IN THIS ISSUE May 2007 Published by the American Academy of Religion Vol. 22, No. 3 News, Media, and www.aarweb.org Teaching Religion

Ways of Truth-Telling in a Wired World ...... ii Rachel Wagner, Ithaca College News, Media, Deconstructing the Media in Virtual Classrooms ...... iii Claire Badaracco, Marquette University Dolly, Fluffy, and Teaching and Teaching Ethics 101 ...... iv Kiki Kennedy-Day, American University in Cairo Swimming in the Sea Religion of News ...... v Whitney Bodman, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary From the Editor’s Desk “Authentic Material”: Ads, Pictures, and Krishna Utensils ...... v Prothero’s point is that dumb is dangerous, YouTube and MySpace. An emerging trend Rebecca J. Manring, and has truly terrible consequences. is lifelogging, namely, documenting every Indiana University moment of one’s life using audio recorders, Juxtaposed with religious illiteracy, howev - digital video cameras, GPS tracking sys - er, is a popular culture that is suffused with News, Popular Media, and tems, and other surveillance devices. Orientalist Islam ...... vi religious symbols, and a political establish - Rubina Ramji, Cape Breton ment that readily deploys language laden University with biblical references. Wading into this stupefying mixture of ignorance and bliss, With the arrival Teaching Religion, Media, and duly amplified by digital networks beyond Culture in Haifa ...... vii our wildest imagination, are religion pro - of the electronic age, fessors in the classroom. truly profound Michele Rosenthal, “ University of Haifa Tazim R. Kassam With the arrival of the electronic age, truly shifts have taken Spotlight on Teaching Editor profound shifts have taken place in the way Reporting on Religion: A students learn. On the one hand, they con - place in the way Journalist’s View ...... viii sume a burgeoning diet of wireless data students learn. Adelle M. Banks, Religion instantaneously delivered through their lap - N HER ARTICLE “Americans get an News Service tops, iPods, cell phones, and TiVos; on the ‘F’ in Religion” (Mar 7, 2007), Cathy other, this intensely saturated and limitless Grossman of USA Today writes: I data stream of text, sound, and moving Using the news to teach religion thus offers “Sometimes dumb sounds cute: Sixty per - image provides little guidance on how to an opportunity to engage students to think cent of Americans can’t name five of the Ten evaluate its reliability or significance. critically about their own understanding of Commandments, and 50 percent of high ” what constitutes news, and to develop their school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah It is an irony that students, and most ability to distinguish between fact, fiction, The AAR Committee on were married.” She was reporting on Americans, are oblivious not only to the argument, and interpretation, as well as to Teaching and Learning (Eugene Stephen Prothero’s new book, Religious history of religions, but also of world cul - extend their horizons beyond narcissistic V. Gallagher, Chair) sponsors Literacy: What Every American Needs to tures and international affairs despite infotainment. Spotlight on Teaching . It appears Know — And Doesn’t (HarperSanFrancisco: instant access to the knowledge of the twice each year in Religious 2007). world at their fingertips. When students analyze how religion is Studies News and focuses on reported in the news media, how this Prothero argues that although religion plays “News” itself often means little to students. teaching and learning around a impacts public opinion, and how reli - a salient role in national and international In their experience, it occupies the same particular theme, concern, or gious communities also generate and setting. events, Americans are not even conversant virtual space as the World Wide Web, manipulate news media, they get with their own religions history and tradi - CNN Headline News , reality TV, and video Editor involved with the study of religion more tions. His students, for instance, are regu - games. A disquieting example of the meld - actively as seekers, and hopefully pro - Tazim R. Kassam larly stumped by questions such as “Name ing of the visual effects of primetime news ducers, of reliable knowledge. Syracuse University the Four Gospels” and “What is the broadcasts and that of blockbuster movies Golden Rule?” — let alone “What is is the fact that video stores in Canada Contributors to this issue of Spotlight Ramadan?” reported a steep increase in rentals of ter - describe various ways that they have Spotlight on Teaching rorist movies after 9/11 (see p. vi). used the news media as an entry point This isn’t news to most religion scholars in is published by the for students to appreciate the complexi - the United States. But what is interesting is Indeed, technology has advanced so fast American Academy of Religion ty of religion(s), and to acquire religious that it’s newsworthy for Grossman, and, if that students can literally produce their 825 Houston Mill RD literacy. Suite 300 dumb is cute, even amusing. If anything, own “news” or vlogs, and broadcast it via Atlanta, GA 30329 Visit www.aarweb.org Religious Studies News

