recently told of us of their marital disagreement over what happens to them when they die: cremation or burial. It might seem strange for a pair in their late 20s to have this discussion, but posing the possibility might come sooner for some rather than later. Their discussion included theological questions over whether God intends to raise physical bodies from the grave or whether it doesn’t matter and cremation is more environmentally friendly. Average date night conversation, you know?
Back in the mid-1980s, the booming world of Evangelical cable television endured a round of scandals that reporters dubbed “Pearlygate,” which kicked off with the fall of the Rev. Jim Bakker.
A couple of weeks ago, we looked at a particularly bad story about Roman Catholic Womenpriests broadcast on NPR. The story was an absolute train wreck, written by someone who clearly was a fan of the Womenpriests but theologically illiterate about how ordination and excommunication work. Here was how it was teased on NPR.com:
Michele Bachmann has certainly drawn a media spotlight in recent weeks since she announced her candidacy, as some wonder whether she’s just the media’s “flavor of the month.â We’ve talked a little bit about how the media has handled her faith with mockery or puzzlement, and it’s a bit depressing to see little serious coverage of her beliefs so far.
So, let’s say that you are very interested in the unfolding drama of political changes in Egypt. The logical thing to do is to try to find out who is who and which political/religious party is saying what, correct?
Sunday’s New York Times magazine featured a cover story that approvingly discusses sex columnist Dan Savage and the propriety of consensual adultery. There is so much to say about the piece that I almost don’t know where to begin. Let’s first note that the piece is very nicely and ably presented by the paper’s religion writer Mark Oppenheimer and editor Vera Titunik. The quality of the writing is great.
