Read William Saletan’s essay in Slate about Jack Kevorkian and his own father’s recent death to cancer: “Kevorkian didn’t have the answers,” he writes. “But he raised the right questions.”

Read the June 3, 2011, Washington Post obituary on Jack Kevorkian. It says that, “Though [Kevorkian] was the most well known figure in fighting for euthanasia’s legalization, the legislative results of his efforts were largely unsuccessful, if not counterproductive.”

Read the New York Times June 3, 2011, obituary on Jack Kevorkian. The obituary says says his critics and supporters generally agree that “as a result of his stubborn and often intemperate advocacy for the right of the terminally ill to choose how they die, hospice care has boomed in the United States, and physicians have become more sympathetic […]

Read a June 6, 2011, column by Kevin Drum of Mother Jones. Drum responds to Ross Douthat’s criticism of Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

Read a June 5, 2011, article from New York Times columnist Ross Douthat that argues against physician-assisted suicide and claims that Kevorkian was guilty of murder.

Do religion writers always write stories for religious holidays? New clergy? Anniversaries? By Melanie Smith The Decatur Daily The routine events of religious life are a challenge to the religion reporter. Is there anything newsworthy about another Easter or Rosh Hashanah or Ramadan? Do readers want to know how their neighbors observe Lent or Divali? […]

Read a July 23, 2011 Christianity Today article posted by Ed Stetzer about the danger of immediately associating the label “fundamentalist” with terrorism or extremism, as in the case of Norway killer, Anders Behring Breivik.

Many religion reporters also write about spiritual movements and ethical concerns. What sorts of stories like that should a religion writer do? By Richard Scheinin San Jose Mercury News To write stories about spiritual movements, look for the telltale “signs” of religion-the quest for transcendence we hear so much about these days, the attempt to […]

The Rev. Eileen Lindner is deputy general secretary for research and planning of the National Council of Churches and senior pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Tenafly in Tenafly, N.J. Previously, she served as the director of the NCC’s Child Advocacy Office. She has written numerous books and articles on a variety of child advocacy subjects.