The Episcopal Church in the U.S., part of the Anglican communion and the Church of England, is too liberal on issues like same-sex marriage for many expats from Africa and the Global South. The split in views and immigration to the U.S. and Canada is prompting growth in the conservative split-off, the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA), while the Episcopal Church is gradually declining.
Read More(COMMENTARY) Nothing much has changed in Western reporting about Russia since 1939. A recent meeting between the Patriarchs Cyril of Moscow and Bartholomew of Constantinople over an autocephalous or independent orthodox church in Ukraine is yet another example of the fog that surrounds Russian reporting.
Read More(COMMENTARY) The flight from reporting to opinion and advocacy journalism is on full display in the first day reports from the British secular press of the Viganò affair. Like their American counterparts, leading mainstream news outlets are portraying the revelations of coverup and abuse in political left/right terms.
Read More(COMMENTARY) The internet furore over the violent Greek Orthodox baby baptism has seeped into the press. The story in itself is amusing, but it also provides a teaching moment on how not to do journalism.
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(COMMENTARY) The “trial of the century” of Cardinal George Pell - the Vatican’s “number 3” man and head of its finances - on sexual abuse charges has been passed by a Melbourne Magistrate to the Victoria County Court for adjudication. Magistrate Belinda Wallington found sufficient evidence to justify a trial for the 76-year old former archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney, who has been placed on leave by Pope Francis to respond to the charges.
Read More(COMMENTARY) The Russian media scene presents a sobering picture for those who hold to theories of the inevitable progress of mankind. Though the collapse of the Soviet Union ushered in a decade of a press freedoms in Russia under Boris Yeltsin, with Vladimir Putin the situation has tightened. The state does not pervade all aspects of intellectual life. But where its interests are concerned - dissent is not tolerated.
Read More(Commentary) Our review of the U.S. press coverage of claims that Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, the president of the Deutsche Bischofskonferenz (DBK), had given his permission to clergy to bless same-sex unions has sparked rigorous debate on social media. George Conger responds with his perspective on what is causing the discord.
Read More(COMMENTARY) “German Cardinal Endorses Homosexual Heresy” states the headline of a Sunday story in the Daily Caller. It is a wonderful headline crafted to drive readers to the religion section of the well-respected online political news portal. But is it true?
Read More(COMMENTARY) An article in the Guardian about Catholic resistance to relaxing a Good Friday drinks ban has no Catholic voices. What this piece does have is assumptions. It assumes what the stance of the Catholic Church might be and that all right thinking people will agree with the author’s worldview. George Conger argues that readers are left an example of agitprop, which fails the basic tests of sound journalism.
Read More(OPINION) For an article to break free from the pack of mind-numbing junk that overwhelms journalism, the writer must have technical facility but also a sense of the background to the subject. Knowing why the story matters moves it beyond being merely amusing.
Read More(OPINION) Being the New York Times means never having to say you’re sorry.
Read More(OPINION) The cynicism so many readers have towards the mainstream media arises in part from the worldview articulated by Richard Pryor -- "Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?” from his 1982 film “Live on the Sunset Strip”.
Read MoreA handful of American mainstream news outlets have picked up the story, but unlike their European counterparts, they chose not to reprint the cartoon.
Read More(OPINION) The Daily Telegraph has leapt into a dispute between two factions of a London church. Yet the journalistic shortcomings of this article turn it into a club for traditionalists to beat modernizers.
Read MoreCOMMENTARY -- Can a non-believer write religion news stories? Here is evidence that they can, and can do so with professional skill.
Read MoreThe Independent's article on an Orthodox Jewish school lacking LGBT content in its curriculum is a fiasco, in terms of journalistic integrity.
Read MoreWhat comes first, advertising or content? This question loomed large in my mind as I read an article on exorcisms that the Daily Telegraph chose to sensationalize rather than report faithfully.
Read MorePERSPECTIVE - The Daily Mail, The Times, and other outlets report that claims that cutting government spending on sexual education would lead to a rise in teen pregnancy have now been shown to be untrue. Yet none bothers with issues of deeper ethical or religious motivations in the controversy.
Read More(OPINION) Reports that Russians are calling for the restoration of the monarchy and the crowning of Vladimir Putin as Tsar are circulating -- all built on the traditional Western construct that the Russian mind is mysterious, sententious, or ludicrous.
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