Some religious denigration is better than others

Last updated on: October 9, 2012 at 9:37 am By mollie

Back when the Obama administration was still claiming that they believed the assassination of the United States ambassador to Libya was in response to a YouTube video, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: “The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind.” In President Obama’s... Read more

Get hexed? From our ‘no comment’ department

Last updated on: October 8, 2012 at 1:57 pm By tmatt

Let me be honest with you. I am not sure how to start this post. After all, I could simply say “click here” and send GetReligion readers to the Washington City Paper item in question and that would be that. In fact, I think I’ll do that in a minute. But I honestly think there is a story here — a religion-news ghost beyond the obvious ones — and I’ve been searching for a way to put that into words.... Read more

Replacement referee goes to church. But which church?

Last updated on: October 8, 2012 at 11:28 am By mollie

A reader brought to our attention an interview of replacement referee Lance Easley by James Brown on yesterday’s NFL Today show on CBS. I’m a fan of JB’s interviewing style and he packed quite a bit into the seven or eight minute sit-down. Easley is the referee who made the controversial touchdown call at the end of the Seattle Seahawks game against the Green Bay Packers a couple of weeks ago. Obviously the bulk of the interview was a pretty... Read more

Lies, Damn Lies and Polls

Last updated on: October 5, 2012 at 10:04 pm By geoconger

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain”, the voice of the great and powerful Wizard of Oz tells Dorothy and her companions amidst the clap of thunder, clouds of smoke and frightening images of power and omniscience. Yet all things come to an end, and the wizard’s unmasking soon follows as Toto (a dog) pulls aside a curtain, revealing the great and powerful wizard is but a humbug. “I’m a good man,” he tells Dorothy, “but a very... Read more

Sun at it again: Ghost in McLouth’s comeback

Last updated on: October 5, 2012 at 1:55 pm By tmatt

GetReligion readers, near and far, please pause and ponder the bizarre circumstances that were required to put me and Bobby “I like baseball in 100-degree-plus weather” Ross, Jr., in the same location — a pub near the Religion Newswriters Association meetings near the Beltway — on the night when his beloved Texas Rangers (who just couldn’t do their duty against the Oakland A’s) face my Baltimore Orioles, who are back in the playoffs after, what, 50 years? OMG, it’s almost... Read more

Boundaries on reporting on religion and politics

Last updated on: October 5, 2012 at 9:31 am By mollie

Yesterday I told you about the pre-conference to the Religion Newswriters Association annual conference being held over the next few days here in the Washington, D.C. area. Because the speakers were all situated on one side of the aisle, more or less, I mentioned that the pre-conference is organized independently of RNA. But the best panel was this one: What Should the Boundaries Be on Reporting on Religion and Presidential Politics: Bill Keller, The New York Times; Melinda Henneberger, The... Read more

Hundreds of Godbeat journalists hit the Beltway

Last updated on: October 4, 2012 at 10:47 am By mollie

The Religion Newswriters Association annual conference is being held over the next few days here in the Washington, D.C. area. The entire GetReligion team will be in town (even the Rt. Rev. Douglas LeBlanc, the co-founder of this operation) to talk shop and most of us will be around for at least some portion of the three-day RNA run. For some of us (OK, me) it’s a first-time event. Others are old timers at this conference. Suffice it to say... Read more