By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

Baseball is a religion all its own, full of traditions, rituals and unexplained miracles.

Anybody who ever has seen the movie “Field of Dreams” — or watched the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs finally claim World Series titles — knows that. (Eventually, my beloved Texas Rangers have to win the big one, right?)

Sometimes, the gods — the baseball gods — make their presence known in ways that even nonbelievers must find impossible to ignore.

How else to explain what happened in Anaheim, Calif., on Friday night?

Here’s how ESPN described what happened:

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Mike Trout shook his head.

“You can’t,” he said, pausing for a moment to gather himself. “You can’t make this stuff up.”

The Los Angeles Angels scored seven first-inning runs Friday night. They finished with 13. Tyler Skaggs’ birthday is on the 13th day of the seventh month, which just so happens to be Saturday.

“I’m speechless,” Trout said. “This is the best way to honor him.”

The Angels honored Skaggs with an emotional ceremony before their first home game since his sudden death on July 1. They honored him by donning his No. 45 jersey. They honored him by inviting his mother, Debbie Hetman, onto the field for the ceremonial first pitch. And they honored him, improbably, with a combined no-hitter, delivered by Taylor Cole and Felix Pena in a 13-0 trouncing of the Seattle Mariners at Angel Stadium.

Angels manager Brad Ausmus called it “one of the most special moments I’ve been a part of on a major league field in 25 years.”

“You feel like it’s partly Skaggsy’s no-hitter,” he said.

A Hollywood ending?

Nope.

It was more than that, said MLB.com.

Read the full column.

Continue reading “After No. 45’s death, baseball gods smile on Angels in outfield and on pitcher’s mound”

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

Holly Meyer’s mama tried to raise her better.

Actually, I think her mother did just fine. That opening was my rather feeble attempt to set the scene (with thanks to Merle Haggard) for this post on “God and Country Music.”

Meyer, The Tennessean’s religion writer, had a big piece on Sunday’s front page about a religious revival in country music:

The 1A design of my God and country music story is pretty rad looking. Also you should read the story and let me know your thoughts. https://t.co/0yV4YGItVc pic.twitter.com/WoCMgFu6Qq

— Holly Meyer (@HollyAMeyer) June 3, 2019

It turns out that the story idea came from, well, Meyer’s mother.

“And a good story idea is a good story idea, especially when it comes from your mom,” Meyer said.

Amen!

Full disclosure: I love country music. In fact, I wrote a column several years ago exploring country songs as “modern-day parables.” So I was pretty certain I was going to appreciate Meyer’s piece. And I did.

Read the full column.

Continue reading “‘God and Country Music’: Faith-infused songs are hot in Nashville”

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

Location. Location. Location.

When it comes to that glorious, $4.9 million Lilly Endowment Inc. grant that will fund 13 new religion journalists at The Associated Press, Religion News Service and The Conversation, exactly how much does location matter?

That’s the question some are asking after AP posted job ads for seven new positions last week and RNS did the same this week for its three grant-funded openings.

Talked with @bobbyross of @GetReligion about the new @RNS @ap@ConversationUS partnership: “It’s going to be, as I like to say, wicked awesome.”https://t.co/DL9Vn6bARn

— Bob Smietana (@bobsmietana) May 2, 2019

According to the ads, six of the seven AP positions will be based at AP headquarters in New York City or in Washington, D.C. The exception will be a Cairo-based newsperson who will cover Islamic faith and culture.

RNS, meanwhile, is hiring a managing editor to work in New York or Washington, along with a Rome-based Vatican correspondent and a Los Angeles-based national writer.

Sarah McCammon, an NPR national correspondent based in the Mid-Atlantic/Southeast U.S., grew up in a conservative Christian home in Kansas City and attended an evangelical college.

McCammon got more than 250 “likes” when she tweeted this suggestion to AP:

This is all truly great. My only feedback, @AP? Perhaps consider not basing your US religion reporters only in NY or DC. You have a huge network outside those hubs already. The faith beat could really benefit from eyes and ears elsewhere. https://t.co/RMepdqC4BQ

— Sarah McCammon📻 (@sarahmccammon) April 25, 2019

Read the full column.

Continue reading “Flyover country: Concerning new Godbeat jobs, does location matter?”

Big news on Godbeat: @PG_PeterSmith, president of @ReligionReport, wins #PulitzerPrize for Tree of Life coverage https://t.co/8Q2Q42obJ2 #religion #journalism

— Bobby Ross Jr. (@bobbyross) April 18, 2019

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

One of my favorite religion writers just won a Pulitzer Prize, the most prestigious award in journalism.

Mega-congrats to Peter Smith of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette!

The Post-Gazette staff — including Smith, president of the Religion News Association — earned the Pulitzer for Breaking News Reporting.

That paper was cited for “immersive, compassionate coverage of the massacre at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue that captured the anguish and resilience of a community thrust into grief.”

