The best news stories start with a fantastic lede.

For those unfamiliar with journalistic lingo, the lede is “the opening sentence or paragraph of a news article, summarizing the most important aspects of the story.”

Every year, Poynter Institute writing guru Roy Peter Clark recognizes the Pulitzer Prize winner with the best lead (as he spells it). Yes, there’s a whole debate over which spelling is best.

Clark argues that even some of the stories that earn journalism’s most prestigious honor provide “evidence that we have lost the art of the great news lead.”

But this week, I came across two ledes in the world of religion that I really enjoyed. I can’t resist sharing them.

The first comes via the Orlando Sentinel’s Chabeli Carrazana:

For the better part of two decades, Orlando’s holiest theme park has hung on from its perch on Interstate-4, a struggling David among Orlando’s Goliaths: Mickey Mouse and Harry Potter.

Now it seems it’s time to concede defeat. The news came earlier this year: The Crucifixion is canceled. So is the resurrection and all the other stage shows portraying stories of the Bible, which play out five days a week at Orlando’s Holy Land Experience, a part biblical museum, part ministry that has withstood 19 years of financial trouble.

The second was penned by Politico’s Ryan Lizza:

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Biden campaign has always had a healthy sense of impending doom running through it. Maybe it’s the Catholic sensibility of many of the senior staffers, but it’s been noticeable in conversations over the past year. “The bottom on this whole thing could fall out at any minute,” one said in December. In February, in the first three nominating contests, the staffer was proved correct.

But Wednesday was the start of Lent, and Joe Biden gave up losing.

If you spot a nice lede — particularly one with a faith angle — I’d love to see it. Email me at the address above or tweet me at @bobbyross.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. Wash your hands before reading the rest of this: But seriously, folks, the coronavirus outbreak is sparking changes by many religious institutions. The Associated Press’ David Crary — with help from Religion News Service’s Aysha Khan — reports that the adjustments include “a decision by numerous Catholic dioceses to suspend the serving of wine during Communion.” AP notes, too, that the virus has halted Islamic pilgrimages to Mecca. The New York Times highlights “worship in the age of coronavirus.” Other coverage includes a Washington Post piece on the impact on the Jewish community in New York City and a Wall Street Journal story on an apology by the leader of the secretive church at the center of South Korea’s virus epidemic. and Among local faith-related stories are these by the The Oklahoman’s Carla Hinton, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Peter Smith, the Houston Chronicle’s Robert Downen and the Austin American Statesman’s Eileen Flynn and Philip Jankowski.

2. ‘I must believe that joy will come’: Religion writer Holly Meyer and her colleagues at The Tennessean are — just as you’d expect in one of the buckles of the Bible Belt — working overtime to cover all the faith angles related to Tennessee’s devastating tornadoes. Gentry Estes reported on a family of three — among the 24 dead — who embraced their Christian faith and each other. I’m covering the story for The Christian Chronicle and will be in hard-hit Cookeville this weekend.

3. Civil rights: The road to Bloody Sunday began 30 miles away: This is a highly compelling read by Gary Fields, the global religion news editor for The Associated Press. In the piece from Marion, Ala., Fields writes: “What happened in Marion is now a less-familiar episode in the civil rights movement, a footnote in the textbooks. But the blood spilled here would send hundreds of people from Marion and the surrounding county to Selma and the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where history was made.”

Continue reading “Mickey Mouse + Harry Potter + Joe Biden = fantastic ledes in world of religion news” by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion UnPlugged.