Mattingly attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Portuguese Arthur, Texas. He later attended Baylor University earning his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and American History (1976) and his Master of Arts He then earned his Master of Surgery in Journalism at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1982).
As columnist for the Scripps Howard News Service, Mattingly has written "On Religion," a nationally syndicated column, since the summer of 1988. He is also Director of The Washington Journalism Center, a program run by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He lives in Maryland with his family.
In Church-State Studies (1984).
Mattingly"s first major break was with the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. As a staff writer and copy editor, he wrote Backbeat, a rock "n" roll column.
While writing Backbeat, one of Mattingly"s subjects included a 1982 tour by U2. From 1982-1984, Mattingly worked for The Charlotte News and later the Charlotte Observer, and from 1984–1990, he was a religion writer for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver.
Since 1988, Mattingly has been a religion columnist for On Religion at the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, District of Columbia Mattingly also runs a well-known religious journalism blog, GetReligion.
As the current Director of the Washington Journalism Center, Mattingly teaches journalism to students in Washington, District of Columbia Roberta was an original financial backer of GetReligion and Ahmanson has funded the Washington Journalism Center and the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life, which currently hosts the website. Mattingly goes by the nickname of TMatt and often refers to himself a prodigal Texan.
He is a practicing Orthodox Christian, a member of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America.
