Snakes, Bush and the Greeks
The woman on the telephone was speaking English, but it was hard to understand what she was saying because of her strong Greek accent. She was a journalist in Greece, but I couldn’t catch the name of...
View ArticleFree Bibles, free speech
As a rule, newspaper readers do not protest when the Sunday edition includes free soap, toothpaste, shampoo, detergent, AOL software or a razor. Then again, these products do not include pronouncements...
View ArticleCalling more Christian writers
It was hard for businessman Jim Russell to pick up his local newspaper without thinking about one simple church statistic. According to the Yellow Pages, there were 400 churches in and around Lansing,...
View ArticleGoing in religion-news circles
Journalists may not know the precise meaning of the word “theodicy,” but, year after year, they know a good “theodicy” story when they see one. The American Heritage Dictionary defines this term as a...
View ArticlePolitics, opera and religion (20 years)
Most editors and reporters would panic, or call their lawyers, if news executives asked religious questions during job interviews. Yet it’s hard to probe the contents of a journalist’s head without...
View ArticleWho gets to ‘reform’ what?
Believe it or not, Terry Mattingly is on a working vacation and took the week off — at least when it came time to write a Scripps Howard News Service column. Sue me. I have missed four in 20 years and,...
View ArticlePolitics dominate 2008 religion
After waves of headlines about faith and politics, President-elect Barack Obama was the clear choice as the top Religion Newsmaker of 2008. The odds were also good that the Religion Newswriters...
View ArticleDefine ‘devout,’ please
The recent obituaries celebrating the career of nationally syndicated horoscope columnist Linda C. Black included a number of colorful details about her life. She was a Libra and lived on a peacock...
View ArticleState of the online Godbeat 2010
For journalists who care about life on the Godbeat, the list of the dead and the missing in action has turned into a grim litany. Some religion-beat jobs have been killed, while others have been...
View ArticleA Catholicism fit for journalists?
Editor’s note: This past week, tmatt took a vacation to a site with no telephone or wifi. Imagine that. Such places still exist. Thus, there was no weekly column for Scripps Howard. However, here is a...
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