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One of the passengers, a Jewish teenager, was doing his morning prayers and it alarmed the flight attendant. Read More »
GetReligion 
The universal problem of religious freedom
We’ve looked at a bit of the coverage of the Swiss ban on the construction of minarets — the spires on mosques that are sometimes used for the call to prayer. Earlier this month, I noted a single story that looked at how religious freedom is handled in some Muslim countries. Read More »
Brooks on Obama the theologian
There is so much to like about New York Times columnist David Brooks. Here’s a short list: (1) He is thoughtful and analytical. (2) He doesn’t let his conservative views blind him to non-conforming realities. (3) He’s great at coining new terms (remember “Bobos,” his famous word for the bourgeois bohemian descendants of the yuppies?). Read More »
The long arm of Sayyid Qutb
A few days ago we looked at some of the coverage of the American men arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of ties to terrorism. I thought one of the most interesting angles — one I hoped we’d see more coverage of — was that the Council on American-Islamic Relations said they’d put the families of the men in touch with the FBI. Read More »
The missing motivation
When the House of Representatives passed the Stupak amendment preventing federal tax dollars from being used to fund or subsidize abortions, it was hard to find a story that didn’t mention the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Read More »
Tony Dungy the moral scold
Every now and then, a star in the National Football League gets into trouble and, during his ritual of repentance, decides to play the God card. In some cases this even involves Jesus language, which is always risky in today’s media marketplace. Read More »
Crouching Tiger, hidden ghosts
If I may indulge in an awful pun, Tiger ain’t out of the woods yet. Aside from our unhealthy interest in the cover pictures of the New York Post’s latest documented bimbo eruption, I’ve noticed a bizarre phenomenon surrounding the Tiger Woods scandal. Read More »
Catching a gimel on the river
I’m pretty sure that my favorite story of this Hanukkah season was this one from Good Morning America: For centuries, the Dreidel game has been a Hanukkah tradition. The simple gambling game remains a fixture at Hanukkah parties, but today it’s often more decoration than entertainment – a party favor and not a party favorite. Read More »
Bullying Rick Warren
The roles of Newsweek and its religion reporter Lisa Miller’s as reporter (conveyor of information) and pundit (advocacy) have been blurred for a while now. One minute, Miller is reporting on a story, the next, she’s offering her personal opinion on it. Read More »
Shopping for religion: Pew view
A Christian friend who knows I am a journalist but tries to love me anyway subscribes to USA Today. After he read Cathy Lynn Grossman’s print and online articles on that latest Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey, he asked if I could Read More »
I am Mark Hemingway!
The other day I received this letter asking, quite simply, “Who is this ‘Mark’ person who keeps writing posts for GetReligion?” Now, I realize that if you happened to have missed this notice the other day, you would not realize that Mark is, in fact, Mark Hemingway, the husband of the Divine Ms. Mollie Ziegler Hemingway. Read More »
Beer and Muslim terror
What is it about Muslim terrorism and northern Virginia? Five men — ranging in age from late teens to mid-20s — from the suburbs near here were arrested in Pakistan and authorities are questioning them about links to terrorism. Read More »
High horse at Ground Zero
Given that 30 Rock has cemented its place as a critical darling*, I imagine this joke from last week’s episode was rather cutting: Jenna: You’ve got to lie to her, coddle her, protect her from the real world. Jack: I get it. Treat her like the New York Times treats its readers. I didn’t expect to revisit the Islam vs. Read More »
Let Hanukkah be Hanukkah
Here we go again. Wise and faithful GetReligion readers! Is it a mainstream news story that the beleaguered social-events staff at the White House sent out an invitation card for the First Family’s second Hanakkah party (not the first, the second Read More »
Birds of a doctrinal feather
The church-state junkie in me really does not know where to begin when it comes to evaluating the mainstream media coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case pitting the University of California’s Hastings College of Law in San Francisco against the campus chapter of the Christian Legal Society. Read More »
