I hope you’re having a day that enables some thoughtful reflection on this anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States. It’s a day that changed many of our lives and is the main reason why I became interested in religion writing. Eleven years ago, I knew very little about Islam. The more I study it and read about it, the more I realize how little I know and how much I have left to learn. And... Read more
One of the hardest concepts to explain to people who have never worked in a newsroom is why some events in a city are “news stories” in the eyes of most journalists and other events, that seem similar, are not. A suburban megachurch builds a massive family-life center and it isn’t news. The same evangelical church builds a new parking lot that — in the eyes of its neighbors — clashes with zoning laws and the story goes straight to... Read more
First things first. I need to state, right up front, that I am the father of a student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Thus, I am quite familiar with this rather unique campus, which, while operating with a title that sounds like a commuter school, is actually an unusually diverse and proudly nerdy honors campus. UMBC is turning into an important story in Baltimore, in Maryland and in higher education, in general. You can’t come anywhere near UMBC... Read more
Mali has been full of interesting, if tragic, religion news recently and this most recent story is no exception. Here’s how the Associated Press put it: Sixteen Muslim preachers from a moderate sect were shot dead in central Mali as they traveled by road to a religious conference, the Malian and Mauritanian governments said Sunday. Early reports indicate that the men’s long beards aroused the suspicion of Mali’s military, which confused them for the extremists who have taken over the... Read more
On this week’s Crossroads podcast, host Todd Wilken and I discuss coverage of some of the religion battles at or near the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. We also talked, briefly, about coverage of the Pakistani Christian girl who was charged with blasphemy and the imam who was charged with setting her up. In comments to that last post, a reader pointed out that the twists and surprises in this story keep on coming. The Guardian wrote up how the... Read more
So The Washington Post ran a story the other day that made me feel very strange, for strictly journalistic and, yes, political reasons. The story focused on the retirement of John Carr, for 25 years a key public policy adviser to the U.S. Catholic bishops. The whole point of the story is that the bishops are now being led by people — I assumed that meant Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York — who are, shall we say, immoderate. They... Read more
Obviously, the Divine Mrs. M.Z. Hemingway was all over the political conventions this week. I must confess that I focused on events in a different religion in American life. Well, duh. I live in Baltimore. So even though MZ went deep on the whole “God” and “Jerusalem” story, as a pro-life Democrat I was still fascinated by this train wreck in the Democratic Party platform. Also, I work and read news on Capitol Hill, so it’s hard to avoid waves... Read more
I could not have had more fun watching the conventions. Before they began, if someone had asked me which convention would have the more dramatic religious stories, I would have picked the Republican one in a heartbeat. What with Mitt Romney’s Mormonism and his evangelical base and all that. But it turned out that all the interesting religion news action was over in Charlotte, where the Democrats gathered. There are so many stories — and their coverage or lack thereof... Read more
The BBC’s inability to comprehend religion is not a new story at GetReligion. Often as not the corporation appears oblivious to the faith dimension of a story. I should say the BBC’s religion reporters are a professional lot and there are a number of fine specialty programs that treat faith issues well and when it focuses on religion it does a good job. It is outside the religion ghetto that the BBC fails to “get religion.” This item, “Virginity cream... Read more
Islamophobia is back in the news, this time courtesy of CNN. Just in time for the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, CNN splashes this headline atop a 1,700-word report: Rising anti-Islamic sentiment in America troubles Muslims When you see that headline, what kind of details do you expect the story to provide? At the very least, I expect to find cold, hard facts backing up the claim made. Not to give away the ending, but this report... Read more
GetReligion
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In