West Point cadet quits, citing religion

Last updated on: December 7, 2012 at 12:41 pm By mollie

I’ve long been fascinated by stories about religious practice at the service academies. My brother attended the Air Force Academy in the 1990s and the religious pressure there was quite strong. His commanders didn’t quite accept that the generic Protestant service at the beautiful chapel there wouldn’t quite work for him (Missouri-Synod Lutherans don’t worship in a unionistic manner). They were suspicious as to why he needed to go off base for Divine Service, etc. My father-in-law attended the Naval... Read more

Who’s feeding the starving people?

Last updated on: December 6, 2012 at 7:53 pm By Bobby Ross Jr.

If you’re familiar with USA Today, you know that the front page generally features a few short, newsy pieces and a longer “cover story” that goes in depth and jumps inside the newspaper. Wednesday’s big story focused on the poor still struggling to recover in an Ohio county despite some overall positive signs on the economic front. As the Gannett flagship newspaper is apt to do, the 1,800-word report mixes a rapid-fire barrage of sources: real people, experts and government data.... Read more

Some journalists waking up to Egyptian realities?

Last updated on: December 6, 2012 at 12:44 pm By tmatt

Day after day the news from Egypt seems to get darker and more confusing. This morning, in The Los Angeles Times, things were summed up like this: CAIRO — Anger between Egypt’s rival political camps erupted into street battles Wednesday after Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Morsi tore down tents belonging to antigovernment demonstrators, raising the possibility of widening violence over the nation’s proposed constitution. Pro-Morsi factions overran about 200 protesters camped outside the presidential palace in north Cairo. The... Read more

The soul in Dave Brubeck’s jazz

Last updated on: December 6, 2012 at 4:58 pm By mollie

Jazz great Dave Brubeck died yesterday, a day before his 92nd birthday. Along with much of the rest of the world, I was a fan. I have a sizeable record collection and found you could hardly go wrong with a Brubeck LP. I was curious how the obituaries would handle his sacred compositions and his religious life — including his reception into the Catholic Church. In recent years, there has been some great journalism on this front. I first learned... Read more

Memory eternal: A giant of Orthodoxy has died

Last updated on: December 6, 2012 at 11:40 am By tmatt

Let me state right up front that, as a member of an Antiochian Orthodox parish, this post hits close to home. However, this is also a story that is linked to one of the most important news trends in our world today, which is the growing state of chaos in Syria and the plight of religious minorities in the wider Middle East. For weeks now, Eastern Orthodox Christians have been praying for the safety of His Beatitude Ignatius IV, the... Read more

Why is police victim’s religion such a secret?

Last updated on: December 5, 2012 at 11:56 am By mollie

A friend sent along a story to me about a religious row that ended in death. He wondered what religion was involved. Here’s the first story I read, from ABC News (Australia), which begins: A inquest into the death of a man shot last year by police in Castle Hill, in Sydney’s north-west, has heard he was provoked by two men who had insulted his religion. The Coroner Hugh Dillon said Rodney Elkass was not a gangster or trouble maker,... Read more

Self censorship at the New York Times

Last updated on: December 4, 2012 at 11:19 pm By geoconger

An International Herald Tribune report about Pakistan seems a bit confused as to what constitutes sectarian violence. Written under the title “Christian Aid Worker Is Shot in Pakistan” the article from the New York Times’ international edition ties together three different stories in one article. But it does not want to say why. This story with a dateline of Hong Kong is a compilation of Pakistani press reports and wire service bulletins. As per its ethical reporting standards, the Times‘... Read more

And now, ironic Episcopal PR from South Florida

Last updated on: December 4, 2012 at 3:17 pm By tmatt

I wish there was some way, legally and technically, that I could have GetReligion readers take a look at the following two stories about the advent of same-sex union rites in the Episcopal Church without readers being able to tell which one is from a mainstream newsroom and which one is from the denomination’s own information source. Guess which one makes a more concerted effort to wrestle with and to report on the views of Episcopalians who disagree with this... Read more

For some reason, someone forgave someone else

Last updated on: December 4, 2012 at 1:12 pm By Bobby Ross Jr.

If someone took your child’s life, would you forgive the killer? Renee Napier did. But why? That’s the giant unanswered question — the ghost — in a recent CBS News report: TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Not many convicts consider themselves blessed, but Eric Smallridge does, and for good reason. He’s getting out of prison — way early. “It’s going to be like being on borrowed time, because I know I should still be in prison, because the justice system said I... Read more

Pod people: Can the MSM find centrists in gay-rights wars?

Last updated on: December 3, 2012 at 10:54 pm By tmatt

As a journalist, there are few things that I find more interesting than listening to the views of liberal thinkers who ask questions that make liberals nervous, or upset, and conservative thinkers who ask questions that make their fellow conservatives nervous, or upset. As a rule, I am pro-sweaty palms when it comes time to cover heated debates in the public square. Thus, I have long been fascinated with the following passage in an essay at The Advocate by the... Read more