The former pastor of Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama has slipped back into the news over the last couple of weeks for vastly divergent reasons. Last week the New York Post broke the story that the preacher had a sexual affair with an executive assistant at a Dallas church lead by one of Wright’s disciples. On the other hand, the Religion News Service is reporting that Wright is saying nice things about Obama in his sermons.
Tongues, cartoons, news -- oh my (updated)
Cartoons are certainly not news items in the traditional sense of a news article or broadcast, but as we all know, cartoons can certainly make news. See to the right (or click on this link) to get an idea of what I am talking about.
Waffle racism (updated)
The biggest news measured by volume and my own personal opinion coming out of the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit was the infamous Obama Waffles. The incident is certainly the most memorable.
Speculation in covering Palin
Over the last couple of weeks, there have been a slew of newspaper articles on the religion of Sarah Palin, Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska’s governor. Considering that the rather surprising announcement of Palin’s spot on the ticket has been known for a couple of weeks, one would hope that the coverage would be thorough, original and informative.
Religion-sports story of the week
The “game of the week” in college football this weekend brings gridiron fans a match-up between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the USC Trojans. Tucked in the middle of all the sports news hype around this story is what maybe one of the first Palestinians to play in “major-college college football.”
Bad Jesus-Pontius Pilate analogies
Sojourners magazine founder Jim Wallis predicted on National Public Radio’s Interfaith Voices this week that a button circulating on the Internet stating that Jesus Christ was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor would be all over the place in a few days. Wallis was making the point that the comment by Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin during her acceptance speech about Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama’s community organizing experience was fairly offensive to community organizers and may backfire in faith-based communities where community organizers are often associated with churches. He suggested he might want to apologize.
Morality-free death coverage
The News Tribune of Tacoma, Washington, had an intriguing article last week on the Catholic Church’s official opposition and efforts to raise funds to fight against the state of Washington’s “Death with Dignity” campaign, as it is dubbed by supporters. The article focuses fairly exclusively on the Catholic Church’s opposition to the campaign (which will be on the state’s November ballot). There is a brief description of the proposal with a mention that it is modeled after an Oregon law.
The role of [g]od in Spore
I am a huge fan of the old Sim games. I hardly ever play anymore, but games such as Sim City played a significant role in my upbringing. Since I am GetReligion’s “token normal American young male” according to Terry, I have the honor of writing about the religion ghosts in the Spore story.
McCain talks God; few notice (updated)
Mark Silk’s Spiritual Politics blog notes that 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s speech Thursday night used the word “God” as much as Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden in his acceptance speech. Mark notes that the two “candidates [Obama and Palin] most identified with religion mentioned God least.”