Christians are numerous. What’s their problem?

Last updated on: December 19, 2012 at 4:42 pm By mollie

Yesterday, Pew came out with a new “Global Religious Landscape” report. Much of the media coverage has been focused on the relatively high percentage of people who are religiously unaffiliated. We’ll probably need to look at how some media continue to confuse everything between atheism and multiple religious traditions into one grouping. The Washington Post had a blog item that had a markedly different focus, headlined “Our Christian Earth: The astounding reach of the world’s largest religion, in charts and... Read more

The late Rev. Fred Rogers fills his pastoral role, once again

Last updated on: December 19, 2012 at 12:55 pm By tmatt

During the past few days, how many of you have either (a) seen this picture and the following quotation on Facebook or (b) have received an email with a URL that points you toward this material? The quotation, of course, is this one: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in... Read more

Dancing alone in that D.C. Franciscan hermitage?

Last updated on: December 18, 2012 at 3:25 pm By tmatt

Back in my Rocky Mountain News days, I covered an ecumenical gathering in Boulder, Colo., focusing on contemplative prayer and meditation. One of the main speakers was a leader at the Nada Carmelite monastic community — part of the Spiritual Life Institute — located in Crestone, Colo., at on the western face of the Sangre de Christo mountains. During the question-and-answer session, the mother abbess was asked why she kept insisting that her prayers and meditations were focused on the... Read more

Who? What? When? Where? Hunh?

Last updated on: December 18, 2012 at 1:47 pm By mollie

I am confident I found the weirdest religion news story of the month. The This Is Somerset (UK) news site had a story about a darts fan who “bears an uncanny resemblance to Jesus” getting “kicked out of a major tournament as he was putting off the players.” Bearded darts fan Nathan Grindal was kicked out of a live televised final after the 4,500-strong crowd interrupted play by chanting about him. Mr Grindal was enjoying the clash between Phil Taylor... Read more

The Guardian does not get Tim Scott

Last updated on: December 18, 2012 at 10:31 am By geoconger

Amongst your GetReligion correspondents I was the last to board the twitter train. Now I knew about this micro-blogging tool and had heard of tumblr and instagram — and I even had a Facebook page. But I was slow to utilize these communication tools in my reporting. I cannot explain this reticence, for since I was a child I have been fascinated by these tools. One of my memories of childhood was accompanying my father to his club in the city.... Read more

Coming soon to a TV near you: ‘The Bible’

Last updated on: December 17, 2012 at 9:14 pm By Bobby Ross Jr.

It only took 2,000-plus years, but ‘The Bible” is making news. Seriously, both USA Today and the Wall Street Journal ran features today on the epic miniseries scheduled to air next year on the History Channel. From USA Today: Famed television producer Mark Burnett tackles his projects with passion, but The Bible is a special labor of love. The 10-hour, five-part docudrama, which premieres March 3 on the History Channel, will span the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, presenting some of its best-known... Read more

So a rabbi and a priest and 20 parents walk into hell

Last updated on: December 17, 2012 at 10:36 pm By tmatt

So, how many GetReligion readers will be able to forget watching the Robbie Parker press conference, accompanied by the image of his blue-eyed, angelic lost daughter Emilie? Not me, that’s for sure. I was struck by his early reference to the gifts given to her by “her Heavenly Father” and, while that is very standard Christian language, the minute the network aired a picture of the young family, with it’s three young daughters, I immediately wondered if they were Mormons.... Read more

Telling Newtown’s story sensitively

Last updated on: December 17, 2012 at 11:32 am By mollie

I hope you can see the picture here. If you can’t, please click here for a larger image. I saw it on Adam Gabbatt’s Twitter feed on Dec. 15. He’s a reporter for The Guardian. He added: Now at special service at St John’s church in Sandy Hook. Bunch of over-zealous photographers were just asked to leave You don’t say! I can not imagine what it would be like to be trying to worship in peace at a time of... Read more

Not all ‘nones’ are atheists

Last updated on: December 16, 2012 at 11:17 pm By mollie

In England and Wales, there were 37.3 million Christians in 2001, representing 72 percent of the population. In the most recent census (2011), that had dropped to 33.2 million or 59 percent of the population. Religion News Service had a brief story about this that included these graphs: Figures from the 2011 Census show the number of people declaring themselves to be atheists rose by more than 6 million, to 14.1 million. “It should serve as a warning to the... Read more

So, ‘broader societal problems’ in Newtown, or not?

Last updated on: December 16, 2012 at 4:10 pm By tmatt

It goes without saying that the GetReligion crew has been closely watching the coverage of the massacre in Newtown, Conn., waiting for religion shoes to drop. So far, other than coverage of the vigil services, the emphasis — especially at CNN — has been gun control, gun control, gun control. Since I know readers will bring this up, let me stress that, personally, I am in favor of much stricter gun control laws than we currently have in America. However,... Read more