The word on the Brooklyn streets in 1959 was that a crazy preacher from Pennsylvania was helping addicts find the power to kick heroin and gang members to trade their weapons for Bibles. Reporter John McCandlish Phillips heard the talk in local churches and took the tip to his metro editors at The New York Times. This was more than a religion story, he argued. This was something truly new in urban ministry in a rough corner of the city. The editors just didn't get it. "The New York … [Read more...]
Old religion-beat questions linger, even after 25 years
April 15, 2013 By 1 Comment
Every year or so, editors are asked to sit patiently while market researchers dissect thick reports about what consumers say they want to see in their newspapers. That was already true back when Harry Moskos was editor of The Knoxville News Sentinel. But he immediately noticed something strange, when handed the executive summary of one late-1980s survey. Two words near the top of the subjects valued by readers caught his attention -- "religion" and "family." Yet the professionals … [Read more...]
Yet another preying Presbyterian?
July 30, 2012 By 1 Comment
Once again, shocked onlookers painted from familiar palettes as they described the latest young man to march into the public square with his guns blazing. The alleged killer was a moody, quiet loner who excelled at school. He was a normal guy who loved movies and super-hero tales, only he cheered for the villains. When seen in bars, he was usually sitting alone. Journalists also quoted people who knew the family and said that James Holmes was once, as The Los Angeles Times noted, "heavily … [Read more...]
Why Chuck Colson spent Easter in prison
April 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
It wasn't the typical Bible text for an Easter sermon, but the preacher knew what this congregation needed to hear. Never forget, he said, what Jesus proclaimed in his first sermon: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed." This isn't the sermon that many believers hear on Easter, but it's the one that prisoners need to hear, … [Read more...]
2012: It’s religion news deja vu
April 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The late, great Associated Press religion reporter George Cornell noticed a striking pattern as he dug into a 1981 survey of journalists in elite newsrooms such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, ABC, CBS and NBC. In the space marked "religion," 50 percent of these elite journalists wrote one word -- "none." "They wrote 'none' and many even underlined that word," said Cornell, in an interview conducted for my graduate project at the University … [Read more...]
BBC leader says race trumps religion
April 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The full-page New York Times advertisement by the Freedom From Religion Foundation was certainly blunt -- starting with its headline telling "liberal" and "nominal" Catholics that "It's Time to Consider Quitting the Catholic Church." Conservative Catholics were outraged and called the newspaper's leaders hypocrites, claiming they would never dare to run such a fierce and offensive ad that targeted believers in other faiths, especially Islam. Sure enough, a group called Stop Islamization of … [Read more...]
God, Allah and Rick Warren
March 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
At the Dome of the Rock on Jerusalem's Temple Mount, centuries of Islamic doctrine have literally been carved into the shrine's walls. Two quotations on the northwest wall will be of special interest to anyone interested in the latest whirlwind of controversy linked to evangelical superstar Rick Warren and his giant Saddleback Church. The outer face inscription states, in part: "Praise be to God who has not taken a son and who does not have any partner in dominion. ..." On the inside, after a … [Read more...]
Religion 2010 — Rose petals in Pakistan
January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment
In terms of giant headlines and spilled ink, there is no question that the lightning strike by U.S. special forces that killed Osama bin Laden was the year's most spectacular news event, featuring a deadly brew of religion, politics and violence. Thus, it isn't surprising that members of the Religion Newswriters Association selected the death of the world's most infamous radical Muslim as No. 1 in their poll to name the year's top 10 stories on the religion beat. In addition to the symbolism of … [Read more...]
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