NYTs on atheists at holidays: Fox Butterfield, is that you?

Last updated on: December 24, 2013 at 3:27 pm By Mark Kellner

There is such a thing as “low-hanging fruit” in life, and, it turns out, even in journalism. I am, therefore, a tad grateful to The New York Times for this easy-to-pick story about atheists who happen to organize gatherings close to the 25th of December, but don’t dare call them “holiday parties.” One bit of explanation: James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal‘s online opinion section, specifically his daily “Best of the Web Today” feature, coined the phrase, “Fox Butterfield, is that you?”... Read more

Pod people: Time’s betrayal of liberalism

Last updated on: December 23, 2013 at 9:58 pm By geoconger

Time magazine’s exercise in gay agitprop was the focus of Thursday’s Get Religion’s Crossroads podcast. This extraordinarily unprofessional and illiberal article violated just about all of the standards of professional journalism — without resorting to alliteration, I enumerated its failings in my story “Time takes sides in India’s sex wars” as: unbalanced, excessive adjectives and adverbs, open support of one side of an argument, short of key facts, lacking context, and stylistically flat. But Lutheran Public Radio’s Todd Wilken and... Read more

HHS ‘religious employer’ definition changed? (updated)

Last updated on: December 23, 2013 at 2:29 pm By tmatt

It would be hard to find a city in American that contains more historic Catholic ministries than Baltimore. Thus, there are quite a few people here in Charm City who are involved in the legal warfare over the Health and Human Services mandate requiring most religious institutions to offer their employees, and students, health-insurance plans covering sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including “morning-after pills.” In particular, the historic Baltimore suburb of Catonsville includes a group linked to a highly symbolic... Read more

There’s that Baltimore Ravens faith ghost — again

Last updated on: December 22, 2013 at 1:14 pm By tmatt

The Baltimore Ravens have been playing some really, really wild football games in recent weeks, a few with endings that several commentators have been tempted to call “miraculous.” Sort of like that playoff game last year in frozen Mile-High Stadium in Denver (sorry, about that M.Z. Hemingway). Anyway, head coach John Harbaugh was asked, in a recent press conference, to name the X factor behind his team. Here’s how ESPN.com reported the response: “The thing I love about our football... Read more

That oh-so-predictable CNN article on ducks and doctrine

Last updated on: December 21, 2013 at 12:48 pm By tmatt

So color me confused. At the moment, CNN is hailing this article — “Does Phil Robertson get the Bible wrong?” — as the “best, fairest, article on Christians and homosexuality you’ll ever read. Fact.” Of course, we are talking about the Duck Dynasty doctrine wars and the GQ interview with duck patriarch Phil Robertson. Thus, the crucial passage of the CNN religion-blog post: Robertson, 67, … paraphrases a Bible passage from the New Testament: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers,... Read more

The Big D’s sex-loving, millionaire megapastor

Last updated on: December 20, 2013 at 7:14 pm By Bobby Ross Jr.

Would a major network such as A&E really consider a reality series featuring a millionaire evangelical family? No, I’m not talking about THAT family. Before “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson became the subject of a gazillion tweets, Facebook posts and news stories this week, The Dallas Morning News ran a 5,000-word feature on a Texas megachurch’s “sex-loving, million-dollar minister.” The piece has been in my guilt file — those stories we at GetReligion want to cover but for whatever reason haven’t... Read more

Duck czar: World-class sinner who has been there, done that

Last updated on: December 25, 2013 at 1:52 am By tmatt

A long, long time ago — pre-World Wide Web — I wrote a column for the Scripps Howard News Service (RIP) and The Rocky Mountain News (RIP) that tried to explain why a very charismatic evangelical leader of national renown insisted on saying that homosexual acts were sinful. The leader was University of Colorado head football coach Bill McCartney, who went on to lead the national Promise Keepers movement. During a 1992 press conference, he was asked about his links... Read more

Paparazzi snap model in church, model snaps back

Last updated on: December 20, 2013 at 10:20 am By Tamie Ross

Can’t a Victoria’s Secret angel slip into a pew without being photographed from the altar? It would seem not, as UK catwalk sensation Cara Delevingne lamented her loss of privacy Thursday on Instagram by sharing an image of two men with camera gear trailing her inside a Florence, Italy, church. The Los Angeles Times cobbled together a story for its entertainment section (the standing feature is called Ministry of Gossip, the Gospel on Celebrity and Pop Culture, which I think... Read more

AP skirts key element of ‘tips for Jesus’ story

Last updated on: December 19, 2013 at 5:40 pm By Mark Kellner

As anyone who’s done it can testify — or, to be candid, so I’ve heard — waitering is a tough job. People are rude, hours are long, and wages are often sub-sub-minimum wage, all in the hope of getting some tips. Thus it ever has been, apparently, and thus it ever shall be. Or, shall it? Someone, the Associated Press informs us, is running around leaving massive, and verified, “Tips for Jesus” on restaurant charge slips: NEW YORK — The... Read more

Pondering duck doctrines and our bubble-bound media elite

Last updated on: December 19, 2013 at 2:19 pm By tmatt

Let’s see. Where should we begin on this oh-so-bizarre morning? What will it be, Pope Francis, Santa Claus or Duck Dynasty? Pope Francis, Santa Claus or Duck Dynasty? As my favorite French History professor at Baylor University used to say, with a world-weary and exasperated sigh: “What a world.” First, let me offer a few relevant confessions on my part. I would like to echo the following Twitter comment by one of the scribes who often hangs out in my... Read more