a review of religion and media
Religion & Media Current Events
Ashley Baxstrom: In case you missed it – we’ve already covered that Catholic nuns are having a hard time of it of late, what with the Pope calling them radical and all. But we just wanted to shine another spot of light into all that darkness. Good news under the general heading of “nuns”!
“General” because we’re not talking about Catholic nuns – sorry ladies – but Buddhist nuns, anyway! Continue Reading →
Hear Kathryn Joyce, The Revealer’s former managing editor, talk about personhood bills, the Quiverfull movement, and the patriarchy movement here, on Tulsa public radio.
Nicole Neroulias writes at The Scoop that despite common reporting, same sex marriage is about a lot more than religion.
Yesterday the USCCB spelled out exactly why they are opposed to the Obama administration’s provision of birth control to all insured women without a copay. The Church would strongly prefer to tell employers and employees, at least the ones that answer to Catholic leadership, how to manage their reproductive rights. If the issue were just money (no Catholic money used to “subsidize” contraceptives), the compromise that Obama and Sebelius struck with insurance companies–that companies will provide contraception to individuals directly, without implicating the employer–would satisfy the USCCB. It doesn’t. Which reminds me, will Kathleen Sebelius still give the graduation speech at Georgetown University?
The Economist follows up on a May 6th New York Times feature about “The Life of Jesus Christ,” a play performed by the inmates of Angola prison in Louisiana, with an article of its own. The New York Times used the title, “In Prison, Play With Trial at Its Heart Resonates,” The Economist, “Enacting forgiveness and redemption.” Both remind me of the brilliant piece by Liliana Segura at Colorlines last year, “Dispatch From Angola: Faith-Based Slavery in a Louisiana Prison.” Continue Reading →
Hear Kathryn Joyce, The Revealer’s former managing editor, talk about personhood bills, the Quiverfull movement, and the patriarchy movement here, on Tulsa public radio.
Nicole Neroulias writes at The Scoop that despite common reporting, same sex marriage is about a lot more than religion.
Yesterday the USCCB spelled out exactly why they are opposed to the Obama administration’s provision of birth control to all insured women without a copay. The Church would strongly prefer to tell employers and employees, at least the ones that answer to Catholic leadership, how to manage their reproductive rights. If the issue were just money (no Catholic money used to “subsidize” contraceptives), the compromise that Obama and Sebelius struck with insurance companies–that companies will provide contraception to individuals directly, without implicating the employer–would satisfy the USCCB. It doesn’t. Which reminds me, will Kathleen Sebelius still give the graduation speech at Georgetown University?
The Economist follows up on a May 6th New York Times feature about “The Life of Jesus Christ,” a play performed by the inmates of Angola prison in Louisiana, with an article of its own. The New York Times used the title, “In Prison, Play With Trial at Its Heart Resonates,” The Economist, “Enacting forgiveness and redemption.” Both remind me of the brilliant piece by Liliana Segura at Colorlines last year, “Dispatch From Angola: Faith-Based Slavery in a Louisiana Prison.” Continue Reading →
Becky Garrison on the political positions played by media, voters, advocates and the president on Amendment One. Continue Reading →
Jim Davis on the death of a predatory priest. Amy Levin on liberalism and feminism. The Immanent Frame’s fantastic “Politics of Religious Freedom” series. Catholics roll up their sleeves over a Wendell Berry lecture. Hasidic Jews trying to stay out of court. Rowan Williams on the blood market. Continue Reading →
…the Catholic Church seems to find “radical feminist” ideology. Even if the gatherers are cookie-hawking tweens. And members of a non-Catholic organization. Not affiliated with the Church in any way.
To the ever broadening category of Catholic Church vs. Women, we add today’s entry: the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has formalized it’s disapproval of the Girl Scouts of the USA with an official inquiry. It’s hard to not giggle at the USCCB following up its harassment of the women religious with the tweens with badges, but there you have the church’s priorities clearly demonstrated.
The Washington Post, via an AP article by David Crary, quotes Girl Scouts’ spokewoman Michelle Tompskins:
“For us, there’s an overarching sadness to it,” Tompkins added. “We’re just trying to further girls’ leadership.”
Exactly.
