1.   Editors who look at these numbers are thinking more seriously about the once lowly religion beat.

2.   He befriended me at once, as he did all newcomers to the religion beat.

3.   In one episode, City Editor Grant wanted to get rid of an inept reporter, so he assigned him to cover the religion beat.

4.   In those days, the religion beat tended to focus on church announcements and sermon reviews buried in far-flung outposts of the paper.

5.   Larson said many newspaper editors are hesitant to launch a serious religion beat because they have no reporters with the background to cover such a complex subject.