The Blogging Journalist

'Ten Commandments' for Christian Bloggers

"Christian bloggers have been given a new set of 'Ten Commandments' aimed at delivering them from the temptations of online arguments," the Daily Telegraph of London reported September 27, 2008, in an article headlined "Bloggers given new Ten Commandments by church leaders." 

According to reporter Alastair Jamieson:

The guidelines have been drawn up at a conference in London by the Evangelical Alliance in response to concern at how religious blogs can quickly descend into vitriol.

The commandments, based on those delivered to Moses by God at the top of Mount Sinai, order bloggers not to "make an idol" of their web space, not to misuse their screen name by using anonymity to sin and to remember the Sabbath by taking one day off a week from blogging. They also order: "You shall not use the web to commit or permit adultery in your mind."

Jamieson said, "The Evangelical Alliance is an umbrella group founded in 1846 that represents thousands of churches of most denominations nationwide."

Technorati Tags: Christian Bloggers,The Evangelical Alliance

The Dallas Morning News' Religion Blog

Virginia, USA-based freelance journalist Andrea Useem, proprietor of Religion Writer.com, published an inspiring interview July 25, 2007, with Dallas Morning News (DSN) religion reporter Jeffrey Weiss. As Useem notes, DSN folded its "award-winning religion section, one of the country’s only -alone faith sections, ... back into the rest of the paper in January, 2007, due to insufficient ad revenue..."

"Just a few months before the section folded, however," Useem reveals, "the religion team at the DMN, including long-time religion reporter Jeffrey Weiss, launched its own religion news blog, DallasNews Religion. Today Weiss is a main contributor to the blog, along with fellow religion reporter Sam Hodges and former religion editor Bruce Tomaso," she writes.

I read all of Useem's Q & A with Weiss. While stating that, “We have reason to shed a tear” about traditional religion reporting, Weiss doesn't come off as a reactionary dinosaur crying the blues about how disruptive blogs are to traditional media. Instead, he is using the blog to continue what he was doing before the the paper folded its stand-alone religion section. The exception is that he can interact with readers, update and make any necessary changes immediately. 

According to Useem, "Just as the [Dallas] paper’s religion section was once an industry standard, so now its blog may be leading the way for print-based religion reporters, who, willingly or reluctantly, are beginning to blog."

To read the interview with Weiss, please see "“Some Days, I Feel Like a Barnacle:” The Pace Car of Religion News Blogging." By the way, DSN publishes several blogs.

Technorati tags: Relgion Writer.com. Andrea Useem, DallasNews Religion, Dallas Morning News, Jeffrey Weiss, Sam Hodges, Bruce Tomaso

'Like It Or Not, Baptist Bloggers Are Here To Stay'

"Like it or not, Baptist bloggers are here to stay, according to speakers at a conference on Baptist identity," Phillip Jordon of the Associated Baptist Press (ABP) reported February 19, 2007.

The conference was held February 15-17, 2007, under the banner “Baptist Identity II: Convention, Cooperation and Controversy.”

Jordon noted that, "Blogs maintained by Southern Baptist [link added] ministers and seminary students have become popular forums for debate over the past two years, particularly for the younger conservatives who have taken issue with the SBC’s narrowing fundamentalism."

To read more of this interesting article, please see "SBC leaders acknowledge Baptist bloggers here to stay."

SFGate.com Profiles David Plotz, Editor Of 'Blogging The Bible'

The January 28, 2007, edition of SFGate.com, the online presence of the San Francisco Chronicle, has a post on Slate magazine's David Plotz and his "Blogging the Bible" series.

If you're interested in reading about it, see "Blogging the Bible carries an R-rating: Lust and violence, and black humor, fill Old Testament."

Jason Powell's Church IT Blog

Jim Duffy at Network World says "Church IT professionals aren't just busy optimizing Web sites for their congregations - they're also blogging to benefit their peers." One such professional is Jason Powell who blogs at  Jason Powell - Church IT and other musings.

I've never thought about churches in an information technology context. Maybe that's why I found Duffy's "Blogging about church IT" an interesting read.

Boston Cardinal To Continue Blogging

Boston's Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley intends to keep blogging at the Web site www.cardinalseansblog.org , according to The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and the oldest Catholic newspaper in the U.S. It was founded in 1829.

The Pilot notes that Cardinal O'Malley launched his blog September 21, 2006, "as he departed on a 10-day trip to Rome that concluded with his taking possession of his titular church."

To read more, see "Cardinal to continue blogging experience.