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I Was a Virgin on Birth Control

by Nicole Neroulias Mainstream or religious, conservative or liberal media agree: The recent birth control brouhaha – should the HHS mandate faith-affiliated hospitals and schools to have contraceptives covered by their health insurance providers? – is a pitched battle between … Continue reading

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Ethics Lessons: Sacred Texts and Un-Saintly Behavior

by Sandi Dolbee Last month's bonehead burning of Islam's holy book by U.S. troops in Afghanistan has reporters scrambling to cover the violent aftermath, trust issues and the time-line for withdrawal. There's a sidebar story that Voice of America picked … Continue reading

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Creeping Shari'a? Or Just Plain Creepy?

by Umbreen S. Bhatti Have you heard of Zombie Muhammad? Me neither, until a few days ago, under a National Review headline declaiming “The Sharia Court of Pennsylvania.” Apparently the zombie in question made his appearance last October 11 during … Continue reading

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Seeing a Brutal World in a Single Death

by Adriana Janovich The first paragraphs set the scene for what is to follow: a well-written, well-researched investigative narrative detailing the death of a Roman Catholic nun in the heart of a tribal region in eastern India. Readers know the … Continue reading

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Lintertainment? Ethno-religious Linsight? Let's Say Both

by Jane Iwamura Slim were his chances in the NBA / Burdened with an Asian face / He conquered all through hard work / And the mercy of God's grace. So goes “The Ballad of Jeremy Lin.” You would recently … Continue reading

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Rorschach Test: A Portrait of Israeli Jews

by Jason Kehe Surveys often bring out the worst in journalists. They don't require actual reporting—just imagination. We see a collection of numbers, determine which are the sexiest or the most shocking and slap on some “explanatory narrative.” Bim, bam, … Continue reading

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Conjuring Conflict: Reportage on Mormon Posthumous Baptism of Jews

by Benjamin Gottlieb The shamefully shallow coverage of posthumous baptisms that were performed last week on the parents of the late Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal exemplified the mainstream news media's propensity to goose conflict and ignore the kind of contextualization that … Continue reading

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Diane Winston on "The Point"

Guest host John Fugelsang (Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour) leads a discussion of Jesus and the Republican Party, President Obama and LGBT rights and the death of Whitney Houston with panelists Diane Winston (USC Professor of Media and Religion), Rabbi Lisa … Continue reading

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Sunbelt Rising: The California Origins of the Modern Evangelical Right

In a talk at USC from noon to 1pm on Thursday, March 1, Darren Dochuk—author of From Bible Belt to Sunbelt: Plain-folk Religion, Grassroots Politics, and the Rise of Evangelical Conservatism—will highlight some of the key (and until now, relatively … Continue reading

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Winston at SMU

On February 9, Diane Winston delivered two lectures—”Soup Soap and Salvation: William Booth's Legacy for the 21st Century” and “Saving Grace: Ritual, Re-enchantment and Redemption in a Mediatized World”—as the featured speaker at the annual Personal Life/Public Faith lecture series … Continue reading

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