Read more on the Girl Scout inquiry here, and here. Continue Reading →
Amy Levin: It’s barely been a day and President Barack Obama’s personal endorsement (belief? affirmation? slow and agonizing compromise?) of same-sex marriage in an interview with ABC’s Robin Robert’s has spread like wildfire across the news, blog, and twitter spheres. Obama’s comments came just a day after North Carolina passed a ban on same-sex marriage, becoming the 30th state to do so. Reaction to Obama has been divided to say the least. Some are excited, some are livid, and others are confused. Continue Reading →
By Abhimanyu Das
Namir Abdel Messeeh’s highly entertaining documentary The Virgin, the Copts and Me is a curious beast, a bit like one of those clever New Yorker articles that start off making you think it’ll be about Batman but end up being about the tax obligations of the 1%. Only, in this case, it’s not entirely clear whether the thematic sleight-of-hand was artistic choice or just lucky accident. Either way, this narrative slipperiness is both what’s interesting and troublesome about this frustrating picture, easy to like but difficult to recommend.
The saga begins with the French-Egyptian filmmaker (the family emigrated to France in 1973), sitting down with his family to watch a fuzzy videotape of an alleged sighting of the Virgin Mary. Further discussion reveals that this is one of a spate of such sightings, experienced mostly by the oft-persecuted Christian Coptic community in Egypt. Interestingly, a few Muslims had claimed to experience these holy visions as well. This curious cultural hook is all Messeeh – a secular skeptic – needs to decide on making a documentary about the phenomenon.
The film’s tendency toward distracting self-referentialism is already front-and-center. Messeeh spends a chunk of time ‘documenting’ his attempts to find a financier and win his family over to the project’s cause. All this is done with great comic flair. We get an early introduction to the most memorable character in the film – his domineering mother Siham who continually expresses doubts about her son’s ability to pull this off. Unfortunately, much of this feels staged. It seems unlikely that Messeeh happened to have an HD camera running at a family gathering during which he is hit by a perfectly blocked creative epiphany. The film is full of what look to be staged scenes, contrived narrative setups and pre-arranged dialogue, raising the question (unintentionally, in my view) of whether this is a documentary at all. Messeeh is in every scene, an unapologetic puppet-master. At every turn, the developments feel arranged as opposed to observed. Continue Reading →
By Abhimanyu Das
Namir Abdel Messeeh’s highly entertaining documentary The Virgin, the Copts and Me is a curious beast, a bit like one of those clever New Yorker articles that start off making you think it’ll be about Batman but end up being about the tax obligations of the 1%. Only, in this case, it’s not entirely clear whether the thematic sleight-of-hand was artistic choice or just lucky accident. Either way, this narrative slipperiness is both what’s interesting and troublesome about this frustrating picture, easy to like but difficult to recommend.
The saga begins with the French-Egyptian filmmaker (the family emigrated to France in 1973), sitting down with his family to watch a fuzzy videotape of an alleged sighting of the Virgin Mary. Further discussion reveals that this is one of a spate of such sightings, experienced mostly by the oft-persecuted Christian Coptic community in Egypt. Interestingly, a few Muslims had claimed to experience these holy visions as well. This curious cultural hook is all Messeeh – a secular skeptic – needs to decide on making a documentary about the phenomenon.
The film’s tendency toward distracting self-referentialism is already front-and-center. Messeeh spends a chunk of time ‘documenting’ his attempts to find a financier and win his family over to the project’s cause. All this is done with great comic flair. We get an early introduction to the most memorable character in the film – his domineering mother Siham who continually expresses doubts about her son’s ability to pull this off. Unfortunately, much of this feels staged. It seems unlikely that Messeeh happened to have an HD camera running at a family gathering during which he is hit by a perfectly blocked creative epiphany. The film is full of what look to be staged scenes, contrived narrative setups and pre-arranged dialogue, raising the question (unintentionally, in my view) of whether this is a documentary at all. Messeeh is in every scene, an unapologetic puppet-master. At every turn, the developments feel arranged as opposed to observed. Continue Reading →
Becky Garrison: A Gallup poll released on May 20, 2011 states that for the first time a majority (53%) of Americans believes same-sex marriage should be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages. Also, an April, 2012 survey by the Pew Research Center showed that for the first time there is as much strong support as strong opposition to gay marriage – 22 percent each. Continue Reading →