media criticism

Death is not final. Last week, four scientific big thinkers settled into their seats on stage at NYC’s Kaufmann Center to debate this provocative proposition for NPR’s Intelligence Squared. They would…

What seemed to propel the confusion saturating the media’s initial coverage of Aaron Alexis was the role of religion and, more specifically, the profile on Buddhists. Why would a reporter expect a person of another religion to “pick up a weapon and kill twelve people,” but not a Buddhist?

Don’t worry, it’s mostly aesthetic.

One senses that in Brooks’ reading of Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age the principle of choice becomes its own form of transcendence.

From the Transcendentalists to Alcoholics Anonymous, yoga and “the gospel of Oprah.”

The faith of Jason Collins, who recently came out as the first gay athlete in a major American sport, doesn’t fit the model of culture war conflicts the media expects and the religious right demands of its spokespeople.

Goodbye, Russell Pearce. Hello, Raul Labrador.

The Pew Forum found that the nones overwhelmingly saw religious organizations as “too focused on rules,” “too concerned with money and power,” and “too involved in politics.” Not on the list: a desire for a stricter moral code.

A recent article in the Washington Post recycles well-worn myths about religiosity and Islam. Is this the best we can do?

A recent piece by novelist Nathaniel Rich focused on eccentric Japanese researcher Shin Kubota, who studies the “immortal jellyfish.” But what are we after when we seek immortality? And does this quest tell us more about us than the natural world?