Chuck Smith, fundamentalism and (yes) the AP stylebook

Last updated on: October 15, 2013 at 12:38 pm By tmatt

Readers who have been following this weblog through the years are probably familiar with the following passage in the Associated Press Stylebook. We’ve been dealing with it since the earliest days of GetReligion’s existence (click here for one ancient example). Yes, we are talking about the “fundamentalist” label. That’s the familiar F-word that philosopher Alvin Plantinga of the University of Notre Dame once explained is a common term of emotional abuse, a semi-curse, among academics (and I would argue, far... Read more

Bravo, Boston Globe: An Episcopal anti-violence winner

Last updated on: October 16, 2013 at 9:14 am By Tamie Ross

I love a good story. Thanks to Lisa Wangsness, Godbeat writer for the Boston Globe, I got to read one. Wangsness paints an artful image of 19-year-old Jorge Fuentes a year after he was struck and killed by a stray bullet while walking his dog. Fuentes was, as the vicar of his church put it, “the poster child” for the success of anti-violence program B-SAFE at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the city’s South End. It could have been stale, a... Read more

Chaplains offering real prayers at fake POW/MIA rites?

Last updated on: October 14, 2013 at 5:14 pm By tmatt

Dang! Just when you thought that the news couldn’t get any weirder and darker for the U.S. military and, in particular, for military veterans. I’ll get to the chaplains in a minute. First of all, here’s a shout out to NBC News for covering this story and, whether it was intentional or not, including the highly relevant religious angle. So what’s the lede? A branch of the U.S. Department of Defense has, for seven years, been holding fake memorial rites... Read more

Catholic university acts, well, Catholic — media stunned

Last updated on: October 14, 2013 at 2:17 pm By Mark Kellner

“Is the pope Catholic?” is an old question, suggesting a rather obvious answer. Of course the pope is a Catholic, so the old saying flourished. Neverthelss, there are mainstream journalists who seem to be surprised when a Catholic institution actually acts like one. The sweep of the Second Vatican Council apparently gave lots of people the idea that “Catholic” is some kind of generic brand name and not necessarily an identity, with specific traditions and doctrines, to be maintained or (gasp)... Read more

Is the ‘New Atheism’ any different from old atheism?

Last updated on: October 14, 2013 at 10:35 am By Richard Ostling

BETH ASKS: Are there any substantive differences between traditional atheism vs. what is called “New Atheism”? Or is the term used just to describe a bunch of popular books (Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, etc.) coming out at once? Who coined the term “New Atheism” and can it be described as a new philosophical movement (or reframing of an old one)? THE RIDGEWOOD RELIGION GUY ANSWERS: The “New Atheism movement” originated, or at least gained wide currency, with a 2006 article by... Read more

Readers get hot and bothered about ‘Sin Burger’ reports

Last updated on: October 13, 2013 at 3:51 pm By tmatt

GetReligion is almost a decade old and, from the very beginning, many readers have struggled to understand a very basic fact about this blog. To state the matter bluntly, many readers think this is a religion blog. Sorry, but this isn’t a religion blog and it isn’t a religion-news blog, either. GetReligion is what it is. This is a blog about the mainstream news media’s efforts — good and bad — to cover religion news. Because of this misunderstanding, readers... Read more

An ultra-Orthodox case that is anything but

Last updated on: October 12, 2013 at 5:03 pm By Tamie Ross

It’s not about religion. So said Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Joseph Gribko in a story that USA Today published Friday regarding a divorce sting. Only, this particular divorce sting was spearheaded by an undercover FBI agent posing as a Jewish Orthodox wife trying to obtain a “get,” or religious divorce decree, from her fictitious and uncooperative husband. And she allegedly was charged up to $100,000 for the brutal means necessary — handcuffs, electric cattle prods — to obtain it. Ten were... Read more

Pod people: Facts are your friends, journalists

Last updated on: October 11, 2013 at 5:51 pm By Bobby Ross Jr.

Here at GetReligion, we make no secret of our bias. That bias: our deep affection for good, old-fashioned journalism. In two recent posts, I highlighted stories at opposite extremes of that ideal. I discuss those posts with host Todd Wilken on this week’s episode of “Crossroads,” the GetReligion podcast. In my “When religious liberty clashes with gay rights” post, I praised a Wall Street Journal story on lawsuits over wedding professionals — such as bakers and photographers — refusing to... Read more

Still falling for ‘The Exorcist,’ 40 years later

Last updated on: October 11, 2013 at 4:28 pm By tmatt

Long ago, pre-Internet, some researchers tried to find out which movie had the greatest spiritual effect on viewers, in terms of provoking people to think about sin, salvation and life after death. A Billy Graham movie perhaps? “The Ten Commandments”? “Chariots of Fire”? Nope, apparently it was the R-rated, scare the living daylights out of audiences classic, “The Exorcist.” With that in mind, let me state that I really enjoyed that USA Today feature that took director William Friedkin and... Read more

Memories of Jack Spong (as opposed to hagiography)

Last updated on: October 15, 2013 at 10:34 am By geoconger

Many years had elapsed during which nothing of Combray, save what was comprised in the theatre and the drama of my going to bed there, had any existence for me, when one day in winter, on my return home, my mother, seeing that I was cold, offered me some tea, a thing I did not ordinarily take. I declined at first, and then, for no particular reason, changed my mind. She sent for one of those squat, plump little cakes... Read more