Last week, we launched this new feature called the Friday Five.
In case you missed the inaugural edition, the idea is this:
At the end of each week, we'll share a few links and quick details in this listicle format. Along the way, we hope to provide a mix of important and insightful information and even a smidgen of humor.
Here goes:
1. Religion story of the week: In a post earlier this week, I already praised this San Antonio Express-News story on how victims of the Sutherland Springs, Texas, church massacre are doing one month after the tragedy that claimed 26 lives. But this story by Silvia Foster-Frau remains my favorite of the week. As I mentioned before, it's hopeful, sensitive and nuanced. It's definitely worth your time.
2. Most popular GetReligion post: What's not to love a post about a royal baptism? This one by editor Terry Mattingly certainly struck a chord with GR readers. The post — titled "Game of fonts: Are questions about Meghan's faith linked to England's past or future?" — was by far the most-read item on our website this past week. (Note to self: Find more religion angles involving kings and queens.)
3. Guilt folder fodder (and more): This is where we confess to not getting around to important stories or journalistic debates that we probably should have. This week's mention: that much-discussed New York Times profile of "A Voice of Hate in America’s Heartland." As you may have heard, liberal reader reaction prompted the Times to add an editor's note to the top of the story:
This article has drawn significant feedback, most of it sharply critical. Read a response from The Times’s national editor here. And the reporter offers his thoughts on covering white nationalists here.
Meanwhile, Rod "Friend of this Blog" Dreher had an insightful take on the controversy over at the American Conservative.
What did liberals freak out about? The fact that the Times didn’t demonize him. That they made Hovater seem more or less normal. This, according to the critics, meant the Times was guilty of “normalizing” neo-Nazis.
This is wrong. Seems to me that the Times reporter was simply reporting straightforwardly on an actual phenomenon. It is scary that the nice guy next door might be a neo-Nazi. But shouldn’t you want to know about him, and how he got to be that way, if only to protect you own kids from the same fate? In the same way, if the Times writes a straightforward piece about how the nice young man from down the street was recruited online to join ISIS, shouldn’t you want to know about it, if only to be able to protect your own kids?
4. Shameless plug: Here, we talk about things that people on our team — or people to whom we think you need to pay attention — have written. This week, we want to tell you about GetReligion contributor Julia Duin's new book. Published by the University of Tennessee Press, it's called "In the House of the Serpent Handler: A Story of Faith and Fleeting Fame in the Age of Social Media." More news worth bragging about: Duin is one of four recipients of the 2018 Iceland Writers Retreat Alumni Award. Congrats!
5. Final thought: We all have bad days. That's just a part of life. But the editors of the Cambridge News had a particularly bad day this week — the kind that screams "Go big or go home!" as you can see in the tweet above. Hat tip to GetReligion's Mark Kellner for that tweet.
Enjoy!
We'll look forward to seeing you back here in this same space next week. If you have recommendations for any of the items in our Friday Five, by all means, leave a comment or tweet us at @GetReligion.