Whether the rise of religiously inspired terrorism, the importance of faith based NGOs in global relief and development, or campaigning for evangelical voters in the U.S., developments worldwide underscore religion's role in public life. Americans who assumed society was becoming more and more secular have been surprised by religions' rising visibility. Our mainstream media, unprepared for this resurgence, tends to ignore, underplay or trivialize religion's importance in social, cultural and political news. This course is a corrective. Its objective is to ensure that reporters specializing in religion are intellectually grounded in religious beliefs and behaviors, faith-based institutions and the legal and political debates surrounding them, as well as current discussions on the intersection of values and ethics in science, medicine, gender and sexuality. Equally important, it seeks to prepare reporters who will not be specialists to feel comfortable covering religion when it intersects with politics, science, welfare and housing, education and entertainment.

Watch this space for student reporting from New Orleans, LA!
 
Student Work:

"God Loves Beauty" by B. Adriana Venegas-Chavez
"Art Therapy Post Katrina" by B. Adriana Venegas-Chavez
"Southern California Muslims Battle Islamophobia in a Post 9/11 World" by Brooke-Sidney Gavins
"Film Chronicles Liberian Women's Faith-Based Peace Movement" by Jennifer Hahn
"Film Chronicles Liberian Women's Faith-Based Peace Movement" by Jennifer Hahn
"Election 08: How Race Sways the Vote in New Orleans" by Brooke-Sidney Gavins
"Arab American Community Shifting to Democrats, Not Targeted by Either Campaign" by Jonathan Partridge
"Slurs Against Muslims a Cover for Racism Against Blacks" by Brooke-Sidney Gavins
"Secular Voters Feel Abandoned, Ignored by Candidates" by Jennifer Hahn
"Young US Muslims Shift to Democrats This Election" by Kyla Cullinane
"McCain's African-American Vote: L.A. Conservative Joe Hicks Is a Race-Weary Republican" by Tara Graham
"Spiritual, But Not Religulous" by Jennifer Hahn
"How Can Obama Win Over Evangelicals?" by Brooke-Sidney Gavins


Syllabus available here.