Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Remember that strange item the other day when the computer at the Los Angeles Times, for some reason, decided that a story on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and some “earmarks” bills should be listed at the newspaper’s “religion” site? Apparently, anything linked to Palin is “religious” at the moment.
A few weeks ago I wrote about an increase in coverage of the “diverse Amish” lifestyles and found it curious that there had been a great deal of minor news articles on various legal conflicts the communities were having with the governments around them. An answer to my curiosity arrived in the form of an Associated Press article on the fact that the Amish have nearly doubled their population in about 16 years.
I have a bookmark set in my browsers that takes me straight to the Los Angeles Times page that contains the newspaper’s religion-news offerings, no matter where they appear in the newspaper.
A couple of years ago, Eric Gorski — then at the Denver Post — ran a a three-part series on a local preacher of the Prosperity Gospel. What I loved about the piece, which exposed the pastor’s financial success, was that it also explored prosperity teaching in detail.
To my great satisfaction, a journalist has given serious coverage to the religious angle in the ongoing story of old churches being converted to new condos. Kathy McCabe of The Boston Globe does an excellent job of wading into the religious and spiritual significance of sacred places of worship being converted into high-end condo buildings.
When I moved to Washington over ten years ago, the population demographics were noticeably different than they are now. Many of my older black neighbors and their families have moved to the suburbs in the ensuing years, their homes replaced by younger white couples. A Wall Street Journal “Page One” feature by Conor Dougherty last week picked up on the trend in DC and other major cities and looked at what the changes mean to the culture.
At first glance, there really isn’t much going on in this little Detroit News metro feature entitled “Pastor believes prayer can save city.”
As noted before, some stories get religion completely or almost. They show the importance and impact of religion from beginning to end. Take this Washington Post story by reporter Ovetta Wiggins.
