By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

Good morning from blue America!

I mean, I guess Oklahoma — where I live — is still a red state. But my congressional district just flipped, electing a Democrat for the first time in 40 years in what The Oklahoman characterized as “a political upset for the history books” and FiveThirtyEight called “the biggest upset of the night” nationally.

(Neighboring Kansas turned a little blue, too, electing a Democratic governor.)

Religion angle? In advance of Tuesday’s midterms, we asked here at GetReligion if a post-Trump rise of the religious left was a real trend or wishful thinking.

Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District, which Democrat Kendra Horn won in a nail-biter, was one of the places where a group of progressive evangelicals called Vote Common Good brought its tour bus. The Oklahoman’s pre-election story noted:

If Horn, an Episcopalian and Democrat running for Congress, is to do what others claim cannot be done — namely, defeat Republican Rep. Steve Russell on Nov. 6 — she will need to make inroads with a voting bloc that has helped propel Russell’s political career: evangelicals.

What role did religious voters played in Horn’s upset win in one of the reddest of the red states? I haven’t seen reporting on that angle yet. No doubt, changing demographics in the Oklahoma City area played a role, as did the rural-urban divide, but perhaps suburban evangelical women turned off by Trump did, too? Stay tuned.

As we begin to digest Tuesday’s outcomes across the U.S., here are a handful of religion angles making headlines or likely to do so:

Read the full column.

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All of my GetReligion columns (November 2018):

Continue reading “Post-election storylines: Five religion angles as dust settles from Tuesday’s voting”

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

I don’t believe I’ve ever met the Rev. Bob Long, even though my time as religion editor for The Oklahoman overlapped with his tenure as pastor of a large United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City.

But I know his voice.

For years, I’ve heard Long on the radio, often while driving to work. Long is a mini-celebrity here in Oklahoma, known for inspirational radio messages that include cheerful music and a quick life lesson from the pastor.

“That’s something to think about,” he concludes each 60-second segment. “I’m Bob Long with St. Luke’s Methodist Church.”

This week, Long has gained notoriety for a different reason — for a sermon in which he put the face of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on his church’s big screens.

As The Oklahoman’s Carla Hinton (who succeeded me as religion editor in 2002) reported on Wednesday’s front page, a social media storm erupted with a tweet from a churchgoer who was not pleased with Long’s choice of optics:

Read the full column.

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All of my GetReligion columns (October 2018):

Continue reading “When a sermon goes viral: Pastor in middle of social media storm over Kavanaugh”

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

What’s the statute of limitations for pulling a story out of the GetReligion guilt folder?

Seriously, I want to call attention to a remarkable piece of news reporting — written under tremendous deadline pressure — that predates GetReligion itself. This journalism-focused website, in case you need a refresher, launched in 2004.

As you undoubtedly know, today marks the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

It seems appropriate then to recall just how much Time magazine incorporated religion into its original in-depth report on the events of 9/11. My thanks to New York Times Godbeat pro Elizabeth Dias, a Time alumnus herself, for highlighting the story by Nancy Gibbs on Twitter this morning:

If I read the Time story back in 2001, I don’t remember it. At the time, I was religion editor for The Oklahoman in Oklahoma City. I was focused on my own reporting, including writing four bylined response pieces on 9/11.

But I’m glad I took the time to read Gibbs’ piece today. It brought back so many memories. And yes, it covered crucial glimpses of faith present at that time.

The opening itself — written in Time’s analytical style — certainly emphasizes that element:

Read the full column.

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All of my GetReligion columns (September 2018):

Continue reading “‘If You Want To Humble An Empire’: A 9/11 story that shouldn’t be forgotten”

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

It’s almost incomprehensible: Associated Press journalist Michael Graczyk has served as a media witness for more than 400 executions.

When I worked in AP’s Dallas bureau from 2003 to 2005, Graczyk was a Houston-based colleague of mine — and a great guy.

Graczyk, 68, is making headlines this week because of his retirement after 46 years with the news service.

The Dallas Morning News featured the veteran newsman on today’s front page. The Washington Post had a story on him Tuesday. And AP got the scoop on Graczyk’s plans. No surprise there, right?

All of the interviews, of course, are fascinating. And all paint a portrait of an accurate, fair-minded journalist: In hundreds of cases, Graczyk has made it a point to interview condemned inmates who were willing. But not only that, he also has given victims’ relatives an opportunity to speak, if they so desired.

Here’s a journalist who epitomizes the best of his profession.

Read the full column.

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All of my GetReligion columns (August 2018):

Continue reading “This Catholic journalist has witnessed 400-plus executions but won’t say if he approves”

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

Summer is prime time for faith-based mission trips.

Many U.S. church groups — often including teens and college students — travel all the world this time of year.

I just returned from a Christian Chronicle reporting trip to Puerto Rico, where I followed a Kentucky congregation helping with Hurricane Maria relief work. While there, I noticed the news about unrest in Haiti, a country I visited just a few months ago to report on water well drilling.

Just weeks ago, I reported on political violence prompting the cancellation of dozens of church mission trips to Nicaragua. Not so many years ago, of course, ongoing concerns over drug cartels began curtailing mission work in Mexico.