The NYT’s Jewspotting
I wish Brad Greenberg would rise from the depths of law school finals because I would love to read his take on a recent New York Times piece “Yes, Miky, There Are Rabbis in Montana.” The author tells a story about how a Hasidic rabbi is helping the Montana cop speak Hebrew to his dog. Read More »
It’s the most horrible time of the year
The Associated Press’ Patrick Condon has a story with a great headline — “Atheists at Christmas: Eat, drink and be wary.” It’s all about how uncomfortable the Christmas season is for some avid non-believers and is a good follow-up to Eric Gorski’s recent piece on atheist groups on college campuses. Read More »
The soul in Dave Brubeck’s jazz
Back in my teen years, I was a bit of a classical music nerd. Then someone gave me a copy of the second Blood, Sweat & Tears record and, before you knew it, I was into jazz and forms of rock that required the musicians to know more than three chords. Read More »
Hilarious, holy hugs
Christians can do funny, goofy things. That’s why reaction to a Christian rap group’s video seemingly advocating the sexually chaste “Christian side hug” was so interesting. Apparently, the group was kidding. But that didn’t stop critics and bloggers for missing the joke and getting snarky about it. Read More »
Executions in Uganda
A bill being debated in the Uganda legislature would execute homosexuals who are infected with HIV. Here’s a bit from an Associated Press story on the sad matter: The Ugandan legislation in its current form would mandate a death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. Read More »
Some exclude better than others
Back in 2004, a Christian student group was denied recognition at the University of California’s Hastings College of Law because it required its officers and voting members to uphold certain Christian teachings. The school said that the group couldn’t discriminate on the basis of religious belief. Read More »
Obama dodges a ‘Christmas wars’ bullet
Unless you have been on another planet for several decades, you have heard the phrase “War on Christmas” tossed about in the mainstream press and Fox News, too (cue: rim shot and cymbal). Read More »
With God on Obama’s side (maybe)
You would think that if the Los Angeles Times put two reporters on a story, they would make a little effort to pick up the phone. Unfortunately, this was not the case on a recent piece titled “Obama administration has religion on its side. Read More »
A little less equivocation
I’m generally a bit frustrated with how the Western media covers Islam. Just this weekend I caught a bit of venerable PBS travel writer Rick Steeve’s special on Iran. Say what you want about that nation’s terrible government, Iran is a large and beautiful country. Read More »
Pray the flu away
When I became a parent, I was introduced to a world with a lot of fighting. Not between my husband and me — we get along great. But there can be some pretty serious fights in the Mommy Wars. These range from whether mothers should work outside the home to whether they should breastfeed exclusively. Read More »
“Bah Humbug” on charities!
December is crunch time for charitable giving, with many nonprofit organizations taking in a third or more of their yearly income during the last month of the year. Perhaps that’s why Sunday’s New York Times featured not one but two A1 stories on charities? “Aid Gives Alternative to African Orphanages” by Celia W. Read More »
Are Episcopalians now a ‘sect’?
A long, long time ago, while doing my first round of graduate studies, I took a class that focused on contemporary cults, sects and religious movements and their impact on church-state law. Read More »
Cross, not crucifix
I don’t know what the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals does other than create salacious advertising campaigns but the group’s latest combines their trademark nudity with puppies and religion! It features the incredibly good looking Read More »
Life and Death in the D
One of the most dazzling high-wire acts in American journalism is Charlie LeDuff. Once upon a time, LeDuff was a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter. LeDuff was poised to breathe the rarefied air of the upper echelons for some time to come. Read More »
Chicagoland Christians try to be hip
Some of my favorite headlines from The Onion are ones about your average Joe as if it’s a big deal, like “Area Man Consults Internet Whenever Possible” or “Local Girlfriend Always Wants To Do Stuff.” Those headlines came to mind when I started reading a story from the Chicago Tribune about a new church plant in Chicago. Read More »