2014-08-29T14:27:54-04:00

Last updated on: August 29, 2014 at 2:27 pm   By

Why are Syrian Christians being targeted by Islamist rebels? The Western press cannot agree on a reason, a review of recent reports from Syria reveals. Can we credit the explanation given by the Wall Street Journal — that the rebels do not trust Christians — as a sufficient explanation? And if so, what does that mean? Are the reports of murders, kidnappings, rapes and overt persecution of Christians in Syria by Islamist rebels motivated by religion, politics, ethnicity, nationalism or is... Read more

2014-08-29T14:27:54-04:00

Last updated on: August 29, 2014 at 2:27 pm   By

Well, there is no question that the buzz-worthy story of the day is the further adventures of the modern shepherd who is now being hailed as the Cold Call Pope. Trust me, it would be easy to jump into the doctrinal implications of this story, because the stakes for the church and the papacy are very high. Rod “friend of this blog” Dreher has already gone straight there: Why is this such a big deal? Because if the pope himself... Read more

2014-08-29T14:27:55-04:00

Last updated on: August 29, 2014 at 2:27 pm   By

For anyone unfamiliar with Rep. Vance McAllister, he’s a Louisiana congressman who ran on a Christian family values platform. But now he’s in trouble with some voters — and presumably his wife — after he got videotaped kissing a staff member (not a peck on the cheek, by the way). Last week, I praised the serious, respectful nature of the New York Times’ reporting on McAllister’s predicament, his request for forgiveness and the various reactions of folks in his northeast... Read more

2014-08-29T14:27:55-04:00

Last updated on: August 29, 2014 at 2:27 pm   By

It’s time to set the wayback (actually, it’s WABAC) machine for the year 2003, when editors of The Atlantic Monthly published one of the most famous anecdotal ledes in the recent history of American politics. The article was called “Blue Movie: The “morality gap” is becoming the key variable in American politics” and the essay opened like this: Early in the 1996 election campaign Dick Morris and Mark Penn, two of Bill Clinton’s advisers, discovered a polling technique that proved... Read more

2014-08-29T14:27:56-04:00

Last updated on: August 29, 2014 at 2:27 pm   By

Fittingly, stories of rebirth and renewal made their way to many newspaper front pages on Easter Sunday. One of my favorites ran in the Chicago Tribune. That story, by Angie Leventis Lourgos, highlighted Christians such as Edeette Chukro, a Syrian who celebrated her first Easter in America: Easter is bittersweet for those seeking refuge like Chukro and her family, who were among the Christian minority in Syria. They fear for their loved ones overseas. They worry their mass exodus will diffuse their... Read more

2014-08-29T14:27:57-04:00

Last updated on: August 29, 2014 at 2:27 pm   By

You know all of those news articles you see published every year at Ramadan that ask if Muhammad really heard from the archangel Gabriel? No? Well, how about all the stories each Divali that cast doubt on the goddess Lakshmi’s ability to bless her worshipers? No? Then how about those articles for Eastertime questioning whether Jesus really did rise from the dead? Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding! Yep, those come out every year. Case in point: a feature in the... Read more

2014-08-29T14:27:57-04:00

Last updated on: August 29, 2014 at 2:27 pm   By

During the annual pre-Easter season of snarky or mildly negative religion stories, I think that I received more personal emails about the Pope Benedict XVI vs. Pope Francis story in The Atlantic than any other item (even more than the Mrs. Jesus media blitz, if you can believe that). Quite a few readers wanted to critique some of the alleged facts in the story or note some of its inconsistencies. For example, at one point Benedict is portrayed as an... Read more

2014-08-29T14:27:58-04:00

Last updated on: August 29, 2014 at 2:27 pm   By

If you live in the Mile High City (no pun intended), you woke up Sunday morning to this banner headline on your hometown paper’s front page: Welcome to Weed Country Happy Easter to you, too, Denver Post! Another Colorado newspaper had a much better week than the Post — and not just because it won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. The Colorado Springs Gazette, edited my my friend and former colleague Joe Hight, filled up two-thirds of its Sunday front... Read more

2014-08-29T14:27:58-04:00

Last updated on: August 29, 2014 at 2:27 pm   By

Inspiring, uplifting stories have been hard to find in recent decades in the world of Episcopal vs. Anglican infighting, especially when it comes to in-the-trenches doctrinal warfare at the local and regional levels. However, the religion-beat team at The New York Times thought it had one the other day. The headline: “Two Ministers Forge Friendship Across a Church Divide.” This news feature worked, kind of, on the macro level. However, many of the micro details were out of focus and... Read more

2014-08-29T14:27:59-04:00

Last updated on: August 29, 2014 at 2:27 pm   By

JANET ASKS: What is your opinion on the historicity of the ancient text mentioning Jesus’ wife? What are the implications for the Christian faith? THE GUY ANSWERS: To decide what to make of this text, which has one word that apparently says Jesus was married, it’s all-important to know when it was written. So the wits at www.christianitytoday.com take the prize for funniest religious pun of the month, if not the year, with their headline: “How to Date Jesus’ Wife”... Read more

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