Ways of Truth-Telling in a Wired World

Rachel Wagner, Ithaca College

sion of religious experience. However, the of the modernist perspective for scholars of may see The Onion as a legitimate source of integration of online news material into my journalism, who have given up “the notion public opinion, it seems imperative that we courses has not been without its headaches. that [journalism] is clearly and unequivocally provide students with the skills to recognize a search for truth.” Most journalism scholars different kinds and qualities of “reporting.” Perhaps the most obvious issue I have today, he says, openly “concede that a set of addressed is the problem of defining “news” In my “Women and Religion” course, I conventions influences or determines the today and the hidden questions about require that students select and critique a selection and interpretation of fact in the authorship, authority, and the interpretation single news story in a bit more detail. For press.” Thus, teaching students about the of “facts” that the analysis of news implies. In each “newsworthy” assignment, students nature of the news means teaching them an informal poll in one of my courses, I must consider why the story they select about the tricky relationship between facts found that only a handful of students think about women and religion has been report - and interpretation in a journalist’s creation of first of print sources when asked where they ed in mainstream media. I ask them ques - a news report. Religious studies has long read the “news,” and predictably most tions such as: Why do you think this issue been concerned with the problem of facts responded that they get their news on the made it into mainstream news? What can and interpretation, so bringing such concerns Internet. Although many expressed a vague you learn about the author that might Rachel Wagner is an Assistant Professor of to the surface in the analysis of the news can sense that different news sources have differ - enlighten your understanding of the Religion at Ithaca College. She wrote a have compelling collateral results in discus - ent biases, they could not clearly articulate author’s views and intentions in reporting dissertation on the humanistic function of sions about the formation of sacred texts how one might recognize what these are. My this story? Why might this story about biblical forms in William Blake’s poetry. Her assumed to be the product of “reporting.” recent interests have centered on religion and students agreed with me that stories drawn women’s role in religion sell papers or draw popular culture. She has written pieces on (online or in print) from national papers like Critical analysis of news in the classroom also readers? This assignment has met with Islam and video games, on Harry Potter the New York Times or from broadcasting raises an interdisciplinary problem: Does my mixed success, primarily because I find that and The Matrix , and has appeared in a companies like CNN, PBS, and the BBC PhD in religious studies de facto qualify me students have great difficulty assessing what Warner Brothers documentary about the should be considered “news,” along with as an instructor of journalistic technique, just a “mainstream” news source might be and film series. print and online versions of mainstream because the topic in a given news article has will just as likely pull material from grass - news magazines like Time , U.S. News and to do with religion? I wonder how my col - roots magazines, local flyers, and the col - World Report , or Newsweek . But these are not leagues in the School of Communications lege paper as from national news outlets. EIL POSTMAN prophetically the only sources that students consult for would feel if I told them that I am teaching They also struggle with the realization that remarked in 1985 in Amusing their news — they also get it from a host of students how to understand the rhetorical news is not news from the beginning, but NOurselves to Death that “we face the Web sites, from discussion boards, even from purposes of different types of journalistic was selected, arranged, and interpreted by rapid dissolution of the assumptions of an personal e-mail. When asked if a blog could writing. Of course, religious studies is typi - somebody with a particular purpose in education organized around the slow-mov - be considered “news,” my students expressed cally an interdisciplinary endeavor, but the mind, usually commercially driven. ing printed word, and the equally rapid some uncertainty, arguing that it depends on question remains how religion professors can One could convincingly argue that the peda - emergence of a new education based on the the journalistic associations and training of be certain that they have attained the appro - gogical problem of assessment of sources is speed-of-light electronic image.” Although the blogger. Although one student cringed priate skill-set in another discipline to then nothing new and is merely aggravated today Postman was mostly concerned about the while declaiming the objectivity of Fox instruct students about how to use it. by the accessibility of online resources. effects of television on education, his obser - News, none of them were certain why some Nevertheless, I believe that struggling with However, it seems to me that what is new for vation applies equally well to the new news outlets should be viewed as more reli - the problem of perspective in religious jour - our students is the sheer volume of “news” forms of multimedia today. Whether we able than others. Whether we like it or not, nalism can be an effective pedagogical tool. resources available combined with the like it or not, most of today’s students are using news in the classroom embroils us in An ongoing, flexible assignment in my trickling-down of the worst aspects of post - much less likely to get their “news” in print the best and worst of postmodernist and “Islam and Media” course is to have students modern theory into American culture. For or on television, and are more likely to find it deconstructionist debates about meaning and bring in news articles dealing with Islam. students who take the digital world for grant - in online “newspapers” or other new media authority. The goal is to help them develop the tools ed, we cannot responsibly consider the issues such as blogs, streaming video, YouTube, and The pop trickle-down form of the postmod - with which to assess an author’s purpose, to relating to the integration of news in the podcasts. So if we want to meet students ern celebration of personal perspective means consider how physical arrangement of image classroom without facing head-on what the where they are, then we owe it to them to that some students may confuse the right to and text on the page (or the Web site) may term “news” means to them today and giving think carefully about the new pedagogical express themselves with the need to think affect interpretation of meaning, and to learn them the tools to understand how larger challenges that come with responsible analy - critically about the sources they consume. how content analysis can help to identify debates about meaning and authority affect sis of the “news” in the digital twenty-first Gone is the modernist assumption, described implicit biases. Because I am a scholar of reli - reporting about religion. We can utilize the century. For those of us who grew up in a by literary theorist Terry Eagleton as that per - gious studies, these techniques are all filtered best of postmodern perspectivism as an anti - very different environment, we may find our - spective which “rises above its object to a through the examination of how religious dote to the worst of postmodern perspec - selves in the awkward position of teaching point from which it can peer down and dis - belief can affect an author’s point of view, tivism when we illustrate for our students, as these fully wired students about a world that interestedly examine it.” Today’s students and how the journalistic description of reli - Postman puts it, that “Some ways of truth- for us is new and at times confusing, but simply assume that objectivity is never fully gion raises distinctive issues. Precisely by telling are better than others.” which they simply take for granted. achievable. Accordingly, professorial critique peeling back the assumption of objectivity in At Ithaca College, I teach a number of differ - of student analysis of news can embroil us in journalism, we can reintroduce what Bibliography ent religious studies courses. No matter the a pop form of quasi-Marxian self-indictment: Postman calls “perplexity,” the difficulty stu - Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An course, I frequently utilize elements of the Instructors have “the power” — thus our dents encounter when they must “remem - Introduction . Minneapolis: University of “news” in the classroom as a way of showing assessments of student news selection and ber,” “study,” and “apply” what they have Minnesota Press, 1983. students the relevance of what may otherwise responses to it can be viewed as a mere whim learned to multiple contexts. seem distant concepts. When Ted Haggard of academic hegemony. Foucault harshly cri - Foucault, Michel. “The Means of Correct For my Christianity course, I have students was indicted by his congregation for sexual tiques the role of “examination” in (mod - Training” from Discipline and Punish . complete a series of brief exercises dubbed misconduct, reports about this incident col - ernist) schools, since it “combines the tech - Excerpted in The Foucault Reader , edited by “Christianity in Culture Citings.” For each of ored our discussions about how beliefs about niques of an observing hierarchy and those of Paul Rabinow. New York: Pantheon Books, these assignments, students must locate five biblical interpretation can shape some a normalizing judgment. It is a normalizing 1984. different “citings” of Christianity in the cul - Christians’ assumptions about homosexuality. gaze, a surveillance that makes it possible to ture around them, and write a brief summary Hoover, Stewart. Religion in the News: Faith The international hubbub surrounding qualify, to classify, and to punish.” In a post - about each, citing it appropriately, and cri - and Journalism in American Public Discourse . Madonna’s melodramatic “crucifixion” in modern environment, the mere assessment of tiquing the role that Christianity plays in the Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, concert invited class discussion about gender student writing can seem hazardous, a prob - item’s formulation or function. Those stu - 1998. and pop culture critiques of Christianity, but lem exacerbated by the use of the news in dents who select news items are surprisingly also more practical consideration about how student assignments, since issues of authority Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: generous in their appraisal of what a legiti - stories about religion get reported in news and “truth” are so much at the surface. Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business . mate “news” source may be — so generous media, and why they do. The “appearance” New York: Viking Penguin, Elisabeth Stewart Hoover’s brilliant 1998 exploration that the assignment itself has shown me just of the Virgin Mary in chocolate drippings in Sifton Books, 1985. of the state of religion reporting, Religion in how many students exhibit a false confidence a candy company in California gave rich the News , focuses mainly on how reporters about their ability to assess the reliability of dimension to our discussions of modern ven - select what to say about religion and how news sources. In an age where some students eration of Mary. Students generally respond one determines what religious expertise looks may read Daniel Pipes’ or Pat Robertson’s enthusiastically to the integration of perti - like — but he also acknowledges the demise online opinions as reliable “news,” or who nent news reports into the traditional discus - ii • May 2007 AAR RSN SPOTLIGHT ON TEACHING

