A Spiritual Anti-Hero, and Dispatches From the Religion Beat

A Pastor to Misfits

Nadia Bolz-Weber is covered in tattoos, swears like a sailor, and has logged a lot of time in church basements, wrestling with addiction. She is also a Lutheran minister, and founder of the House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, Colorado, where she welcomes all “the wrong people” — ex-cons, addicts, sinners and outsiders. Asked about her rejection of Christian stereotypes, she says, “I’m in it for the freedom, man.”

 

An Exit Interview with Mark Oppenheimer of the New York Times

Religion should be covered like sports, Jews make good copy, and, let’s be real, CrossFit is not a religion. After nearly seven years writing about faith every other week for The New York Times, Mark Oppenheimer leaves us with a few final reflections on what he’s learned. One takeaway: Please stop calling religion coverage the “God beat.”

“We are covering human beings who do stuff, or earn a paycheck, in the name of religion,” he says. “If there is a God, then he, she, or it is not coverable by us.” He spoke to producer Laura Kwerel.  Mark Oppenheimer is now religion writer and co-host of the Unorthodox podcast.


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