I am blessed to be a member of an absolutely wonderful congregation. It’s a healthy mix of people who work together to keep the mission of our congregation going and thriving. Our regular focus on the Divine Service inspires all of our mission work, including a parish school and community programs. I had to say that before pointing out this one tiny … issue. See, we have this 100-year-old Nativity scene we set up each year. The older folks in... Read more
A quick online confession: Yes, I am “Terry in D.C.” You see, while I am not in D.C. at the moment, I was inside the only Beltway that really matters at the time that I fired off a quick question to veteran religion-beat writer Richard Ostling at his weblog, Religion Q&A: The Ridgewood Religion Guy answers your questions” (for more info click here). In his format, readers send him basic religion questions and, well, he gives brief, journalism-driven responses. As... Read more
Take up the White Man’s burden– In patience to abide, To veil the threat of terror And check the show of pride; By open speech and simple, An hundred times made plain To seek another’s profit, And work another’s gain. So reads the second stanza of what may be the most politically incorrect poem in the English language. Interpretations of what Rudyard Kipling meant by his 1899 poem “The White Man’s Burden“, written in the wake of the American annexation... Read more
Hey! Time for another GetReligion post about religious issues in sports coverage! Can you hear the cheers from the crowd? Anyway, we have been known to criticize reporters and editors, from time to time, for playing the God card in sports stories (athletes talk about God a lot) and then failing to deliver any content that puts journalistic muscle behind the faith claims. Or an athlete brings up faith in a key quote about his or her life and then... Read more
I imagine I’m not alone in still struggling with the Newtown massacre. Even after witnessing media deluge, the tangential political grandstanding, the unique evil of killing 1st graders is very difficult for me to think about. How do reporters even begin to make sense out of the bloodbath? For many, they turn to politics, which provides comfort for many, including many journalists. I’ve been intrigued by the relative downplaying of religion in coverage. But there was a really good piece... Read more
If the mainstream press has a creed, one of its central tenets is certainly this old truth: All news is local. Somehow, some way, the job of the local editor is to find a way to connect major news events to the lives of local readers — no matter how indirect the connection. Was a local man on the plane that crashed in London? Does the national championship team up in Ohio contain an athlete who used to live in,... Read more
George just posted about an old story being rehashed for Christmas, which reminded me that the regular attempts to debunk Christianity around its holy days has become my favorite tradition. What would Christmas and Easter be like without a semi-blasphemous newsweekly magazine cover questioning some central tenet of the religion? All that to say that the Washington Post‘s piece the “The Evolution of Holiday Celebrations” is a decent entry into the genre. It’s in the Style section, so all expectations... Read more
When does a story grow stale? Does the length of time between first publication of a story and subsequent re-tellings matter? Or, if the news is not common knowledge, is it proper for a reporter to retell the story without acknowledging earlier accounts? My mind turned over this question after reading a piece that reported some archeologists believe Jesus was not born in Bethlehem. “Come all ye faithful…to the ‘wrong’ Bethlehem?” appeared on 24 Dec 2012 in the Times and was... Read more
As we roll through the semi-holy football season of minor bowls, I am happy to report that The Los Angeles Times team noticed that the Baylor Bears had another winning season and, apparently, are playing in some game out on the West Coast. This means that the Times needed to produce a feature story about the Baylor team or one of its stars. That’s in the bowl-season handbook, I am sure. Anyway, those who follow college football — this includes... Read more
Along with millions of other Americans, I am on the road this fine Christmas Day. Thus, when checking into a typical American hotel, I was immediately presented with the Holiday edition of USA Today. Turn the front page and, lo and behold, there is this rather bizarre variation on a very, very familiar story about Christmas. The basic thrust of the story? Hey, did you know that Christmas is different in the Holy Land itself, as opposed to normal life... Read more
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