Deconstructing the Media in Virtual Classrooms

Claire Badaracco, Marquette University

graphic methodologies through negotiated questioning is to follow one theme, such idea of belief, or in a political context or mediated points of view, from the as “Creation,” “the Face of God,” where it differentiates beliefs, or in the standpoint of academic knowledge in “Initiation Rituals,” “Beauty,” sense that the sitcom or popular-culture fields of communication, religious studies, “Sanctuary.” They condense and edit world normalizes nonbelief or “secular” and political and popular culture. Leaders hours of videocam interviews into one values. Though I think this distinction in the field, such as Stewart Hoover, Lynn five-minute digital product (using iMovie still holds, unquestionably, the sea change Clark, Rodney Stark, Diane Winston, or Movie Maker, Adobe Editor, or Final alluded to in the lead to this article John Schmalzbauer, Jolyon Mitchell, and Cut Pro). demonstrates how media has taken up the many others, have demonstrated in subject of religion in a deeper way. important books not only how religion Similarly, those powers of critical thinking permeates the news, but how religions use applied to deconstructing clichés of media media, and how believers congregate or popular culture ought to admit the stu - online or view films and hear music, all Students produce a dents into another avenue of inquiry, aspects of contemporary media that help digital ethnograph: about the nature of deeper culture, about Claire Badaracco is Professor of express individual beliefs in public ways, how thought leaders influence public and which contribute to how people see “a triptych of interviews opinion and popular belief through politi - Communication in the College of Communication at Marquette University, themselves — and how they see the with religious leaders cal rhetoric. Other. Milwaukee. She is the editor of Quoting in three different Along with growth in critical thinking God: How Media Shape Ideas about Through my course in media and religion, skills, on religiously affiliated campuses, Religion (Baylor University Press: 2005) my students learn that how they see the faith traditions. students in late adolescence have an innate and has written three books about printing Other determines how they know them - resistance to inherited faith or “truth.” history. Currently, she teaches media ethics; marketplace writing; and cultural identity, selves, and they use media to reach that They need at this age to discover their media and world religions. critical understanding. own truth, and sometimes that leads them I am less concerned with their production back home and sometimes into new levels When I created an experimental class skills, however, and accept all levels of of reflection about the meaning of the titled “Cultural Identity, Media and World competence in this. I am very c”ommitted soul in the Eastern and Western tradi - HE COVERS of Time and Newsweek Religions,” I used a broadband network to to their using the media to get out of their tions. The integration of technology and in December 2005, the year that create a “linked” classroom, where a comfort zone, and into the churches, tem - mass media in the class assignments and Publishers Weekly dubbed the year of course on media and religion was co- T ples, mosques, and synagogues in the area, course structure creates a type of meta-dis - the religion book, were a seasonal cliché. taught with three instructors at three dif - to talk with strangers, and to come away course. Understanding how geographical But in 2006, secular sentimentalities pre - ferent Jesuit universities, with interdisci - with the exhilaration of having met with differences result in differences among the cluded religious images on postage stamps plinary expertise including religious stud - someone whose appearance, ethnicity, same faith traditions helps them to situate and the use of “Happy Holidays” rather ies, mass media, and sociology of religion. clothes, or age is very different from their not only their own identity, but to devel - than “Merry Christmas” became a matter Our first collaborators included Loyola own. The videocamera is merely a bridge op the skills to encounter the Other, to for media debate. Beyond the surface, New Orleans (Catherine Wessinger) and to conversation: the product is less impor - deconstruct fear as an inheritance of mass higher-gloss magazines often wear their the University of Santa Clara (Paul tant than the process through which they media. If religions are made up of rituals, ideology on their sleeves. Recently, Soukup). We no longer are limited to compose the digital ethnograph. The then certainly for mass media majors, Harper’s addressed “Jesus without the other Jesuit schools. I am interested in media use is an excuse, it forces them out understanding how media ritual functions Miracles: Thomas Jefferson’s Bible and the new, future opportunities for collabora - of their shells, and many have reported in public belief is central to their educa - Gospel of Thomas”; even National tion, and in short-term, or one-class, col - they love it, that it made them talk with tion on a Jesuit campus. Geographic discussed “The Secrets of Long laborations on varied assignments with strangers about deeply held beliefs, an Life” among the Seventh-Day Adventists; other schools. This year, we are linked experience that causes them to understand Bibliography the Atlantic Monthly questioned “Is God with Dublin City University (Colin “lived religion” in a new dimension. an Accident?” and examined Kenny), Middle Tennessee State Badaracco, Claire, ed. Quoting God: How Christianization of Hollywood from The University (Paul Wells), and the U.S. In this, my eighth year of teaching media Media Shape Ideas about Religion . Baylor, Passion of the Christ to Narnia ; Newsweek Embassy in Guatemala (David Young) to and religion classes in this way, I now TX: Baylor University Press, 2005. heralded The Da Vinci Code ; and Mother talk about how journalists are trained to periodically try to construct a bilingual or Buddenbaum, Judith, and Debra Mason, Jones produced a special issue on “God treat religion in other countries. international class and routinely link with eds. Readings on Religion as News . Ames, and Country: Where the Christian Right scholars and classes at state universities. In For the midterm project in the “Media IA: Iowa State University Press, 2000. is Leading Us.” the final week of last semester, for exam - and Religion” class, students thousands of ple, we linked one day with the Tibetan Clark, Lynn. From Angels to Aliens . New Is religion the definitive question of our miles apart collaborate in virtual teams, news desk of the Voice of America and Al York: Oxford University Press, 2004. age because we are at war in the biblical gathering data about regional differences Hurrah TV Iraq, and on another day, with Holy Land, because fundamentalists in religious denominations other than Hoover, Stewart, and Lynn Clark, eds. a 28-year veteran of Vatican Radio. attacked the United States, because their own. They are required to go into Practicing Religion in the Age of Media: Students then were in a good situation to Evangelicals are in the White House? Or their respective communities and inter - Explorations in Media, Religion and Culture . analyze how government propaganda dif - is there something about the beginning of view religious leaders on two points: 1) New York: Columbia University Press, fered from religious broadcasting, not only a new century, something deeper occur - how does that particular religion use 2002. theoretically, but more specifically how ring in these media reports about the mas - media to communicate, and how do its the religious broadcasters used podcasting, Lannstrom, Anna, ed. The Stranger’s sification of beliefs that will define our age believers use mass media, and 2) what communicated with channels domestically Religion: Fascination and Fear . Notre for future historians? image does the person think the mass and abroad, and how the government Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame media conveys to the public about their The phrase “agenda-setting” in the news veiled their identity. Press, 2004. religious tradition or denomination. The means that the media tells us not what to regional teams report back to one another The crux of the pedagogical question for Mitchell, Jolyon, and Sophia Marriage. think about but what to think. But today using a common course site discussion me is how to balance intellectual inquiry Mediating Religion: Conversations in Media, there has been a sea change — arguably, board. Comparing data, they distill the with introspective reflection, and how Religion and Culture . New York, NY: the media has assumed a quasi-clerical role results into a compare-and-contrast/simi - those two elements permit a student to T & T Clark, 2003. if it tells us what our religious beliefs are larities-and-differences PowerPoint presen - grow in self-knowledge, understanding, saying about our identity as a people, a Poe, Harry Lee. Christianity in the tation of six to eight frames, uploaded and awareness of their own individual nation, and the role that faith plays in Academy . Grand Rapids, MI: Baker onto the common course site. All students faith and ethnic identity as it frames their shaping our collective memories about Academic, 2004. at each site are required to read one broader public understanding of the what matters, what is possible, and whom another’s work in preparation for a linked nation’s identity, especially as a constitu - Schmalzbauer, John. People of Faith: to fear. The larger question remains: How discussion with the larger group via video - tional democracy grounded in the First Religious Conviction in American Journalism do journalists stay “objective” about reli - conference, one of a dozen during the Amendment that articulates both freedom and Higher Education . Ithaca, NY: Cornell gion news? Many scholars have taken up semester. of the press and the separation of church University Press, 2003. this question in their research. and state. For their final project at the Marquette Volf, Miroslav. Exclusion & Embrace: A In a scholarly sense, the body of knowl - site, students produce a digital ethno - I want my students to be able, finally, to Theological Exploration of Identity, edge that constitutes the field of media graph: a triptych of interviews with reli - assert critical distance from their own Otherness, and Reconciliation . Nashville, and religion is interdisciplinary and inte - gious leaders in three different faith tradi - beliefs in order to deconstruct media cul - TN: Abingdon Press, 1996. grates sociological, historical, and ethno - tions other than their own. Their line of ture in the sense that it homogenizes the

