Monthly Archives: February 2011

Fly in the Ointment? Anti-Semitism and Pro-democracy Movements in the Middle East

by Kevin Douglas Grant Sometimes new revelations blow stories wide open, provoking a reporting frenzy by the press at every level.  Julian Assange's sexual assault charges in Sweden are just one example of this. But sometimes a revelation doesn't fit … Continue reading

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Mideast Reporting: Taking Dictation from Dictators?

by Maura Jane Farrelly The government of Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al Khalifa justified opening fire on more than 2,000 Bahraini demonstrators by claiming that the action was necessary to bring the country back from the “brink of a … Continue reading

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Homeboy, Bieber and the Brand-value of God

by Brie Loskota A few weeks ago I walked into my hometown Ralph's grocery store in a suburb of Los Angeles and found Homeboy Industries chips and salsas in the deli section. Delicious, hot, crispy and full of ethical goodness–yum! … Continue reading

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In the Clear: A New Journalistic Angle on Scientology

What convinced men and women to trust the Buddha, follow Moses or fight alongside Mohammed? I'm not the only one curious about what people believe, why they believe it and how belief affects behavior. New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright confessed … Continue reading

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Covering the House Hearings on Islam

by Mary Slosson Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, predictably caused an uproar when he announced hearings to investigate the radicalization of the American Muslim community. While many media outlets have been content to … Continue reading

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Beyond "Pollyanna": Reporting Abundance in an Era of Scarcity

by Kevin Healey As Richard Flory notes, politicians have parleyed economic insecurity into a new, religiously-infused “politics of fear” in which antipathy toward government spending merges with hostility toward outsiders. Witness: after the State of the Union address Sarah Palin, … Continue reading

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Tea Leaves, Chicken Bones and the Super Bowl

by Lee Gilmore Americans yesterday partook of one this nation's most cherished and populist rites–the annual Super Bowl. Scholars and pundits have long and routinely noted the extent to which the Super Bowl is an expression of American civil religion. … Continue reading

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Republicans in Israel: Piety v. Politics?

by Janine Rayford Over the last few weeks Israel has played host to one Republican politician after the other. The Israel National News website reported that Mississippi governor Haley Barbour “will be the third potential Republican presidential candidate to visit … Continue reading

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The New Politics of Fear

by Richard Flory Although there are still some lingering questions from last November about the role that values-voters played in the midterm elections–for example, were moral issues trumped by personal financial interests?–more recently, a new politics of fear has begun … Continue reading

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