Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Rev- Elizabeth Eisenstadt-Evans
What is a religion story when it surfaces in the Style section of the New York Times? Let’s add another layer of complexity: what if that story is told as part of an ongoing series that aims to chronicle a generation through story-telling and personal reflection?
In the wake of the lifting of the papal excommunication of the SSPX bishops and other flaps this past winter, the way the Vatican handles public relations and communications has been the subject of much media scrutiny.
Who is going to represent the United States as ambassador to the Holy See? In a government headed by a President who is favors abortion rights and has opened the door to broader use of embryonic stem cells for research, this question is getting a lot of attention, both from advocacy organizations and from the press.
Over the years National Public Radio (NPR) has found a niche among listeners who want in-depth reports on complex issues. Their offbeat radio essays offer a sometimes idiosyncratic alternative to those who want more diverse fare than “news radio” and cable news may offer.
The debate about Newsweek’s cover story of a few weeks ago by editor Jon Meacham, “The End of Christian America,” continues to intrigue journalists both across the pond (as noted earlier this week) and over here. When an opinion column addresses a topic we’ve covered (numerous times) then we consider it worth a mention.
In the wake of some give-and-take about what constitutes a religious and what a secular perspective on the recent post about the ‘death’ of conservative Christianity, I was much taken by a brief BBC Newshour story a few days on, of all things, ghosts. Did you know that, according to a recent Theos poll, almost four in ten Britons believe in ghosts? Five out of ten believe in heaven, and, and seven out of ten believe in the human soul. Apparently the belief in ghosts has actually grown over the past four decades.
Former British Prime-Minister Tony Blair and the British press do seem to be a match made…well, somewhere. The Catholic convert has been outraging conservatives ever since he left Downing Street in 2007. In a fascinating symbiosis between Blair and the press, he natters on about religion, which gains him publicity for himself and his foundation, and the media outlets publish his utterances, focusing on his many controversial statements (and perhaps attracting more readers).
Many of you know that Newsweek editor Jon Meacham has written books on topics as diverse as the friendship between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, the faith of the founding Fathers, and the nation’s seventh President, Andrew Jackson. In the YouTube clip above, he’s discoursing in a Gettsburg College lecture about faith and President Abraham Lincoln.