May 2007 AAR RSN • iii Religious Studies News

Dolly, Fluffy, and Teaching Ethics 101

Kiki Kennedy-Day, American University in Cairo

This was the semester when Dolly the peers speak. The same students who sit dent teaching assistants as either employees cloned sheep was first announced. This slack-jawed and bored with a professors’s or students; a local government’s claim to story led to many discussions of identity presentation will accord each other com - eminent domain of private property for pri - and experience. We immediately drifted plete attention. Furthermore, an oral pre - vate, not public, development. Many of the into questions that would arise if persons sentation usually assures that students will most interesting problems may have legal were cloned, such as: If there is a clone of put actual work into the assignment. While adjudications, but the moral questions me, is it identical? This led to speculation they may not be adverse to plagiarizing remain. These problems relate to what soci - about the role of experience in the develop - material for written assignments off the ety we want to live in. I often think if our ment of identity. Although their comments Internet, the embarrassment of not having legislators had taken more philosophy may not have been deep, the exercise anything to say in an oral presentation courses in college, they would move society encouraged them. It gave them a way to works in favor of some preparation. Let’s in a more intelligent direction by reconsid - begin to see the philosophical implications call it schadenfreude. The odds are general - ering the laws and their ethical conse - of events. Thus, if another entity has exact - ly higher that they will do some work. Plus quences. ly the same structure at the cellular level, the basis of the presentation is directly from The important features for a successful out - would it be the same, identical? Where a published article. Kiki Kennedy-Day is an Assistant Professor come in fully implementing news module does identity reside? Some time later, in the Department of Arabic Studies, for a course are: make it a constant exercise another scientist began cloning cats. No American University in Cairo. She is a so the students are presenting every day doubt many pet owners will be shocked to specialist in teaching Arabic literature in throughout the semester; ask them to use a discover after replacing Fluffy for a cost of English translation and classical Islamic source which can be brought to class (a $25K that Fluffy 2 has her own personality The goal is to connect philosophy. Currently Kennedy-Day is work - Web article can be printed out); and assign formed by experience as well as nature; ing on a translation of Ibn Sina’s al- the contemporary articles a few days in advance. Leave 5-10 they have a visual replica of Fluffy but a Adhawiyyah fi al-macad (On the minutes at the beginning or end of each Afterlife ). numerically distinct individual. “news article with the class for discussion of the article. I also sug - I developed the idea of a news module for reflections of gest specifically omitting articles on abor - three reasons. The underlying reason is that tion or capital punishment or the right to OWARD ,1 a student with an inter - philosophers of since students in general undergraduate die. These three questions are too emotion - est in athletics and beer but not courses are fairly resistant to thinking seri - the past. ally fraught and too overworked to yield philosophy, brought in an article H ously about philosophical topics these days, much in the way of fresh judgments from about a hockey dad who beat another I am always finding ways to trick them into students. The idea is to make them explore hockey dad to death during their sons’ thinking and looking at things in a new different situations, to see what deeper practice. Howard presented the article and way. In the end, a topic such as animal The news module works as follows: each issues might be involved that they did not said that it was not totally outrageous, cloning extended speculatively to humans is student is assigned a day to present. On think of initially, and not to elicit knee-jerk because everyone knows that hockey is a very seductive. It has a certain science fic - that day, she or he brings a clippi”ng. It reactions. To ensure attention, you can violent sport. He mentioned the high inci - tion quality, but also a certain fantasy level. might also be from an Internet news always include an article in the final exam dence of body blocks and stick attacks Once you think of a person cloned as your source, but TV is not acceptable. They as an essay question. In this case you must among pro players. It was the only time all duplicate, but x number of years younger must be able to bring a copy of the original provide a copy of the article with the test. semester I saw him animated during Ethics — the clone will still begin as a baby — story. Preferably it is a hard news story 101. The news module works best in conjunc - you will think about the influence of envi - which has been explained to them. Then tion with a standard reading list. You might This is a required philosophy class for busi - ronment (parents, siblings, education, the the student reviews the facts and everyone back it up with Kant, Aristotle, etc., and ness majors at Bixby University, a blue- outside world), and realize how much of joins in critiquing the situation. The teach - you can include other (non-Western) tradi - collar, East Coast school. In the late 1990s your personality is the result of experience, er (so-called expert) is available if necessary tions. I also included Maimonides, Ethical when the unethical Mike Milkin was the not just genes. It is the old nature vs. nur - to indicate contradictions, false assump - Writings of Maimonides , translated by poster boy for financial scandal, the univer - ture argument, updated in a sexy way for tions, or areas that should be included but Raymond L. Weiss with Charles E. sity decreed undergraduate business stu - the twenty-first century. are being overlooked. Butterwort (New York: Dover Publications, dents take an ethics course. This was Second, students love to talk and hate to I also bring in articles that raise issues I 1983); and Kwame Gyekye, An Essay on received in the spirit it was required — as a do the assigned readings. Philosophy read - find interesting to discuss. One was the African Philosophical Thought (Philadelphia: cod liver oil pill to grease the consciences of ings usually have a high-level vocabulary case of extreme altruism demonstrated by Temple University Press, 1995). But stu - prospective capitalists, bankers, and stock and contain difficult ideas. By their nature, Joyce Roush who donated one of her kid - dents should be reading some solid philo - brokers. The students tended to find the newspapers are written to appeal to a neys to a stranger. She was a nurse in sophical texts so they can understand the standard texts — Aristotle’s Nicomachean broader audience. By asking them to select Indiana who worked as a transplant coordi - type of questions philosophers are asking. Ethics , Kant’s Groundwork , and something a news article of their choosing, I gave nator. The news article mentioned that she The goal is to connect the contemporary by Nietzsche — boring and opaque. Since them more control over the subject matter. was married and had kids; it even raised news article with the reflections of philoso - the newspapers were full of sensationalist I recommended the New York Times , but questions such as: How would she feel if phers of the past. For instance, to consider stories of financial pillaging, I decided to did not require that newspaper. one of her own children later needed a kid - whether Nietzsche’s idea that a truly strong try to lure the students into the study of ney? Wasn’t she risking her life unnecessari - society would not punish its criminals or ethics through the stories. Third, students seem to learn more from ly when she had a primary moral obligation Aristotle’s idea that honor is the highest each other than from the professor, so I let Hence, I developed the idea of a news to her family first? She said she didn’t live level a human can attain or Gyekye’s stress them teach each other. While teachers may module. Every student was required to her life in the what-if mode. Roush later on the individual’s relation to their society. have all the answers, students will listen bring in a news story, to describe the facts, stated her husband was so upset he threw and hear with more attention when their Newspapers give us actual situational and to state the ethical problem it invoked. up when she first mentioned it. Eventually ethics, while books give us theoretical her family supported her decision. None of frameworks. In the actual situations, we the best ethical problems has a complete can consider what type of ethics to apply and standard solution — one of the objec - and why it would be useful. The whole tives of this exercise was to encourage stu - point of this exercise is to encourage stu - dents to examine many aspects of the prob - dents to see there is a need for ethics in the In the Next lem, or even to see that there are many world. Ethics appears to be the area where aspects. religion and philosophy consider the same Spotlight on Teaching: I suppose the knock against philosophy is question: “How shall I lead a good life?” that students do not see its usefulness. They In news accounts we see the best and the think it has no connection to the real The Other within Christianity: worst of ethical decisions; we can also world. However in ethics particularly there sometimes see the consequences of actions, is a real-world application. One man who the results which are much more immedi - Diversifying Knowledge Production kills another in a fight over their sons’ ate than heaven or hell. hockey-playing is a real-world event. So are events such as the president ordering secret 1Pseudonym wiretapping; the definition of graduate stu -

iv • May 2007 AAR RSN SPOTLIGHT ON TEACHING Swimming in the Sea of News Whitney Bodman, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary ignorant of a tremendous volume of commen - ten to an hour of Rush Limbaugh? One of What kind of difference does that make in tary whose perspective is far different from my John Hagee’s sermons from Cornerstone telling the story? own. I live in something of a cocoon of liberal - Church in San Antonio? Ann Coulter? I have made the news an integral dimension of ism. Well, I do watch The Colbert Report . That Democracy Now ? Counterpunch ? my teaching. I include not only the news in has to count for something. I would imagine In Diana Eck’s “World Religions” class at the front section, but articles from the travel that most of us live in some sort of news Harvard, students have been asked to find and section and the arts and culture pages. To dis - cocoon, unaware of the arguments that sway report on a Web site for each religion covered. cuss religion in a comparative context, it is use - much of society. Part of the challenge here is to assess the agen - ful to share an article about a Muslim woman Given limitations of time, that is understand - da of the Web site. Often Web sites critical of a making a new life for herself in the U.S. Army able; but pedagogically, it is dangerous to be religion will be subtly disguised as one provid - with Hindus building a temple in Texas. It is ignorant of sizeable public discourse that ing reliable information. At other times, they equally useful for discussion to read an article weighs in on just about every issue that we will represent a particular sect or alternative from the travel section on visits to “India’s might be addressing in class. How we access understanding. It may take more knowledge sacred caves.” This is not only relevant to an Whitney Bodman is Assistant Professor of those views is a gnawing question. That we than students have to recognize the slant, but interest in Indian religious practice, present and Comparative Religion at Austin Presbyterian should access those perspectives is self-evident. the exercise is useful nevertheless. past, but it is also an opportunity to discuss Theological Seminary. He is author of the It is also, given the academic privilege assigned how we “do” tourism, what we notice, what forthcoming Poetics of Iblis: Qur’anic to primary sources, not adequate to depend on How we read the news our stance is relative to the practitioners of a Narrative as Theology (Harvard University other people’s creeds about what “those people” religion, or the heritage of a religion — in fact, Press), and is working on an introduction to This is probably the issue we most naturally are saying. what the stance of modern practitioners is to the Qur’an for Christians. He has served as turn to as we use the news in class. We read their own historic religious sites. a pastor for 12 years and is active in This is one place where the students can give critically, examining the particular vocabulary Christian –Muslim and Christian –Jewish us some help. Can we ask them to find news used, the absences in the report, its placement How they report the news dialogue. sources representing different portions of the as the lead story or buried in the middle, the political spectrum on an issue? Can they then nature of the headline, which views are privi - A recent meeting of the Islamic Society of outline the argument of that stance? leged and how, and so on. This is where train - North America featured a panel of Muslims ITH SUCH a sea of news around ing in critical reading can be fostered. We who worked in the media. One young woman One task for those who teach courses on Islam us, and vital issues presented every encourage our students to read critically, not who was a reporter for a Chicago newspaper is to probe beneath the rhetoric about radical day, it would be a shame to teach only the news, but the texts we use in the said that just because she was a Muslim, she W Islam to lift out threads of legitimate complaint our courses — any courses — insulated from course, and the materials they use to write their was assumed to be the resident expert on Islam and logical argument in an otherwise repellant our turbulent world. The news is not just an papers. in her office. She said that, understandably, fabric. Should we do no less with the discor - assortment of clippings. It exists in a context. reporters cover broad beats, investigating areas dant arguments we hear in our own media? Perhaps the most difficult part of reading criti - in which they seldom have much background Just as Islamist movements cannot be dis - cally is noticing the absences. Not only is it How we choose the news knowledge and experience. They are under missed as simply “crazy,” neither should the important to identify different points of view, deadline pressures, so they grab the first person We choose the news we listen to and read, ultra-right or ultra-left movements in this but also sociocultural placement. For instance, they can that looks credible and authentic, often on the basis of our own political, moral, country or the West be so dismissed. does the news represent the intelligentsia vs. scribble a few quotable sentences, and since and cultural commitments and beliefs. I read the working class? What criteria were used in It may be helpful to ask students where they they don’t have time to survey the larger the New York Times religiously, and listen to the selection of interviewees? Were they rural get their news from — friends? RSS feeds? Muslim community, that is what becomes the NPR. I do not follow any blogs, conservative or urban, male or female, old or young? In Blogs? The Daily Show ? Online newsletters? authoritative news report. Reporters are not or liberal (except for Juan Cole). I do not listen other words, who speaks to the media? Whose Would it be too painful to ask students to lis - to AM radio, which means that I am fairly voice gets heard, and whose voice is absent? See BODMAN p. vi “Authentic Material”: Ads, Pictures, and Krishna Utensils Rebecca J. Manring, Indiana University

