Category Archives: The Scoop

Pink Toenails and Dragging Knuckles: Dominionism Behind the News

by John Adams As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. But the pair of images that dominated the media scene over the past week has spawned many more words than that. “Racist,” “transgender child propaganda” and … Continue reading

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Behind the Veil: France's Ban on the Burqa

by Robyn Carolyn Price Two veiled women were arrested in France last Monday as they protested a law that, effective that day, banned the wearing of burqas and niqabs in public spaces. The law is considered by some – both … Continue reading

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Comparing Coverage of the French Law in France and the U.S.

by Albert Sabaté The recent banning of the niqab, or full veil, in France is just the latest episode in the West's tumultuous relationship with Islam and its own values of multiculturalism. News media coverage of the ban in France … Continue reading

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Doomsday in 2012: A Bad Idea Goes Global

by Salman Hameed Next year is going to be an ordeal for astronomers. We regularly field (or at least endure) questions and claims about astrology, alien abductions, UFOs, crop-circles and beings from other dimensions. But we're bracing ourselves for a … Continue reading

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Framing the Budget Battle: Who Hogs (and Who Holds) the Camera?

by Lee Gilmore Friday's narrowly averted government shutdown–and the endemic economic and cultural disputes underlying those events–saw women's health care batted about like a cat toy between the nation's dominant political factions. The threatened de-funding of Planned Parenthood was positioned … Continue reading

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Advocate for Coexistence, in Death and in Life

by Mary Slosson The murder of Palestinian-Israeli actor and filmmaker Juliano Mer-Khamis last Monday highlighted the tragic, ongoing wages of conflict in that part of the world. It also drew attention to the role of film in shaping popular understandings … Continue reading

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Faith, Money and Politics: The Supreme Court Rules on Donations to Religious Schools

by Christin Davis In a 5-4 decision on “Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn,” the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week that tuition payments to religious schools are eligible for tax credits and cannot be challenged on constitutional grounds. … Continue reading

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Westboro Baptist and Terry Jones: Reporting on Demons without Growing Horns

by Maura Jane Farrelly In December of last year, members of Westboro Baptist Church announced that they would be coming to the Boston metropolitan area. Their purpose was to picket Brandeis University – a school that was founded in 1948 … Continue reading

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Evangelicals, Left and Right

by Janine Rayford When a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Christian activist Jim Wallis and two other religious leaders held a press conference last week to announce a religious fast to protest the deep cuts that congressional Republicans … Continue reading

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Covering Terry Jones, Then and Now

by Andrew Khouri Last month, the incendiary Florida pastor Terry Jones served as judge in a “trial” in which he convicted the Koran of capital crimes. Jones then ordered that the Muslim holy book should be burned, and another pastor … Continue reading

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