a review of religion and media
Not everyone’s appalled by Moscow’s strict crack-down on Saturday’s gay-pride parade — which resulted in the arrest of both international activists and opponents of the parade. Take for instance the glowing thanks issued by the Russian Orthodox Church yesterday. Continue Reading →
Should astrophysicist Martin Rees have accepted the Templeton Prize he was awarded last week? || This is what blasphemy looks like: A group of French Catholics has defaced Serrano’s Piss Christ. || Nickelodeon premiered a new children’s TV show on Sunday, “Freedom to believe…or Not.” || The death of God is so over: Jon Meacham puts Rob Bell on the cover of Time and asks us, “Is Hell Dead?” (Read Revealer Becky Garrison’s take on the Bell & Piper show here. Watch Chris Matthews’ panel — with Andrew Sullivan, Norah O’Donnell, Joe Klein and Becky Quick — here.) || “A professor of religious law at Benghazi’s Garyounis University, Osama el-Salladi, says that under the 41-year rule of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, religious institutions were as controlled as political life.” || A truck carrying 3,888 bibles was stolen outside Moscow this holy week. || Fraudulent churches, heal thyselves: Senator Chuck Grassley’s three-year investigation of church financial fraud has produced a commission (from the likes of Oral Roberts University President Mark Rutland, Campus Crusade for Christ President Stephen Douglass and megachurch pastors Joel Hunter and Bishop Kenneth Ulmer) but no charges of misconduct. || The presidential campaign to appear convincingly Christian is working. || Mega Churches have turned away from the bible and it’s all Peter Drucker’s fault. || Doomsday Capitalism! The 500-year cycle is coming to an end! || “This budget deal is at least $1.1 billion sin against the poorest of this nation. And no one who voted for it deserves the appellation ‘pro-life.’” Continue Reading →