GODSTUFF: THERE’S NO CRYING IN JOURNALISM, EXCEPT . . . There are a few cardinal rules in journalism. Things like: Don’t make stuff up. Spell the names right. No cheering in the press box. And no crying on assignment. Well, may the journalism gods be merciful in their judgment because this week, for me, three out of four is going to have to suffice. Sitting on the floor of a lecture hall at Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union, dutifully taking notes... Read more

“THE GIRL WITH A BEARD” WOWS WESTERN MICHIGAN Yer man has a way of turning up in the most unlikely of places. Case in point: Thursday night at the Economic Club of Grand Rapids, Michigan. WOOD-TV in Michigan has kindly logged a lengthy clip of B’s speech. You can view the video HERE Bono is such an eloquent bugger. Here’s my favorite passage of what I’ve heard so far of tonite’s speech: I’ve said this elsewhere but it should be... Read more

TODAY IN GOD . . . On May 3, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s campaign to desegregate Birmingham, Alabama is met with state-sanctioned violence when authorities turn high-power fire hoses and police dogs on a group of about 2,500 young, non-violent protestors and also beat them with clubs. The chaos was captured by news cameras and for the first time many citizens grasped the gaping maw of America’s racial divide. Later that day, Dr. King delivered a speech at... Read more

GOD GIRL ON THE TAVIS SMILEY SHOW TONIGHT! Cathleen (and her lucky red boots) will be Tavis Smiley’s first guests Tuesday, May 2 on his popular PBS late-night show. The show airs at: 12:30 a.m. on WTTW in Chicago12:30 a.m. on CPTV in Connecticut12:00 a.m. on Thirteen/WNET in New York City11:00 p.m. on WCET in Los Angeles12:30 a.m. on KECT in St. Louis12:00 a.m on Detroit Public Television (Channel 56)1 a.m. on WGVU in Grand Rapids1 a.m. on KQED in... Read more

GOD GIRL (AND BRANGELINA, OF COURSE) IN PEOPLE! A small, but very kind, mention in the May 8 edition of People Magazine (page 51) GREAT READSNonfiction The God Factor by Cathleen Falsani Writers, actors and others in the public eye share intimate thoughts on spirituality in journalist Falsani’s engrossing collection. (Fun fact: Anne Rice thinks Johnny Depp would make a great Jesus.) Read more

TODAY IN GOD . . . On April 27, 1961, A Maryland state judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by the atheist activist Madalyn Murray (aka Madalyn Murray O’Hair) to ban required Bible readings and praying of the “Our Father” in public schools. The judge said Murray was trying to “drive every concept of religion out of the public school system.” Read more

TODAY IN GOD . . . On April 26, 1847, a dozen pastors from 15 congregations established “The German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States,” which became officially known as The Lutheran Church —Missouri Synod 100 years later in 1947. Today the LCMS, headquartered in St. Louis, has about 2.5 million baptized members, 6,150 congregations and 9,000 clergy in North America and is the second largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S. (next to its more theologically liberal... Read more

TODAY IN GOD . . . On April 25, 1982, Israel returned the Sinai Penninsula to Egypt, 15 years after it had captured the disputed land. The return of the Sinai Penninsula, a 60,000-quare-kilometer tract of land between the Mediterranean and Red seas, to Egypt was a provision of the Camp David Accords brokered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter between Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat. Read more

TODAY IN GOD . . . On April 24, 1925, John T. Scopes, a 24-year-old football coach at Rhea County High School in Dayton, Ohio, teaches Darwin’s theory of evolution to a science class at the high school, in violation of the Butler Act. Passed by the Tennessee General Assembly a few months earlier, the Butler Act made it illegal for anyone to teach evolution — “any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught... Read more

TODAY IN GOD . . . On April 21, 1966, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Kingston Jamaica for the first and last time. Selassie’s Jamaican visit is marked annually by Groundation Day, a Rastafari holy day and perhaps its most important festival. Read more