Terry Mattingly (tmatt.net) writes the nationally syndicated “On Religion” column for the Universal syndicate and is a senior fellow at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi, focusing on religion, news and the First Amendment. He was the founder of the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.

Mattingly’s father was a pastor and his mother a language arts teacher. Thus, it’s no surprise that Mattingly is a journalist and teacher who focuses on religion and that he continues to study both writing and religion. He double-majored in journalism and history at Baylor University and then earned an M.A. at Baylor in Church-State Studies and an M.S. in communications at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

He has worked as a reporter and religion columnist at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver and the Charlotte Observer and the Charlotte News. In 1991, Mattingly began teaching at Denver Seminary. While teaching, he has continued to write the weekly “On Religion” column for Universal, which is sent to about 350 newspapers in North America. He is the founder and editor of the GetReligion website that critiques the mainstream media’s coverage of religion news.

In addition to his classroom duties, Mattingly has lectured at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., the Torreys Honors Program at Biola University, the School of Journalism at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Baylor University in Waco, Texas, The King’s College in New York City and in other settings across the nation.

Mattingly is a prodigal Texan who has never met a mountain that he didn’t love. He is a music fanatic whose interests range from Celtic acoustic guitar to Russian chant. His wife, Debra Bridges Mattingly, is a public librarian and they have two grown children, Sarah Jeanne Wagner, and Frye Lewis Mattingly. The Mattinglys are members of St. Anne's Orthodox Church in Oak Ridge, Tenn.