Haitian voices: God and the quake

Terry Mattingly January 27th, 2010

So far, nothing I have seen coming out of Haiti has changed my mind about how journalists should approach the basic “theodicy” story.

I’ve said it several times already (click here and then here), I am really not that interested in what American religious broadcasters or even articulate American academics have to say about the role that God or the spirits did or didn’t play in causing the hellish earthquake that rocked Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area.

What matters to me are the v … (Read More)

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Barack, What Happened to All the Change You Promised?

John W. Whitehead July 20th, 2009

The unemployment rate in the U.S. now stands at 9.5% and soon will top 10%. And the number of U.S. households on the verge of losing their homes soared by nearly 15% in the first half of this year. This has caused some economists to question whether or not the country is headed toward another economic meltdown–a point of no return. However, watching the news coverage of Barack Obama’s adventures while in office, you might be forgiven for thinking there were no problems left to solve in t … (Read More)

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Fretting about post-Tiller coverage

Terry Mattingly June 3rd, 2009

It’s getting harder and harder to read the coverage of the George Tiller murder, in large part because the Associated Press Stylebook doesn’t have separate references for “pro-life” and “anti-abortion.”

I’m not saying that this journalistic bible should contain two references. Honest. I’m just saying that — as an Eastern Orthodox pro-lifer — I am really yearning for one right now. Why is that? Let me show you, using this bite of a Washington Post report that makes me want to … (Read More)

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LAT: Is the pope Catholic?

Terry Mattingly March 30th, 2009

As the old saying goes in hurricane territory, “I think we’re in for a bit of a blow.”

It will be interesting to see how the mainstream press handles the facts in the upcoming culture warfare over President Barack Obama’s scheduled commencement address at the University of Notre Dame.

There is a real story here, of course. Rest assured that Catholics are going to split on how to handle this, because American Catholics — including some bishops, based on the evidence — are divided on h … (Read More)

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Is Rush the new Pat Robertson?

Terry Mattingly February 18th, 2009

Raise your hand if you think that religious conservatives play a major role in the power structure of the Republican Party today.

Raise your hand if you think Rush Limbaugh is an important leader in the Republican Party.

OK, raise your hand if you think that the combination of these two facts means that Limbaugh is a leader in the Religious Right or some other stream of religious conservatism. That’s a harder question, isn’t it? To be blunt, I know some religious conservatives who swear by R … (Read More)

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E-evil

Terry Mattingly November 25th, 2008

As far as I can tell, there is no faith, no religion, no hope and no positive sense of morality in the following story.

Only evil.

There may be some apathy, which is often another form of evil. Here’s the top of the Associated Press report, as printed in the Los Angeles Times.

The message “OMG” popped up next to the live webcam broadcast of Abraham Biggs lying motionless on his bed, followed by “LOL” and “hahahah.”

But Biggs wasn’t joking. The 19-year-old Broward College student … (Read More)

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