ReligionWriters.com Focuses on Blogs
In today's ReligionLink section, ReligionWriters.com points reporters toward the blogosphere. They even provide reporters with a list of questions that will presumably help them flesh out a story about blogging as it relates to spiritual issues.
- Can you find blog readers and writers in your town or elsewhere? Who are they, and why do they write or read blogs? What do they say can be done on the Internet that they wish could be done inside the walls of houses of worship?
- Is there a difference between what clergy say about blogs and what readers and writers in congregational rank-and-file say about them?
- Religious leaders encourage people to talk about faith. But blogs often contain strongly worded commentary that may or may not be fact-based, and they challenge authority. Do religious leaders have concerns about that?
- Can you find instances of community impact that stem from blog-based talk?
The article also identifies national and regional resources for those interested in contacting individual bloggers. The Gazette is one of three such blogs listed for the Southwest Region. Happy as I am to be in the company of the excellent "The Thinklings," it's obvious that there hasn't been a lot of in-depth research devoted to this potentially-useful resource. Even a quick cruise through the Gazette's blogroll will reveal a number of insightful and well-written spiritually-oriented blogs which would be great sources of information for any reporter contemplating a story on blogs.
"They challenge authority? I wonder what Martin Luther, John Calvin and the Apostle Peter think of that?"
Not to mention Jesus Christ Himself! ;-)
While I agree that these questions seem a tad, um, elementary, I wonder if the sad reality is that the vast majority of people have never progressed much farther in their spiritual journey. These issues may represent the outer envelope of their spiritual maturity. (Not that I qualify for guru-hood; to the contrary, the more I learn, the less I know.)
One valid hope for blogging is that it can strive to counteract the dumbing down of public discourse that's required to sell "mainstream" publications in profitable quantities.
Posted by: Eric at August 19, 2003 11:22 AMAmen Bryan and Eric!
Posted by: phil at August 22, 2003 07:18 PMAbout the publisher
Random Abbye photos...
Angry Clouds
I am Curious Llama
Ganglia & Brain Cloud
Cabeza del Diablo
Aurora Moreorless
Be careful Who you plagiarize
Coming Attractions
All Thorns, All the Time
Hitchin' a Ride
"...the flower fades..."
Finding meaning in random events
Random Thursday: The Thanksgiving Edition
A Matter of Perception
Reason #21 to wear shoes in West Texas
The Neighborhood:
West Texas Blogs:
[Midland unless otherwise indicated]
Other Texas Blogs:
The Business:
The Church:
The World:
Snarky comment for the day:
Religious leaders encourage people to talk about faith.
As long as they don't question "tradition."
But blogs often contain strongly worded commentary that may or may not be fact-based, and they challenge authority. Do religious leaders have concerns about that?
"May or may not be fact-based"? Since when has that mattered in church pew-politics?
They challenge authority? I wonder what Martin Luther, John Calvin and the Apostle Peter think of that?
Posted by: bryan at August 19, 2003 10:46 AM