they come to a class in Asian religions, their ball game. In each case, students have a topic of From there, I move to a detailed discussion of minds are boggled by the end of the first week of immediate interest imbedded within a specific how to read a text. In class, working with a short reading assignments. What can we do to help locale, style, and linguistic register. This same hymn from the Rig Veda, for example, I model these students make sense of religious life in a pedagogy is transferable to the religious studies for them the critical reading skills they need to part of the world that will always be foreign to classroom. learn, and immediately ask them to practice in most of them? small groups, working through another Rig When we introduce students to voices originat - Veda hymn. My goal is for them to appreciate It is very difficult to teach any aspect of culture in ing directly from the target culture or tradition, the emotional quality of many of the early isolation. One cannot teach religion without ref - we can direct them away from the exoticization hymns, the reciprocity of early Vedic ritual prac - erences to history, geography, politics, literature, of “foreign” religions, and the closed-minded tice, and their sheer literary beauty. We finish and even language. But how can we as scholars condemnation of the “Other” as pernicious. the poems with a few verses from Mandala X, steeped in our fields begin to give our young stu - Luckily, English is widely used in South Asia, so that students see the beginning of speculative dents, many of whom have never ventured and so it is very easy to find materials our stu - thought. We move into discussion of what life beyond the next state, a sense of the value and dents can read. Indian newsmagazines such as must have been like for those early Indo-Aryans, richness of the legacy of so apparently distant India Today help to combat this problem. I have Rebecca J. Manring, Associate Professor of India and to the development of a formal priesthood. and foreign a nation as, for example, India? found that integrating them into my syllabi has Studies and Religious Studies at Indiana They learn that the Brahmins have continued in University and teaches courses on women in been rewarding for both students and myself. Professors spend hours picking out the best read - their role as religious custodians, and in some South Asian religious traditions, Indian litera - tures (in translation), and Sanskrit. She was ing assignments they can find, and previewing I do this by presenting students with materials cases, sole religious authorities to the present day, selected for, and participated in, IU’s Freshman audiovisual materials. There are now many films and ideas they will find familiar, but at the same though not always unchallenged. that were produced specially for classroom use to time materials that challenge their expectations Learning Project in the summer of 2004. Her Once students begin to use critical reading skills, help give students a sense of the lives and con - and force them out of any of stereotyped think - first book, Reconstructing Tradition: Advaita I redirect their attention to contemporary mate - cerns of followers of Asian religious traditions. ing. My course reader contains photographs, arti - Acarya and Gaudiya Vaisnavism at the Cusp rials that pertain to some of the issues that we cles, and even advertisements clipped from rela - of the Twentieth Century (Columbia I suggest that we would do well to take some are interested in for that class. For example, tively current Indian newspapers and magazines. University Press), appeared in 2005. advice from our colleagues in modern language India Today had an article in its January 1994 This collection allows me to introduce contem - pedagogy who work to ensure that their students issue that shatters the stereotype that only male porary material to counter or confirm what pri - have as much “authentic material” as possible to brahmins can serve as priests. The article noted EACHING ANY Asian religion at a large mary textual and religious sources seem to say. work with. “Authentic material” in the foreign that starting with a small group of conservative public university carries great responsibili - language classroom is material generated by and On the first day of class, we often brainstorm the Maharashtrian housewives, an increasing num - ties. Students in their first years of study T for native speakers, for instance, movies. These notion of religion itself. Students will naturally ber of women have trained in Vedic prayer and often have enough trouble adjusting to life on media were not created for the pedagogical pur - begin by describing their own religion, which ritual, and have been officiating at weddings and their own and making sense of the adult world. poses of university foreign language instructors, here in Indiana is usually some variety of other ceremonies much to the consternation of Many, at least here in Indiana, come from small but they can be very useful. Such authentic Protestant Christianity. But it doesn’t take much some male priests. We then read recent scholarly and homogeneous towns, and don’t even recog - materials can be anything from a restaurant to prod them into broader patterns and more research of such women, for instance, published nize Catholicism as Christian, let alone have any menu to a popular new movie, an article in the encompassing generalizations (“Do all religions by Laurie Patton. awareness of other religious traditions. When newspaper, or a conversation about last night’s involve deity?”; “Are all priests unmarried?”; etc.). See MANRING p. viii

