{"id":116211,"date":"2014-01-13T12:01:24","date_gmt":"2014-01-13T17:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?p=116211"},"modified":"2014-01-13T12:04:15","modified_gmt":"2014-01-13T17:04:15","slug":"what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/","title":{"rendered":"What M.Z. said: Doctor Who vs. Jesus at BuzzFeed?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

First things first: Yes, I am a big Doctor Who fan.<\/p>\n

Thus, I find the role that the whole \u201cWhovian\u201d phenomenon plays in the following M.Z. Hemingway post to be fascinating, to say the least.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, suffice it to say that I think our beloved Divine Mrs. M.Z. nails this one and, yes, this is clearly a case of serious religious content giving some journalists sweaty palms.<\/p>\n

So, I\u2019ll simply say, \u201cWhat M.Z. said.\u201d And does the top of her post \u2014 at The Federalist<\/em>, of course<\/a> \u2014 sound kind of familiar here in the context of GetReligion.org? Take that double-decker headline, for example: <\/p>\n

Why Is Religion Invisible To The Media?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 12-year-old girl wrote herself a note before she died. It contained an amazing message of hope and redemption. That was before the media got to it. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here is the top of the M.Z. manifesto. You really need to read it on their site to get the impact of the URLs, embedded tweets, etc.<\/p>\n

Seven in 10 Americans identify as \u201cvery religious\u201d or \u201cmoderately religious,\u201d according to a recent Gallup survey. Each week, hundreds of millions of Americans go to houses of worship, pray, or just ponder the higher things related to our religious views. But it\u2019s not news that this religious reality is not well reflected in our media.<\/p>\n

There is some great work being done by mainstream media outlets, but much room for improvement. For those of us who are religious, we notice the weird way the media handles religion news and religious topics. We see it every time a broadcaster interviews someone live and stumbles when the subject mentions something religious. We see it in the egregious mistakes the New York Times<\/em> makes about basic teachings of the Christian faith. We see it in the unmasked disdain for religious people.<\/p>\n

But usually the media treatment of religious people and their religious views isn\u2019t so much hostile as absent. We may not be invisible to them, but our religious views certainly are. I thought of this when I came across an interesting BuzzFeed post titled \u201cAfter The Death Of Their 12-Year-Old Daughter, Parents Find The Letter She Wrote To Her Future Self<\/a>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So here is how BuzzFeed summed up the crucial element of 12-year-old Taylor Smith\u2019s epistle to her future self. The quotes from \u201cTim\u201d are from her father, of course:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As he put it, she was awesome. \u201cShe was random, she was smart,\u201d Tim said. \u201cShe was super funny and super fun.\u201d Not to mention nerdy. Past Taylor wanted to make sure Doctor Who was still on the air. And if not at least wanted to know what number regeneration they ended on. And if it wasn\u2019t on TV anymore, she wanted her future self to go watch it right away. After she finished reading the letter, of course. \u201cShe liked doing quirky things and she liked doing meaningful things, she always created stuff,\u201d Tim said. \u201cThe fact that she wrote this letter wasn\u2019t a surprise, but what she wrote was.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So Doctor Who is at the heart of this.<\/p>\n

M.Z., however, looked at various images of the young girl\u2019s letter \u2014 as included in the BuzzFeed post \u2014 and pieced together this rather revealing (to say the least) passage in her epistle to her future self:<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t get to go to that party, though, because I was in Cranks, Kentucky for my first mission trip. I\u2019ve only been back for 6 days! Speaking of, how\u2019s your relationship with GOD? Have you prayed, worshipped, read the bible, or gone to serve the lord recently? If not, get up and do so NOW! I don\u2019t care what point in our life we\u2019re in right now, do it! He was mocked, beaten, tortured and crucified for you! A sinless man, who never did you or any other person any wrong! Now, have you gone on any more mission trips?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Surely there was a way to weave this girl\u2019s obvious Christian beliefs \u2014 she is, in effect, trying to evangelize her future self, just in case she has strayed from the faith \u2014 with her quirks and her smarts? I mean, a girl can be all of that, right? She can be a quirky, brilliant, Doctor Who-fan Christian?<\/p>\n

