Campaign journalism is a favorite of reporters and readers alike. I am not a fan, finding the horse-race coverage to be frustrating. But with just one campaign of national interest right now, it’s bearable. The Associated Press reports: It’s now up to voters render a verdict on former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s quest for political redemption, as one of the more unusual political campaigns in a state known for rough and tumble politics draws to a close. Sanford, once... Read more
After a busy Pascha weekend, I need to jump back into the tmatt file of guilt for a moment or two. You just know, with a single glance at the title on this essay, that dozens of GetReligion readers were going to clutch the mice to the side of their keyboards and forward this piece to us quicker than you can say, “The press … just doesn’t get religion.” It helps that the byline — Carl M. Cannon — belongs... Read more
Last week, a sad news story out of Pennsylvania made the rounds. Originally, it had a bad headline and lede: Fetus found in high school bathroom; Lancaster County student jailed on $1M bail A 19-year-old McCaskey East High School student was charged with concealing the death of a child after she reportedly gave birth to a fetus that was found dead in a school bathroom Tuesday night. Cherlie LaFleur, of the 300 block of North Marshall Street, was identified by... Read more
I spent much of last week in Malibu, Calif., hanging out with the stars. Actually, I was speaking at an event at Pepperdine University, but I wore dark sunglasses and did my best to avoid the paparazzi — just in case the tabloid press ever takes a sudden interest in GetReligionistas. While buying deodorant at a local store (trust me, I needed it), I chatted with Mel Gibson (not really) and checked out the front page of the Los Angeles Times... Read more
Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare; Hoc tantum possum dicere, non amo te. I do not love you, Sabidius, and I cannot say why; All I can say is this, that I do not love you. Martial, Epigrams, I.32 (circa 86 A.D.) The Australian, Australia’s largest circulation broadsheet, published a story this week about an Assemblies of God church that has taken a leap across the Pacific and planted a campus in the United States. The article entitled... Read more
While I have listened to choirs that have bored me nearly to death with their singing, I never knew there were choirs that would sing to you when you are near to death. Turns out, there are, and there’s a story there. Jaweed Kaleem, the national religion reporter for The Huffington Post, highlights the small but growing trend of deathbed singers in his recent article on Threshold Choirs. Death used to happen solely at home or in a hospital, with... Read more
Earlier today I mentioned some questions I have about this crazy “court-martial” story that blew up this week. The post is headlined “I share, you evangelize, they proselytize,” in reference to GetReligion reader Will Linden’s saying about how the same action can be described in different ways. Much of the media coverage has been devoted to tamping down conservative Christian concern about whether Christians in the military will be court-martialed for sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with fellow soldiers.... Read more
Defense Dept. say proselytism is banned but evangelism is ok (and no one’s getting court martialed) ow.ly/kERmC — ReligionNewsService (@RNS) May 3, 2013 Many moons ago, before I came to write for GetReligion, I was a devoted GetReligion reader. And I remember reader Will Linden used to comment something along the lines of: I share, you evangelize, they proselytize. Such wisdom in that line. I thought of this when I saw the tweet above. Let’s look at the definitions of... Read more
Let’s begin this post by first looking at a Christianity Today blog post from earlier this week. Here’s a portion: North Korea has announced that it will try an American citizen who was arrested nearly six months ago for “crimes aimed to topple the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea].” If convicted, China-based missionary Kenneth Bae could face the death penalty. But Bae’s friends say he did not do anything wrong despite reports by North Korean state media that he confessed... Read more
My goal is to write a relatively short post about a very, very long Washington Post story, a Style section story that I urge all GetReligion readers to check out. As the name implies, the massive 14-part feature entitled “The Prophets of Oak Ridge” is a religion story from start to finish, drenched in biblical references, hymns and personal testimonies. This is the story of three anti-nuclear protestors — 83-year-old Sister Megan Gillespie Rice, 64-year-old Michael Robin Walli and 57-year-old... Read more
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