May 2007 AAR RSN • v Religious Studies News

News, Popular Media, and Orientalist Islam Rubina Ramji, Cape Breton University

Students’ perspectives of Islam and Muslims Depending on their source and content, I use stations, and how this affected the way North are strongly shaped by news and popular news media for a variety of purposes in my Americans saw and justified the war and con - media. After 9/11, many North Americans classes: to provide reliable information about structed the “enemy.” turned to popular media outlets to “under - Islam; to illustrate the different interpretations They see that news coverage in India voiced stand” Islam and the motivations of Muslims Muslims have about faith; and to analyze the such concerns over the pro-war news coverage for their actions. Instead, these outlets seemed impact of politics on the way we view the reli - from Western media outlets. A few Indian to merely confirm the existing stereotypes. gion. I also use news media to make cultural journalists argued that technologies of death Amazingly, Canadian video stores recorded a comparisons that illustrate different national were being romanticized and sanitized by the huge surge in rentals of movies featuring vio - and cultural understandings of one event. The use of such terms as “precision bombing,” lent terrorist attacks on Americans after the advantage of bringing current events into the “surgical strikes,” and “smart bombs.” All September 11th tragedy. The Siege (1998) was classroom is that students realize how easy it is these terms dehumanized the “enemy” and ranked third on the list of top selling DVDs. to stereotype without a solid understanding of desensitized viewers. Even though there were True Lies , a 1994 movie starring Arnold the religion itself. journalists who were appalled by the racism, Rubina Ramji is Assistant Professor of Schwarzenegger as a U.S. agent battling an In my introductory classes on Islam, I use lies, and demonization that ran through the Religious Studies at Cape Breton Islamic terrorist group called Crimson Jihad, CNN’s “The Hajj: A Journey of Faith” by Riz coverage, their voices were drowned out by the University. Her research focuses on under - ranked fifth. The Arab (read Muslim) charac - standing images of Islam in North Khan to demonstrate how the show was tele - other news reporting. ters in the films appeared brutish and back - American mass media and their effect on vised for an American audience. I compare ward. In contrast, Harry (Arnold News analyses of the Bosnian conflict illustrate Muslim identity, especially second-genera - this with older documentaries on the Hajj. Schwarzenegger) exemplified fair, superior, how American ignorance of cultural history tion Muslim youth in Canada. She is on The contrast helps students see and analyze and civilized Western values. Air Force One , a and geography, and dualistic thinking of good the editorial board for the Journal of how dialogues, arguments, and ways of think - 1997 movie about an Islamic terrorist’s hijack - versus bad and us against them, played a sig - Religion and Film and was also a co-chair ing develop over time. They also learn to see ing of the American president’s plane, was nificant role in the way groups within the of the AAR’s Religion, Film, and Visual how they themselves take part in the represen - rented ten times more frequently than before Balkans were identified and discussed. Croats Culture Group. tations they are witnessing. the attacks. were consistently characterized as Catholic, For upper-level courses, I have students com - Westernized, technologically advanced and The official spokesperson for Rogers Video, pare how a particular issue is explained and sophisticated, and practicing Western-style E LIVE IN AN AGE of one of the largest video chains in Canada, analyzed by different news media around the democracy. Serbs, on the other hand, were instant information access and claimed that people were perhaps trying to world. For instance, last year I used the ban - routinely identified as Eastern Orthodox, the ability to draw on this gain insight into the events and the minds of W ning of the hijab in French schools and gov - Byzantine, and primitive remnants of the information from a global perspective. the terrorists, looking for similarities and even ernment offices. Students read news coverage Ottoman empire. Although we expect our students to keep up wondering if the attackers had received their about it from around the world to understand with the issues of the world, most times they ideas from a Hollywood plot. Viewers think of Orientalist understanding of Islam from an how different newspapers covered the issue, access this information in bits and pieces, movies as if they are sources of accurate infor - American cultural perspective is a complex whose voices were heard, and what role it without taking into consideration the contexts mation! idea and one that is often hard for students to played in the political arena of the country. in which the information is being presented to grasp. But through the news and media, they Jack Shaheen, author of Reel Bad Arabs the viewer or reader. Students entering class - Political cartoons also are capable of transmit - become more conscious of their own Euro- (Interlink Publishing: 2001), examined 900 rooms need to be taught to think critically ting scathing and yet witty perspectives about American and Christian preconceptions of the films and found that only 5 percent (approxi - about the many images they absorb, especially important events taking place in the world. My Orient, which are repeatedly exemplified in mately 50 movies) debunked the barbaric images of Islam and Muslims. favorite cartoon shows two amorphous figures images of oil-wealthy Arabs and Islamic terror - image of Islam. The most popular Arabs were wearing burqas in Afghanistan. One turns to ists. Teachers, as well as students, now live in a In the past century, American television and cute, romanticized cartoon characters: the other and says, “Let’s go to the U.S. It sucks world that seems to offer immediate under - film have reflected the country’s relationship to Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad. In terms of being a transvestite in this country.” The con - standing and comprehension about the events the Orient. They have adopted narratives and “the Muslim woman,” only a handful of troversy over the Danish cartoons in the Islamic of the world. But it also allows us to access visual conventions, as well as the cultural movies depicted her as compassionate and world became a teaching tool in the classroom perspectives around the globe, which forces assumptions described by Edward Said in his heroic. In general, most films depict women for students to investigate differing viewpoints students to realize that their viewpoints are book Orientalism . Through visual media, the either as silent, shapeless bundles under black on the representation of the prophet shaped by the American cultural understand - Orient has been depicted as mysterious, for garbs or as eroticized, enchantingly veiled belly Muhammad, both secular and religious. ing of the Orient and the Muslim. Analysis of instance, by the recurring figure of the veiled dancers. Therefore, when I teach my course news media allows students to step outside of woman in films such as Thief of Damascus “Women in Islam,” I am not surprised when Students are surprised to learn that 65 percent their own constructions and prejudices to bet - (1952), Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the my students voice these opinions. Showing of all the world’s news is generated from ter understand multiple perspectives. By incor - Lost Ark (1981), and Ishtar (1987). these films provides an opportunity to coun - America. This large percentage means America porating analysis of news media into the cur - Blockbuster films, newspapers, and video doc - terbalance them with images, films, and writ - has the biggest share in controlling the news riculum, students have a better understanding umentaries can be effectively used as “texts” in ings from and by Muslim women themselves information that reaches the public. To illus - of the subversive ways in which Orientalism classrooms for the purpose of teaching stu - who talk about being a woman and being a trate this point, students examine the coverage continues to persist in American culture. dents how to “read” these visual constructions Muslim. of the Gulf War. They realize how much of the Other’s religion and culture. information was kept off American television

BODMAN , from p.v It is also helpful, depending on the nature of the care to train our students on how to do this. But which this might put the student. One possibili - class, to invite reporters to come to class and talk if academics are going to complain about the ty is to have an editorial written by the class as a experts. They seek experts on short notice, about the way they go about fashioning a story. media bias, then we ought to be a part of cor - whole, or perhaps two editorials reflecting differ - whomever someone says is an expert — which They are, after all, taken as public authorities. recting that bias. A senior administrator told me ent points of view. One might explore with a is why it is vitally important that religion schol - Students can ask them questions such as: What that the only thing worse than having me write local paper beforehand if they would be willing ars provide reporters with good information and sources do they use? What kinds of questions do editorials was not having me write them! to publish the students’ editorials. authoritative commentary. they ask? And perhaps most important, how is What if we were to ask our students to write an In sum, I have found that there is no better way the story they write shaped by the policies of the The young journalist argued that it was more editorial instead of a short paper? Editorials are a to have students ponder how their studies relate business they work for and the particular public important to have Muslims — and by extension special breed of writing. They have to be written to the events of the day than to integrate media they serve? Buddhists, Hindus, Africans, people of different for a wide and diverse audience. They have to be articles on a regular basis for them to review and religions and cultures — in the newsroom to How we generate news short. It is a rigorous discipline to learn to say analyze. Not only do they develop a commit - offer insider perspectives. The panelist pleaded what you have to say in 750 words. It is much ment to enhancing public discourse, but they for more Muslims to reject the temptation to Finally, there is the issue of how much involve - easier to write 2,000 words. It is equally difficult also learn how to include disparate voices that become yet another Muslim engineer or doctor ment academics have in shaping news reporting. to write a good letter to the editor, one that is are productive for understanding religion. (the most common professions of Muslims in We religion scholars are generally absent. Most informative, does not “flame,” and truly helps the United States after “student”), and get into a of us talk too long, see everything as complex further the public conversation. host of professions that shape public perspectives and nuanced, and get back to reporters three Then there is the question of whether to on Islam. Using the news in class is a way of days after they leave a message on our answering encourage students to send their editorial to the encouraging students to become shapers of the machines. We do not and may not want to local paper. One has to consider the situation in news, rather than complainers about its bias. know how to write for the media. Nor do we vi • May 2007 AAR RSN SPOTLIGHT ON TEACHING

