Children and Faith
Ah, the beauty of e-mail.
I got a lot of it regarding my "Like a Child" front-page story that ran Sunday.
http://www.gazette.com/display.php?secid=34
Some were nice "atta-boys." Some took me to task for the story topic itself -- one writing that the upcoming series should really be called "Indoctrination and Children." Someone else said he thought the story was too Christian-centric, written with the helping hand of the youth pastors quoted. One writer thought the story belittled Christian faith.
But all were free of cuss words -- always a bonus -- and most were really quite thoughtful. Faith is a thought-provoking, touchy subject, littered with all kinds of pitfalls and perils. These are areas where facts and figures take the discussion only so far, after which it becomes a matter of -- well, belief. It can be tough to write about such things: Journalists, after all, dig facts -- concrete, provable reality: The abstract nature of faith makes it a weird, squishy beat to cover.
I'm very jazzed about the rest of the series. I'd like to talk about baptisms and bar mitzvahs, youth-group dynamics and pagan home-schooling clutches. The stories aren't set in stone yet, but I hope they'll be interesting and illustrative. Be looking for them the last Saturdays of every month. Let me know what you think.
I got a lot of it regarding my "Like a Child" front-page story that ran Sunday.
http://www.gazette.com/display.php?secid=34
Some were nice "atta-boys." Some took me to task for the story topic itself -- one writing that the upcoming series should really be called "Indoctrination and Children." Someone else said he thought the story was too Christian-centric, written with the helping hand of the youth pastors quoted. One writer thought the story belittled Christian faith.
But all were free of cuss words -- always a bonus -- and most were really quite thoughtful. Faith is a thought-provoking, touchy subject, littered with all kinds of pitfalls and perils. These are areas where facts and figures take the discussion only so far, after which it becomes a matter of -- well, belief. It can be tough to write about such things: Journalists, after all, dig facts -- concrete, provable reality: The abstract nature of faith makes it a weird, squishy beat to cover.
I'm very jazzed about the rest of the series. I'd like to talk about baptisms and bar mitzvahs, youth-group dynamics and pagan home-schooling clutches. The stories aren't set in stone yet, but I hope they'll be interesting and illustrative. Be looking for them the last Saturdays of every month. Let me know what you think.
posted by Paul Asay | 10:43 AM
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