On the Bright Side...

It's been an interesting few months on the Colorado Springs religion beat. It feels as though I've written about lots of scandal and heartbreak and pedophile priests lately, and I hear occasionally from readers who wonder why I don't seem to have anything good to write about church.

Over in England, though, some parishioners were taken aback when an online report was a little too good.

The Ship of Fools is a satirical Web site that both mocks and lauds church culture, both in Britain and in the U.S. One of its most popular features is the Mystery Worshipper -- a standing feature written by anonymous volunteers who attend church services and then rate them. Several Colorado Springs churches have been reviewed, including New Life Church and St. Mary's Cathedral, and The Gazette has written a story about our own mystery worshipper.

But I digress. The scandal in this case, such as it is, involves the planting of favorable church reviews by folks with a vested interest: In this instance, an Episcopal priest is suspected of filing posts that applaud his own speaking and singing.

OK, so this is something less than Watergate. Still, it's interesting if you're a church wonk like me, and it's curiously refreshing for parishioners to blow the whistle because they thought the reviews were just too darn fawning of their own church.

"Needless to say, it's a cold day in Hell when a church complains that their Mystery Worshipper report is too positive," wrote Ship of Fools editor Simon Jenkins.

If that particular scandal doesn't interest you, go to the site anyway and check out these two mugshots, comparing KFC's Col. Sanders with Colorado Springs' own spiritual warrior, C. Peter Wagner.