Take it away, M.Z. Read it all<\/a>, including the Twitter dialogue with BuzzFeed leaders.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First things first: Yes, I am a big Doctor Who fan. Thus, I find the role that the whole \u201cWhovian\u201d phenomenon plays in the following M.Z. Hemingway post to be fascinating, to say the least. Nevertheless, suffice it to say that I think our beloved Divine Mrs. M.Z. nails this one and, yes, this is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,27,46,6,7,11,23,12,1],"tags":[306,2648,2483,525,2349],"class_list":["post-116211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements","category-evangelicals","category-first-person","category-godbeat","category-journalism","category-pop-culture","category-radio-and-tv","category-religion","category-uncategorized","tag-buzzfeed","tag-doctor-who","tag-m-z-hemingway","tag-media-bias","tag-the-federalist"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat M.Z. said: Doctor Who vs. Jesus at BuzzFeed?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"First things first: Yes, I am a big Doctor Who fan. Thus, I find the role that the whole "Whovian" phenomenon plays in the following M.Z. Hemingway post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What M.Z. said: Doctor Who vs. Jesus at BuzzFeed?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First things first: Yes, I am a big Doctor Who fan. Thus, I find the role that the whole "Whovian" phenomenon plays in the following M.Z. Hemingway post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GetReligion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-13T17:01:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-01-13T17:04:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/files\/2014\/01\/50th-Anniversary-of-Doctor-Who-2712715.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/\",\"name\":\"What M.Z. said: Doctor Who vs. Jesus at BuzzFeed?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-13T17:01:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-13T17:04:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"First things first: Yes, I am a big Doctor Who fan. Thus, I find the role that the whole \\\"Whovian\\\" phenomenon plays in the following M.Z. Hemingway post\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What M.Z. said: Doctor Who vs. Jesus at BuzzFeed?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/\",\"name\":\"GetReligion\",\"description\":\""The press . . . just doesn't get religion." - William Schneider\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a42e72927fb665669c4e8531d08ce40?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a42e72927fb665669c4e8531d08ce40?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tmatt\"},\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/author\/tmatt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What M.Z. said: Doctor Who vs. Jesus at BuzzFeed?","description":"First things first: Yes, I am a big Doctor Who fan. Thus, I find the role that the whole \"Whovian\" phenomenon plays in the following M.Z. Hemingway post","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What M.Z. said: Doctor Who vs. Jesus at BuzzFeed?","og_description":"First things first: Yes, I am a big Doctor Who fan. Thus, I find the role that the whole \"Whovian\" phenomenon plays in the following M.Z. Hemingway post","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/","og_site_name":"GetReligion","article_published_time":"2014-01-13T17:01:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-01-13T17:04:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/files\/2014\/01\/50th-Anniversary-of-Doctor-Who-2712715.jpg"}],"author":"tmatt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tmatt","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/","name":"What M.Z. said: Doctor Who vs. Jesus at BuzzFeed?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-01-13T17:01:24+00:00","dateModified":"2014-01-13T17:04:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1"},"description":"First things first: Yes, I am a big Doctor Who fan. Thus, I find the role that the whole \"Whovian\" phenomenon plays in the following M.Z. Hemingway post","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/what-m-z-said-doctor-who-vs-jesus-at-buzzfeed\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What M.Z. said: Doctor Who vs. Jesus at BuzzFeed?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/","name":"GetReligion","description":""The press . . . just doesn't get religion." - William Schneider","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1","name":"tmatt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a42e72927fb665669c4e8531d08ce40?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a42e72927fb665669c4e8531d08ce40?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tmatt"},"description":"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/author\/tmatt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116211\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}