I liked what David Shribman, the Post-Gazette’s executive editor and vice president, told his newsroom: “There isn’t one of us in this room who wouldn’t exchange the Pulitzer Prize for those 11 lives.”

Read the full column.

Continue reading “President of Religion News Association wins Pulitzer for Tree of Life coverage”

Secretary of State Pompeo's invitation-only briefing with 'faith-based media' causes a stir https://t.co/frPXOsjRVe

— GetReligion (@GetReligion) March 19, 2019

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

On Monday, I got an email inviting me to join an “on-the-record conference call” with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The message, sent to my Christian Chronicle address, indicated that Pompeo would discuss international religious freedom ahead of his trip to Jerusalem and the Middle East and take questions from call participants.

Ordinarily, I might have RSVP’d and listened to what Pompeo had to say.

But I’m still recovering (read: exhausted and taking a few days off) after my own recent travel to Israel. So I decided I’d rely on other journalists’ news coverage of the call and perhaps check out the transcript later.

Little did I know that the exclusivity of the invitation itself would make headlines.

Then today, I noticed on Twitter that the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press had issued a statement expressing concern about the State Department barring some journalists from the call:

Read the full column.

Continue reading “Pompeo’s invitation-only briefing with ‘faith-based media’ causes a stir”

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

Is the Southern Baptist Convention facing a public relations nightmare?

Some might be asking that question after the first part of a bombshell investigative project by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News was published Sunday:

Take a look at Sunday’s front page: ‘Abuse of Faith’ A Houston Chronicle Investigation #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/yOlEtPvrGf

— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) February 10, 2019

Keep going, and this is an enjoyable piece to read — both in terms of Canada bureau chief Catherine Porter’s writing ability and the journalistic fairness shown to supporters and critics of the pastor who doesn’t believe in God.

The opening installment of the “Abuse of Faith” series filled almost four entire newspaper pages — meticulously describing the findings of a six-month investigation by reporters for the Chronicle and the Express-News.

The sobering details:

It’s not just a recent problem: In all, since 1998, roughly 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have faced allegations of sexual misconduct, the newspapers found. That includes those who were convicted, credibly accused and successfully sued, and those who confessed or resigned. More of them worked in Texas than in any other state.

They left behind more than 700 victims, many of them shunned by their churches, left to themselves to rebuild their lives. Some were urged to forgive their abusers or to get abortions.

About 220 offenders have been convicted or took plea deals, and dozens of cases are pending. They were pastors. Ministers. Youth pastors. Sunday school teachers. Deacons. Church volunteers.

Nearly 100 are still held in prisons stretching from Sacramento County, Calif., to Hillsborough County, Fla., state and federal records show. Scores of others cut deals and served no time. More than 100 are registered sex offenders. Some still work in Southern Baptist churches today.

Journalists in the two newsrooms spent more than six months reviewing thousands of pages of court, prison and police records and conducting hundreds of interviews. They built a database of former leadersin Southern Baptist churches who have been convicted of sex crimes.

So, to repeat the original question: Is the Southern Baptist Convention facing a public relations nightmare?

Read the full column.

• • •

All of my GetReligion columns (February 2019):

Continue reading “‘Guys, you are not my opponent,’ Baptist official tells reporters investigating sex abuse”

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

Regardless of which team prevailed in the College Football Playoff national championship Monday night, Jesus was going to get some credit.

Both Alabama’s Heisman Trophy runner-up quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, and his Clemson counterpart, Trevor Lawrence, are known for giving the glory to their Lord.

As it turned out, Clemson cruised to a 44-16 win, putting the focus on the team’s coach, Dabo Swinney, as well as its heralded freshman QB, Lawrence, neither of whom is shy about emphasizing his strong Christian faith.

Coverage of Clemson’s national title run that ignored that fact missed an important angle.

But I was pleased to see a number of reports that caught the relevance of Swinney’s mention of God, including this one from the Sporting News:

Read the full column.

• • •

All of my GetReligion columns (January 2019):

Continue reading “Yes, there’s a Jesus angle — and a Chick-fil-A one — in Clemson’s national title”

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

Nashville, Tenn. — one of the 25 largest cities in America — has lost its last remaining abortion provider. At least for now.

That seems like a pretty major story.

And indeed, The Tennessean has the basic details on today’s front page:

Planned Parenthood, the only abortion provider left in Nashville, suspends abortion services https://t.co/HWg09U8XwC pic.twitter.com/nWKz48QVTW

— Bobby Ross Jr. (@bobbyross) December 11, 2018

But the newspaper’s coverage of this stunning development seems overly low-key and matter-of-fact. Ho-hum, in other words.

Read the full column.

• • •

All of my GetReligion columns (December 2018):

Continue reading “What it means that Nashville has lost its only abortion provider”