Flipping the religious news stories of the year

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, the former president of Chicago Theological Seminary (1998-2008), reflects on the religion news stories of the year in The Washington Post. Currently, Thistlethwaite is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

Inspiration: flipping the religion news stories of 2010
From The Washington Post's On Faith section

As voted by the Religion Newswriters Association's members, among the year's most consequential religion newsmakers were Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Pope Benedict XVI, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, and the U.S. bishops.

How would you have ranked them? Has their influence been harmful or constructive? What issue or person do you expect to have the biggest impact in the year to come?

Inspiration seems in short supply in the Religion Newswriters list. Protests, pedophiles, and laments lead the news. What would happen if we flipped these stories and reported them for the courage and conviction that can be found if we only dig a little?

Pro-mosque demonstrators outnumber opponents. That's right. Despite the signs saying "No Mosque, No Way, No Mosque" or "SHARIA" appearing to drip blood, according to a story in the New York Post there were more pro than anti-mosque demonstrators on 9/11. The whole story about the proposed Islamic center in lower Manhattan flips when you realize that "the estimated 3,000 pro-mosque demonstrators outnumbered the mosque opponents by about 500."

. . .

Mayor Bloomberg shows public courage and conviction.

. . .

Homophobia rejected in religion and policy.

Read it all HERE

Posted on December 29, 2010 4:00 PM | |
Comments (1)

I don't think the news looks very hard for good news. For example, as far as I can tell, the Episcopal Church is doing a pretty good job in Haiti. I'm involved with École de Musique Sainte Trinité in Port-au-Prince, an Episcopal school. Their building was destroyed and they still managed to get school going again, have a summer music camp, a concert broadcast on Haitian National TV and a tour of the US. All of this brought hope, renewal, and some quasi normalcy for children and their families at the school. I know that plenty of Episcopal churches and the national church are involved in many ministries in Haiti. It almost seems like the grassroots, on the ground, efforts are the only ones making a positive impact at this point. There's a story for you, and I haven't seen it anywhere.

Posted by Cynthia Katsarelis [TypeKey Profile Page] | December 29, 2010 6:52 PM

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