News

Marching for … Who?

Reporters seem confused about why Brazil’s Christians are in the streets.

Christianity Today June 8, 2007

The streets of Sao Paulo are packed with demonstrators. Why are they there?

The Associated Press headlines its coverage of Brazil's March for Jesus with "Evangelicals pack Sao Paulo despite arrest of church founders."

AFP doesn't mention those church founders, Estevam Hernandes Filho and Sonia Haddad Moraes Hernandes (who, by the way, pleaded guilty today to charges of money smuggling) in its coverage of the March for Jesus. Its headline: "One million anti-gay evangelicals march in Brazil. The Associated Press coverage didn't mention anything about homosexuality.

The Christian Post suggests that the march is largely aimed not at homosexuality but at Catholicism – or that it is at least an indication of a "flood of [Catholic] believers in Latin America turning to evangelical churches."

So are these three news services seeing different rallies, or are they casting about for what "the real story" is behind the March for Jesus? Here's a tip for next year's coverage: Not every story needs a conflict angle. Sometimes rallies aren't negative. Want to know what the March for Jesus is about? There's a clue in the last two words of its title.

Addendum: The aimless news coverage of March for Jesus reminds me of this wonderful Onion video satire:

Breaking News: Something Happening In Haiti

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Americans’ growing frustrations with Israel, Kash Patel sues The Atlantic for $250 million, and the popularity of John Mark Comer.

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An NBA player’s fall resurrects an old anxiety: When does talking about faith become “detrimental conduct”?

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An interview with Sunday Bobai Agang about the lessons he learned from his abduction last month.

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Three history books on the US slave trade.

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Facing Arrest, Cuban Christian Influencers Continue Call for Freedom

Hannah Herrera

Young people are using social media to spread the gospel and denounce the Communist regime.

Public Theology Project

Against the Casinofication of the Church

The Atlantic’s McKay Coppins told me about problems that feel eerily similar to what I see in the church.

Wire Story

The Religion Gender Gap Among the Young Is Disappearing

Bob Smietana - Religion News Service

Women still dominate church pews, but studies find that devotion among Gen Z women has cooled to levels on par with Gen Z men.

Just War Theory Is Supposed to Be Frustrating

The venerable theological tradition makes war slower, riskier, costlier, and less efficient—and that’s the point.

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