Category Archives: The Scoop

by Richard Flory What is particularly striking in the aftermath of Tuesday's historic election is that there is no consistent religion storyline. Observers have alternately argued that there is no values or faith story in the 2010 election, that the … Continue reading →

S. Brent Plate Clint Eastwood's latest offering, “Hereafter,” a speculative, cinematic glimpse at what lies at the end of human life, is the latest in a series of recent films that explore and provoke questions about what it means to … Continue reading →

Time magazine's recent story on a religious freethinker in Uganda is in some respects a very good read. Bright, breezy and upbeat, the article explains how James Onen, a former Pentecostal, has started a blog and a discussion group to … Continue reading →

by Don Lattin Talk about your flashbacks… Blogging about media coverage of Prop. 19 takes my boggled mind back to those heady days in  the spring of 1973 and my own misadventures covering the Berkeley Marijuana Initiative, the first law … Continue reading →

by Brie Loskota With an important election looming, our constantly simmering political contest over “values” is once again at full boil. Self-described “values voters” sparked furious debate following the 2004 exit polls. Liberals declared that God has no party. Conservatives … Continue reading →

by Kevin Healey As Judith Weisenfeld rightly notes, the many heart-felt contributions to Dan Savage's “It Gets Better” project provide some of the most nuanced discussions of the religious implications of homophobia. But what should we make of mainstream coverage … Continue reading →

Religion never registered in this season's installment of Mad Men. It didn't need to. The implications of faith, morality and Protestant privilege echoed through the episodes, delineating expectations about work and family, gender roles and even child-rearing. Off-screen in 1965, … Continue reading →

by Nick Street Lee Siegel's essay on resonances between the Beats and the Tea Partiers in last Sunday's New York Times Book Review is a brilliant exercise in religious and political genealogy as well as a signpost for reporters. There … Continue reading →

Judith Weisenfeld If the recent cluster of suicides of young gay men weren't enough to draw our attention to the under-reported consequences of homophobia in our culture, we also have the brutal attacks in the Bronx and the antediluvian remarks … Continue reading →

by John Adams Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It was Saturday night, Sept. 18, and I was nearing the end of a grueling 16-hour shift when a headline came across the wires that caught my attention: “CHURCH MASS … Continue reading →