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DEADLINE THEOLOGY
What's in a Name? "Satanic hysteria" is such an interesting phrase, with so many possibilities. The coffee clerk who brought it up at a Revealer reading in Ann Arbor, Michigan, though, seemed to have only one meaning in mind, and a decidedly mundane one... [ Continue reading: ] 
WHAT'S MISSING
Prophets in Pasties There are two institutions in most towns of any size in the U.S. that invite people in to voluntarily confess needs beyond their own understanding -- houses of worship, and strip clubs. Those who opt for the former often do... [ Continue reading: ] 
GRAVEN IMAGES
Passionate Letters The Revealer likes to harp on a theme, a rather vague notion of democratic religion writing -- the sort practiced by journalists more intrigued by the many manifestations of faith and faithlessness than by Religion's official proclamations and courtroom exhortations... [ Continue reading: ] 
DEADLINE THEOLOGY
Anti-anti-anti-Catholicism An exceptionally poor Associated Press report last week paired the news of a Catholic priest's arrest in Ohio for growing pot with that of a priest in Iowa, sentenced to a year for kiddie porn. This is the grossest kind... [ Continue reading: ] 
DEVOTIONS
Crazy for Crosses "Follow your dreams" is a popular theme in teen magazines, but Brio, dedicated to "challenging teen girls toward a healthy self-concept" -- through Christ -- takes that mantra the extra mile in "One Nation, Under God," by Marty McCormack. Actually,... [ Continue reading: ]
WHAT'S MISSING
Guinea Pigs Brian Larkin, an anthropologist at Barnard College and a member of the Center for Religion and Media, writes The Revealer with this disturbing deconstruction of an NPR report by Joanne Silberner: "The substance of the report is that we are... [ Continue reading: ] 
MAMMON
Clock Watchers The "Readings" section of the Harper's February edition points The Revealer toward this peculiar prayer: Father God, we ask your blessings on our economic world: Bless those in governments and banks.... Give them an understanding of economic forces and the... [ Continue reading: ]  Islam Iviews offers Muslim news and analysis with a non-religious focus. The Islamic Broadcasting Network offers live and archived radio shows discussing current events. 1924.org is a British Muslim news and information site linked to the popular monthly magazine, Khilafah. Islam... [ Continue reading: ]
DEADLINE THEOLOGY
Relapsed Catholic The Revealer is still sick. Check back tomorrow, please; and in the meantime, visit our friend Kathy Shaidle at Relapsed Catholic. Kathy was one of the first religion bloggers, and she's always maintained a sharp eye for the telling, the... [ Continue reading: ] 
DEADLINE THEOLOGY
Fever The Revealer has a fever today, so high I've been haunted by fever dreams of George W. Bush leading an orange-robed choir in my living room. I won't try to parse that, nor anything in the wide world of online... [ Continue reading: ] 
HOLY DAY
Civic Religion The markers that sustain religion -- holidays -- can make writing about it boring beyond belief, a truism of religion reporting that's even moreso the case when it comes to civic religion and our state-designated holy days. Today is one... [ Continue reading: ] 
GRAVEN IMAGES
Eden on the Block In the beginning, there was a “time of innocence.” Pam Shaw, one of a few thousand Eves, called it “paradise,” and speaks of the “blind faith” with which she believed in the Prime Mover of her bliss. Yes, of course... [ Continue reading: ]  Religiously Ignorant Journalists A diagnosis and a prescription. By Christian Smith [ Continue reading: ]
BOOK OF NUMBERS
Getting It All Wrong The other day The Revealer was on a radio show with an otherwise very clever journalist who noted that far more people believe in the virgin birth than believe in evolution. What this was evidence of, the journalist -- we'll... [ Continue reading: ]
HOLY WAR
The Joy of Battle "In the sitting room of a flat in Bloomsbury, Geoffrey Kirk introduces himself jovially as the man who is going to split the Church of England." So writes Jamie Wilson in the British Guardian, deftly conveying with one sentence a... [ Continue reading: ] 
WHAT'S MISSING
Silence = ? Ever since Bono showed pal Jesse Helms the light (or not), the formerly firebreathing senator has been on a crusade against AIDS. His conversion was nothing if not timely -- these days, Christian conservatives are claiming the fight against AIDS... [ Continue reading: ]
SCRIPTURE
Paperless God "The Death of the Book," by S. David Marsh, is not, strictly speaking, a religion story. Yet by virtue of its location -- Mars Hill Review, one of the best Christian lit magazines around -- and its language, it is.... [ Continue reading: ]
CHURCH V. STATE
Neocons Unveiled "Perhaps," writes The Weekly Standard's Christopher Caldwell, "we assume too much in asserting that the open democratic republics of the West are compatible with 'religion.'" Surprising words coming from a senior editor of the neocon magazine, but nothing compared to... [ Continue reading: ]
SELF-REVEALING
Radio Revealer, Part II It turned out a bit like Canterbury Tales -- a motley assembly of true believers, kneeling drunkards, and ecstatic skeptics gathered over the airwaves on a cold, dark evening, trading tales... such was yesterday's edition of the radio current affairs... [ Continue reading: ] 
GOD FOR PRESIDENT
Flip-Flop Religion There was a time when Beliefnet.com, the 800-pound ecumenical guerilla of online religion, peddled itself with the slogan, “Because everyone believes in something.” Uh-huh. And the sun also rises, but what else have you got to say? As it turns... [ Continue reading: ]
SELF-REVEALING
Radio Revealer Hear The Revealer's Jeff Sharlet talk about religion writing and his new book, Killing the Buddha: A Heretic's Bible, with co-author Peter Manseau and radio host Tom Ashbrook on "On Point," 8-9 pm today. Listen on WBUR-FM Boston, online, or... [ Continue reading: ]
HOLY WAR
Cows -- Sacred, Mad, and Bad Religious fascism is a funny thing. Well, not really, but it is peculiar, especially in India, where to be a Hindu nationalist one doesn’t even need to be a Hindu. Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs -- the Hindu nationalist movement will take... [ Continue reading: ] 
DEADLINE THEOLOGY
Priesthood of the Press From Jay Rosen's "Journalism is Itself a Religion" -- a new Revealer feature: What results from the "relative godlessness of mainstream journalists?" Or, in a more practical vein: How are editors and reporters striving to improve or beef up their... [ Continue reading: ]  Journalism is Itself a Religion "In my view, journalism is a secular enterprise, and there is no specifically Catholic way to do it." A theological investigation by Jay Rosen. [ Continue reading: ]
DEADLINE THEOLOGY
The Celibate Elephant The Revealer welcomes guest commentator Peter Manseau, co-author of Killing the Buddha: A Heretic's Bible and author of the forthcoming Vows: A Family History of Sex, Love, and the Catholic Church. The Big Catholic Story of the week was the... [ Continue reading: ] 
DEADLINE THEOLOGY
Ultimate Concerns Nicholas Kristof is at it again. Sometime in the last couple of years, The New York Times columnist found God. Not in the sense of getting religion, but as -- stop the presses! -- the biggest story of the year.... [ Continue reading: ] 
NEW GODS, OLD TRICKS
Something About Mary The Revealer stopped by the website of Pan Gaia, a sort of thinking Pagan's magazine, hoping to link to a fascinating piece we found in its pages on the newsstand. It's an account of Paganism in the military, by a... [ Continue reading: ] 
WHAT'S MISSING
Three Times an Episcopalian Just as the Religion Newswriters Association declares Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson's consecration the number one religion story of the year, The New York Times weighs in with a Big Important Magazine Piece (BIMP) by Michael Massing. It's a tale of... [ Continue reading: ] |