Not too often, though, do major news organizations cover the impact of the dangerous world on church mission trips, even though there’s frequently a compelling story there.

That’s why I was so pleased to see CNN tackle that angle amid the Haiti unrest:

Read the full column.

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All of my GetReligion columns (July 2018):

Continue reading “U.S. mission groups stranded by Haiti unrest, and CNN — to its credit — reports on it”

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

Everybody, it seems, has an opinion about Jack Phillips.

But not everybody — trust me on this — has taken the time to review the facts of Phillips’ case.

Does the Colorado baker — in whose favor the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 this week — really “refuse service” to gays and lesbians as a matter of general business practice?

Not according to him.

His position — one that resonated with the court’s majority — is more complicated than that.

Yet headlines such as this one in USA Today serve only to fuel the misperception:

Poll: 51% of white evangelicals support business’ refusal of service to LGBT customers

Here is the question that the survey covered by the national newspaper asked:

Do you support or oppose allowing a small business owner in your state to refuse to provide products or services to LGBT individuals if doing so violates their religious beliefs?

I have the same concern with that question that I did one asked in a previous survey that I highlighted last year: I’m just not sure it’s the right one. There are better questions to get closer to the real issue.

Read the full column.

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All of my GetReligion columns (June 2018):

Continue reading “Let’s be honest: Many voicing opinions about Colorado baker don’t know the facts”

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

About five years ago, I traveled to rural Iowa to report on a 156-year-old church surrounded by corn and soybean fields and a cemetery where generations of deceased members rest in peace.

The news angle was that the tiny congregation was working hard to survive despite immense challenges facing it and similar houses of worship.

As part of the same “Rural Redemption” project, I spent a Sunday with a 200-year-old assembly in the farming and coal-mining country of southeastern Ohio.

I thought those churches had long histories!

But Washington Post religion writer Julie Zauzmer recently wrote about an Episcopal congregation in rural Virginia that is marking 400 years — 400 years! — in 2018.

The Post’s headline pretty much nails it:

This 400-year-old church is older than almost any institution in America

This won’t be a long post because my basic message is simple: This is an interesting, well-reported story, and I’d urge you to read it.

What did I like about it? I’ll quickly mention three things.

Read the full column.

• • •

All of my GetReligion columns (May 2018):

Continue reading “The very definition of old news, and what a joy to read: A feature on a 400-year-old church”

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

Several years ago, I was flying home from a reporting trip when the pilot came on the loudspeaker and reported trouble with the controls that direct the plane.

He said we needed to make an emergency landing, and rescue vehicles would be waiting as a precaution. But he stressed that the flashing lights on the ground shouldn’t alarm anyone because he didn’t expect any problem landing the plane.

That statement would have provided more comfort if I hadn’t kept asking myself: If the plane were going to crash, would he be so candid as to say so?

“Attention, passengers, I fully expect that we are all about to die. Please buckle your seat belts and get your affairs in order.”

For an anxious flyer such as myself, that experience was scary enough.

But I can’t even imagine what the passengers of Southwest Flight 1380 endured this week. As you no doubt heard, one passenger was killed and seven others wounded Tuesday after an engine exploded.

However, as I noted Wednesday, devout Christian pilot Tammie Jo Shults is being praised for her “nerves of steel” in calmly maneuvering the plane to the ground and avoiding a much worse catastrophe.

Since I wrote that post, I’ve come across more faith-filled news coverage that needs to be highlighted.

Read the full column.

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All of my GetReligion columns (March 2018):

Continue reading “‘Dear Jesus, send some angels’: Faith and prayer inside Southwest Flight 1380”

By Bobby Ross Jr. | GetReligion

Did you happen to hear where Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was last week when President Trump posted a tweet about her that the president’s critics labeled “sexually suggestive and demeaning?”

Yep, that’s right: The New York Democrat was at a bipartisan Bible study.

So what are the odds that the New York Times political writers who profiled Gillibrand in Sunday’s newspaper — in a lengthy A-section piece tied to the president’s kerfuffle with the senator — delved into her faith?

Hint: The Times makes passing reference to the aforementioned Bible study.

But any actual consideration of Gillibrand’s faith? Not so much. (Interestingly enough, the profile does point to the senator’s propensity to curse “freely in public venues.”)

In case you somehow missed Trump’s tweet and Gillibrand’s response, here they are:

Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office “begging” for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017

You cannot silence me or the millions of women who have gotten off the sidelines to speak out about the unfitness and shame you have brought to the Oval Office. https://t.co/UbQZqubXZv

— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) December 12, 2017

I first became aware of Gillibrand’s participation in the regular Bible study when I did a Religion News Service profile of Sen. James Lankford earlier this year. I asked the Oklahoma Republican’s team for the names of Democrats involved in the study. They put me in touch with Gillibrand’s office.

I visited with Gillibrand about Lankford and her own faith, and a portion of that interview ended up in my story:

Read the full column.

• • •

All of my GetReligion columns (December 2017):

Continue reading “Trump + Gillibrand + faith: ‘Why is religion only talked about when reporters profile Republicans?’”