Teaching Religion, Media, and Culture in Haifa

Michele Rosenthal, University of Haifa

likely to see news snippets on Web sites as minism made both by scholars and reli - Bibliography they scroll down the corner of the screen gious communities, and analyze the process Caspi, D., and Y. Limor. In/Outsiders: Mass (such as www.walla.co.il ) in between brows - of negotiations that new media demand of Media in Israel . Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press, ing on chat sites, writing e-mail, or other their users and nonusers alike (Oudshoorn 1999. more mundane entertainment. Where they and Pinch, 2003). once would have all cited the Channel One Caplan, K. “God’s Voice: Audiotaped In recent years, we have followed the cre - news television program as their primary Sermons in Israeli Haredi Society,” Modern ation of so-called “kosher cell phone” (a source of information, now they are just as Judaism 17 (1997): 253 –279. secular nomenclature) and the “kosher likely to note CNN or BBC or Al Jazeera, Internet,” (cell phones and Internet services Cohen, J. "Politics, Alienation and the or one of the several Russian news pro - marketed to the ultra-Orthodox communi - Consolidation of Group Identity: The Case of grams. ty with rabbinic approval). Students track Synagogue Pamphlets," Rhetoric and Public Subsequently, my course has become the coverage of these phenomena in the Affairs 3 (2000): 247 –275. increasingly devoted to understanding the mainstream press, the changes in the indus - Couldry, N. Media Rituals: A Critical ways in which religion is constructed in try’s approach to the ultra-Orthodox com - Michele Rosenthal is a lecturer at the Approach . London: Routledge, 2003. Department of Communication in the and through the media in different contexts munity (see, for example, the advertising University of Haifa. She is the author of and communities (Hoover, 2006). Students campaigns directed to these communities Dayan, D., and Katz, E. Media Events: The American Protestants and TV in the clip stories and editorials, tape newscasts, specifically), the responses of leaders in offi - Live Broadcasting of History . Cambridge, MA: 1950s: Responses to a New Medium and download video to bring to class and cial pronouncements, and the everyday Harvard University Press, 1992. analyze. Together we discuss how the main - practices of community members. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). Her current Grimes, R. L. “Ritual and the Media.” In research focuses on religion, media, and stream (secular) media frames stories about The categories of ritual and myth are also Practicing Religion in the Age of the Media , culture in Israel. religion and religious personas across the explored within the context of the media edited by S. Hoover and Lynn S. Clark. New spectrum (see, for example, Helman and (Couldry, 2003; Grimes, 2002; York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Levy 2001). Likewise, we look at stories Rothenbuhler, 1998). Students have INCE ARRIVING in Haifa almost a written in the religious press ( Hamodiya, Helman, S., and A. Levy. “Shas in the Israeli explored how traditional life-cycle events decade ago, I have taught a course Yated Ne’eman, HaTzofe, Arutz 7 ) to see how Newspapers.” In Shas: The Israeli Challenge , are being reconstituted and reshaped as titled “Religion, Media and Culture.” alternative, competing narratives are con - edited by Yoav Peled. Tel Aviv: Yediot S they are increasingly mediated. For Originally, the course centered around structed. Ahronoth, 2001 (Hebrew). instance, Internet matchmaking for com - American Protestantism — an exotic Other For instance, the withdrawal from Gaza in munities which once relied on the personal Hoover, S. Religion in the Media Age . London: for the average Israeli student who often August 2005 offers an important example mediator of the matchmaker; Hasidic wed - Routledge, 2006. knows little about Christianity in general, of this process. While in the past Israelis dings that are sponsored by cell phone let alone Protestantism in all its rich varia - Katz, E., and H. Haas. “Twenty Years of would have had to suffice with the govern - companies replete with advertising banners tions. Over the years my syllabus has Television in Israel: Are There Long-Term ment-sponsored news program which, as in the banquet hall; the gift of cell phones become more and more Israeli-centric, and Effects on Values and Cultural Practices.” In the hegemonic voice, emphasized the cor - by illicit boyfriends to young women in not just as a result of my increasing Language and Communication in Israel , edited rect conduct of the army (even in the face order to bypass the traditional channels of acclimatization. Rather, throughout the by H. Herzog and E. Ben Rafael. New of clear provocations by the largely national familial authority (Hijazi and Ribak, 2007). 1990s the Israeli media underwent a series Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 2001. religious settlers) and the smooth execution These are just some of the research projects of structural and technological changes of the withdrawal, this time those who students have undertaken. Myth and Koren-Dinur, R. “TIM Survey: Number of (Caspi and Limor, 1999; Peri, 2004). were interested in hearing the settlers’ remembrance as aspects of civil religion also Internet Surfers in Israel continues to grow — From a country in which the newspaper account were able to watch Channel 7’s emerge within the context of Prime to 3.9 million.” The Marker November 28, reigned supreme, and government-spon - Web site news program, which offered an Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination and 2006. Downloaded from sored radio and television (one channel) alternative, competing narrative of settlers commemoration, a formative event for the www.themarker.com/tmc/article.jhtml?ElementId ruled the airwaves, Israel is now a multi - treated improperly, of indignities endured current generation of students (Peri, 1997; =rkd20061128_694 (Hebrew). channeled, increasingly networked society by a community of families being expelled Vinitzky-Seroussi, 2001). “Increase by 14% in the number of internet (Koren-Dinur, 2006). The introduction of from their homes by Jewish soldiers, etc. Most of the published research has focused surfers to 2.5 million people.” The Marker commercial, cable, and satellite television; (www.israelnationalnews.com ). upon different uses by the Orthodox and December 22, 2003. the growth of community-based, pirate, In both cases, viewers participated in a for - ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in and Internet-based radio stations; and the Oudshoorn N., and T. Pinch, eds. How Users mative media event — but the interpreta - Israel, but my students, who represent the relatively rapid adoption of the Internet by Matter: The Co-Construction of Users and tive frameworks differed so drastically that whole spectrum of Israeli culture — Jewish, the Jewish public have all contributed to Technology . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, the cleavages in Israeli society were only Muslim, Orthodox Christian and Catholic, these developments. While Israeli television 2003. emphasized as a result (on media events, see Druze — write original research papers on and radio were once the monopoly of the Dayan and Katz, 1992; on alternative read - diverse topics such as the use of cassette Peri, Y. “The Media and Collective Memory Israel Broadcasting Authority, the contem - ings of media events, see Yadgar, 2002). As tapes to counter secular influences within of Yitzhak Rabin’s Remembrance.” Journal of porary media landscape is far more diverse, Roger Silverstone so perceptively suggested: the Druze communities, religious commer - Communication 49 (Summer 1999): far more segmented, and far more “global” “Our media allow us to frame, represent, cials on Saudi-sponsored television stations, 107 –124. in nature (Caspi and Limor, 1999; Katz and see the other and his or her world. the virtual Bahai community, Internet use and Haas, 2001). Peri, Y. Telepopulism: Media and Politics in They do not, by and large, in their distanc - amongst Muslim women, the framing of Israel . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, Electronic media is no longer produced or ing, invite us to engage with the other, nor the Ethiopian Jewish community in the 2004. controlled with the aim of creating collec - to accept the challenge of the other. In mainstream newspapers, healer and televan - tive solidarity (Katz and Haas, 2001), but effect, they provide a sanctuary for every - gelist Benny Hinn’s performances in Israel Rothenbuhler, E. Ritual Communication . rather is reflective of a market-segmented day life, a bounded space of safety and (see www.bennyhinn.org ), new age maga - Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, population with shows, channels, and Web identity within and around it. But sanctu - zines in Israel, etc. 1998. sites directed to particular markets rather aries insulate and isolate as well as protect” At the end of the year, they present their Silverstone, R. “Complicity and Collusion in than the amorphous Israeli collective. In (Silverstone, 2002: 777). Nonetheless, research to their fellow students for feed - the Mediation of Everyday Life.” New Literary this changed and changing context, those through this comparative process, students back and comments before turning in the History 33 (2002): 761 –780. segments of the population that define begin to question the limited frames that final paper. In ideal circumstances, the dia - themselves primarily in religious terms are the media employ and not only in the case Umble, D. Z. “The Amish and the logue that emerges at this point in the increasingly creating and consuming their of religion, per se. Telephone: Resistance and Reconstruction.” course not only investigates the contents of own media — audio cassettes, CDs, Web In Consuming Technologies: Media and The negotiation of new media by religious religious media or the framing of religious sites, alternative news on the radio and Information in Domestic Spaces , edited by communities is also a central theme in the phenomena by the secular media, but also through webcasts, synagogue pamphlets, Roger Silverstone. London: Routledge, 1992. course. As Israeli culture becomes more points to broader, still unanswered ques - etc. media saturated, some religious leaders tions concerning the nature and meaning Vinitzky-Seroussi, V. “Commemorating At the same time, the news has decreased have responded with harsh condemnations of religion in the media age. Narratives of Violence: The Yitzhak Rabin in importance for my students. While their of unregulated uses of new technologies Memorial Day in Israeli Schools.” Qualitative parents and grandparents may still listen to (i.e., cell phones or Internet) by their com - Sociology 24, no. 2 (2001): 245 –268. the news on the radio several times a day, munities. Beginning with the example of Yadgar, Y. “A Disintegrating Ritual: The read the newspaper, and watch the official the Amish and their negotiations with the Reading of the Deri Verdict as a Media Event government Channel One news at 9 PM telephone (Umble, 1992), my students of Degradation.” Critical Studies in Media (see www.iba.org.il ), my students are more reexamine claims of technological deter - 20, no. 2 (June 2003): 204 –223.

