Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
A few readers sent along an interesting CNSNews.com report that says the U.S. State Department removed from its country reports on human rights those sections covering religious freedom:
You know, I love a good news report involving the details of liturgical events and the Agence France Presse recently served up, well, a really BIG liturgical story.
Three months ago, I threw a fit about a St. Paul Pioneer Press report that focused on a black pastor who lost three-fourths of his congregation after endorsing same-sex marriage.
We heard a few comments last week about NPR’s coverage of various nun issues. Some thought it was one-sided or too shallow but I was intrigued by this report claiming that NPR devoted 14 minutes on Friday to support of nuns who’ve been criticized by the Vatican for failing to uphold Catholic teaching. I wondered how many minutes were devoted to religious freedom rallies that were held nationwide on Friday. And while I’m not sure if I’m doing the Google thing correctly, I think it looks like zero minutes. NPR did throw an Associated Press story up on the web site, but I can’t find anything else.
A few years ago, I read a fascinating story in the New York Times about Buddhist teachers Michael Roach and Christie McNally. A decade earlier, they’d taken vows never to separate, night or day. And yet, the article explained, they were celibate. It was one of those interesting, if a tad fluffy, stories written under the heading “Living Together.” The headline was “Making Their Own Limits in a Spiritual Partnership:”
Because I go to church near the Pentagon, my congregation is blessed to have many chaplains as part of our membership while they serve there.
One of the most interesting facts about the branch of Orthodoxy to which my home parish belongs is that the Church of Antioch is one member of the family of Eastern churches that has rarely controlled its own culture and, thus, its own destiny.
