Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Associated Press technology writer Peter Svensson produced a wry, understated story on Sunday about two services that will tie up loose ends after their clients die. Svensson’s angle makes sense, given his beat. He concentrates on the technological challenge of informing a person’s online friends that they will hear nothing more from the deceased:
Boston Globe religion reporter Michael Paulson has been covering an interesting story. The local Catholic hospital chain and a secular insurance company are forming a joint venture. Cardinal O’Malley supports the move but many critics are concerned about whether the arrangement will entangle the church with abortion. For his latest, he surveyed moral theologians:
I love stories, like the one about giving up Facebook for Lent from a few weeks ago, in which ancient faith traditions struggle with the advent of modern technologies. How did the 15th-century church view the advent of the printing press, for example? Well, we have another example of the genre–a story in the Times Online (London) by Rome-based correspondent, Richard Owen that describes an effort by some Roman Catholic leaders to get laypeople to give up texting and other virtual communication for Lent.
In the past few weeks, three different readers of GetReligion have shown an exemplary commitment to discussing ideas. They have asked GetReligion’s editors to pass along their email addresses to other readers, so they may continue debating Proposition 8, missionary work and other volatile topics.
How do you write a story about the declining number of young priests without asking about, well, you know what? And while we’re at it, you know, the other big elephant in the living room, too?
After California voters passed Proposition 8 last fall, some opponents of the measure were quite angry. In addition to public protests, some people set up web sites singling out Mormon supporters of the measure, using public records to identify them. Other web sites listed all Prop. 8 supporters, regardless of their religious background.
I would like to extend warm congratulations to guardian.co.uk, which responded to a tedious bus-slogan campaign in the most appropriate way: Launching a Web-based challenge for readers to write new counter-slogans.
A few years ago, a “wardrobe malfunction” grabbed the country’s attention during the nation’s annual celebration of consumerism and marketing (and in-between, there were some violent expressions of athleticism). Amongst this year’s Super Bowl commercials, marketers for a certain Internet domain registrar and Web hosting company grabbed its fair share of attention by producing an ad that was deemed “the most watched commercial among TiVo users.”