May 2007 AAR RSN • vii Religious Studies News Reporting on Religion: A Journalist’s View Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service

“You have more women having these mile - Scholars can also aid journalists before a story Convention” and wonder if they meant the stone celebrations, but remember that in some breaks. For example, talking with journalists National Baptist Convention, USA, or the denominations, like the spirit-centered, evan - before a big denominational meeting can give National Baptist Convention of America. gelical denominations, there were more them perspectives they can use even as the Please don’t let such missteps, or missing women ordained 50 years ago than there are news develops. When I wrote about little- pieces, prevent you from helping journalists now,” she said. known Frank Page’s surprise election to the when they call. They can’t know some facts presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention until they ask for them, or are told them by Her interpretation helped me to write not just a in June 2006, an interview beforehand helped people in the know. story that noted the celebratory aspects of the me understand how unusual it would be for anniversaries or the contrary reactions to them. If you read or hear a story that could have ben - him to win. When he garnered 50.48 percent It went deeper than that in an approachable efited from your expertise, consider e-mailing of the vote — compared to about 24 percent way. For example, I contacted a historian of the or calling the reporter or editor to say that for each of his two opponents — I was able to International Church of the Foursquare Gospel you’d be open to an interview on its topic — quote people with perspectives before and after — founded by Aimee Semple McPherson — or others — at a later date. Adelle M. Banks is senior correspondent at the election. “If he represents a much higher who confirmed a significant decrease in the per - Religion News Service, a Washington-based percentage, that shows much more dissatisfac - And if you’re new to the field, or at least new centage of female clergy since its start in 1927. wire service that covers religion and ethics. She tion out there than what the party in power is to the idea of being interviewed, please don’t let has worked at the Orlando Sentinel , the But this story is the kind that is often a luxury perceiving,” said David Key, director of Baptist that stand in the way of having a conversation Providence Journal and upstate New York in today’s journalism — an article that I Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, in an with a journalist. Reporters should gain newspapers in Syracuse and Binghamton. She worked on for weeks, in part because I contact - interview in Greensboro, North Carolina. insights from long-term experts as well as those was a third-place winner in the Religion ed a number of denominations to gather statis - with new research developments. It could be Newswriter Association’s Templeton Religion One of my favorite examples of a scholar’s tics on how the percentage of women clergy the beginning of a mutually beneficial connec - Reporter of the Year contest in 1997 and was a assistance with a story relates to a project I did had changed over the years. tion, with a reporter verifying facts and the finalist in the same contest in 2004. in 2002 on race relations and congregations. I professor gaining publicity or an opportunity In many cases, time does not permit me to was writing about churches that were inten - for reaction to his or her research. reach scholars. Sometimes I start and finish a tionally attempting to be racially integrated. ELIGION JOURNALISTS and reli - story within hours. Given the requirements of People have long spoken of how Sunday For those of you who’ve already had the experi - gion scholars have a common interest. work at a wire service and other news outlets. mornings are the most segregated time in the ence of being interviewed, I suspect some have Both research and write; both find R So I’m fortunate if I get the so-called two sides country, but sociologist Michael Emerson of felt frustration in having a conversation that aspects of religion fascinating or worthy of of a story by deadline. But when I do get to Rice University was able to determine a specific lasted as much as an hour, only to find the notice; and both share what is learned with speak with scholars, I’m grateful for the per - statistic that exemplified that sentiment. At reporter never quoted a word you said in his or others — through the printed page, via air - spectives that help me write a better and more that time, he estimated that 5.4 percent of U.S. her story. waves, or in the classroom. balanced story. There usually are really more churches are racially integrated, which he But talking with scholars helps prevent me As a religion reporter, I have come to rely on than two sides to a story and academicians defined as having no one group make up more from putting mistakes in my stories even if I’m and respect the work of researchers. They are help reporters discover them. than 80 percent of the congregation. unable to credit them in the written text. the experts I seek out to verify that I’m on the If a journalist contacts you, consider the differ - “If you go back historically, the leaders of Often, just sharing the gist of my article with right track when I think I’ve spotted a trend. ence your particular expertise may make in denominations have been denouncing racism an expert makes the difference in what I write Sometimes they add analysis to my stories that what the readers eventually digest from that and separation for at least 100 years and the and, sometimes, even influences whether I others I’ve interviewed did not provide. story. It may be that you only have a few min - people in the pews have been ignoring those write a potential story or not. If I get a great A recent example: I wrote a story in October utes but can tell them if they’re headed in the pronouncements for at least 100 years,” he told quote that I can include in my story, that’s just 2006 timed to the 50th anniversaries of right direction or not. And if you’re not an me. “There’s a complete disconnect.” made the conversation more worthwhile. women’s ordination in the United Methodist expert on the topic they’re dealing with on that My story included statistics I collected from When a story appears in print or on the air that Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA). particular day, suggest colleagues who might be various denominational offices and firsthand has fresh facts and a range of perspectives, both Though I spoke to ordained women, their helpful — and tell them what areas you might accounts of worship featuring a multicultural scholars and journalists can be satisfied that advocates, and critics, it was the observation of be able to assist with on a future occasion. choir and an interracial baptism, but the stats they’ve contributed to aiding the public’s under - Adair Lummis, Hartford Seminary expert on Sometimes scholars recommend a book or a from Emerson crystallized the story, specifically standing of the complexities of religion. women clergy, that particularly helped shape soon-to-be published article, thinking they backing up its main point about how unusual my story. may be good resources for a journalist. They such worship experiences remain. She pointed out that in some of the other might be, but a reporter often can’t wait for a Scholars: For tips on interacting with I suspect there are times when academicians denominations — those more conservative than book or an article to be sent because his or her reporters, visit Religionsource, the AAR's open the paper or hear a report and see a the mainline ones with the anniversaries — deadline may not permit it. In this age of blogs premier referral service for journalists. Go reporter’s lack of expertise come through in the women had been ordained for longer but the and Web sites, immediacy has become an even to www.religionsource.org and click on words they read or hear. I notice when percentage of female ordination was decreasing. bigger part of the news. “Scholars Only.” reporters refer to the “National Baptist

MANRING , from p.v News stories of the squabbles over administra - antiseptic skin cream, take out half- and full-page dents. I recently found a grocery bag filled with tion of the Mahabodhi Temple — the temple newspaper advertisements during the Indian hol - back issues of both magazines. Among other India Today also recently published articles on the erected centuries ago at the reputed site of the iday season? The Broline ads sell nothing, but tell treasures was a 1987 article with beautiful pho - various waves of the yoga boom in the United Buddha’s enlightenment — in Bodh Gaya, a the story of Durga Puja or Diwali, and bear a tographs by Andreas Maleta called “The Holy States and on the search for spirituality among Hindu-majority town in one of the poorest rather sanitized depiction of a relevant demon. Cow.” One of the most consistent questions we diaspora South Asians. Even such things as the states in India, can trigger discussion of who The name of the company appears only at the all get from students of Hinduism is some varia - food sections of the Sunday newspaper supple - should be in charge there. A picture featuring a end of the ad, “Bijoya Greetings from Boroline, tion on why is the cow sacred. Maleta’s article ment from Kolkata during the holiday season are model of the Statue of Liberty alongside images part of Bengal’s life and times.” was not a scholarly piece, but it answers that useful to discuss the familiar idea of preparing of the goddess during Kali Puja in Kolkata helps question by tracing the role of cattle from early One of my favorite examples of how religion is special food for the holidays. Reading this section raise questions about the figures of the goddess Indo-European civilizations into modern India. intertwined with culture is an article from the makes it clear to students that some things may which are anything but fixed, and demonstrates This is the sort of accessible writing that gives Hindustan Times of Kolkata published on appear to be cross-cultural in broad general that religious stories can adapt to take into students an insider’s perspective on a belief that March 13, 2004, just before India’s cricket terms, but if they do closer readings, they can see account contemporary world events. was at first glance simply incomprehensible. match with Pakistan. It features a large photo of how Indian holiday food differs from what they In addition to articles, I also like to include priests worshipping at Kalighat Temple to I like to de-center religion to show that it is often fix in their own homes. An article from the advertisements for their visual impact. Ads can ensure that “Goddess Kali will help them win not a separate category from people’s everyday Times of India on new environmental protection make very strong statements, and those placed in against their arch rivals.” Surrounded by fans lives. As I read newspapers and magazines during laws that mandate removing all decorations from newspapers and magazines during major reli - holding signs wishing the team victory, the my travels, I diligently search for pieces depicting puja images before immersing them in local gious holidays tell us a great deal about how the priests solemnly carry out their rituals. The ordinary people engaged in their own everyday rivers leads to a discussion of what happens to devout embrace their religious beliefs. I ask stu - reporter tells us, “Every cricket match is impor - religious lives. If those people happen to be these images at the end of festivals. It helps to dents to talk about their first impressions when tant but one against Pakistan calls for special young adults of about the same age as our illustrate how the form of divine presence is first they encounter one of these in their course read - prayers.” The ordinariness of the fans with their undergraduates, so much the better. invoked and later released, and also shows how er. What does it mean to be able to buy Krishna posters makes a striking juxtaposition with the contemporary concerns about the health of the kitchen utensils? Can we buy, for example, some - bare-chested, dhoti-clad priests seated on the waterways has led to an adaptation in the way thing like Mother Mary bread or Jesus brand ground with their ritual implements. these festivals culminate, giving us yet another dishwashing soap here in the United States? example of religion as a living, changing entity. Glossy magazines like India Perspectives and the Why does Broline, a company that manufactures India Magazine are also fun to use with stu - viii • May 2007 AAR RSN