2013-01-15T23:11:14-05:00

Last updated on: January 15, 2013 at 11:11 pm   By

This story came to my attention via the great, seemingly omnipresent Rocco Palmo, who tweeted out: PBS “report” declares Womenpriests as “Catholic priests”: http://to.pbs.org/V2y2BB  On a related note, we’re all PBS reporters. We’ve seen lesser media outlets decide that various women are “Catholic priests” (in a way that we can only assume they wouldn’t also decide that I’m a Yankees pitcher or the about-to-be inaugurated president of the United States even if groups were calling me such). But PBS? And... Read more

2013-01-15T12:05:15-05:00

Last updated on: January 15, 2013 at 12:05 pm   By

One thing is certain, the facts boldly stated in the headline at The Telegraph are enough to grab readers from the get-go. Gay marriage could signal return to ‘centuries of persecution’, say 1,000 Catholic priests The story opens with an imposing block of paraphrased and quoted material from the letter, which was signed by some key bishops as well as priests. The key, however, is the word “some.” More on that later. More than 1,000 priests have signed a letter... Read more

2013-01-15T14:23:05-05:00

Last updated on: January 15, 2013 at 2:23 pm   By

The BBC has an extraordinary report on its website detailing Sunday’s march in the French capital by opponents of a government bill to create same-sex marriages. Fact free, disdainful of opponents of gay marriage, incurious as to the intellectual and moral issues at play, lacking in balance, padded out with the author’s opinions and non sequiturs — this report entitled “Mass rally against gay marriage in France” is a poor outing for the corporation. It has the feel of a... Read more

2013-01-14T10:46:24-05:00

Last updated on: January 14, 2013 at 10:46 am   By

The New York Times has a story headlined “Pakistanis Protest the Killing of 86 Shiites.” It begins: ISLAMABAD — Protesters and distraught family members of 86 Shiites from the Hazara ethnic group killed in two bomb blasts on Thursday in the southwestern city of Quetta braved biting cold to stage a sit-in on Friday, refusing to bury their dead till the Pakistani Army took control of the city to provide them with security. Later we’re told: Quetta, the capital of... Read more

2013-01-13T19:54:06-05:00

Last updated on: January 13, 2013 at 7:54 pm   By

While things are not going very well in his second playoff game with the Seattle Seahawks (writing at halftime), it’s pretty clear that the amazing success of the undersized, yet tough as nails, quarterback Russell Wilson has been one of the National Football League’s most amazing stories this year. The Washington Post produced a profile of the rookie the other day, which ran within days of a similar story — the latest of many — about another amazing rookie, Washington’s... Read more

2013-01-12T23:13:02-05:00

Last updated on: January 12, 2013 at 11:13 pm   By

A decade ago, as a Tennessee-based religion and enterprise writer for The Associated Press, I profiled Dave Ramsey. I opened my 2003 story this way: NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A chorus of cheers filled the Cornerstone Church’s arena-style sanctuary as Christian financial guru Dave Ramsey snapped a pair of metal scissors. The crowd squealed with delight as Ramsey sliced a credit card in half. “It’s called plastic surgery,” joked Ramsey, whose syndicated radio talk show airs daily on 160 stations. Ramsey,... Read more

2013-01-14T11:32:03-05:00

Last updated on: January 14, 2013 at 11:32 am   By

This week’s “Crossroads” podcast with host Todd Wilken was recorded much earlier in the week. We discussed Dan Gilgoff’s departure from CNN and the lessons he learned there, the lack of coverage of the Passion 2013 conference in Atlanta last week, and that excellent New York Times story on a family forgiving their daughter’s murderer. You may listen to it here. Here at GetReligion, my suggestion that this Passion event could have received more coverage was met with a mixed... Read more

2013-01-11T22:13:43-05:00

Last updated on: January 11, 2013 at 10:13 pm   By

Anyone who has been to the Middle East, or who has spent much time talking to natives of that troubled region, knows that there is much more to its conflicts than religion. At the same time, anyone who has visited the region, and talked to Jews, Christians and Muslims from its lands, knows that there are few subjects there that can be discussed at length — especially controversial issues — without religious beliefs and traditions coming into play. That’s just... Read more

2013-01-11T15:50:02-05:00

Last updated on: January 11, 2013 at 3:50 pm   By

The Dallas Morning News ran a tame little feature recently on efforts to recruit Muslim foster families in North Texas. By “tame little feature,” I mean a relatively shallow report that scratches at the surface of key questions. I’m a Morning News subscriber, so I was able to read the entire story (for non-subscribers, it’s mostly behind a pay wall). The opening itself proves confusing (boldface emphasis mine): A lack of Muslim foster parents in North Texas means local Muslim children... Read more

2013-01-11T11:40:34-05:00

Last updated on: January 11, 2013 at 11:40 am   By

Washington Post Book World fiction editor Ron Charles tweeted out this morning: Changing times: Gay inaugural poet hailed; anti-gay inaugural preacher dismissed: ow.ly/gJopc, ow.ly/gJotK And the links go to just that — stories about the hailing of a gay poet and about a Christian pastor who taught traditional Christian doctrine on homosexuality twenty years ago being disinvited from the inauguration. Yes, changing times. These are times that have been advocated strenuously for by the mainstream media. Many journalists don’t try... Read more

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