Latina in America: What CNN Got Wrong
A four-hour documentary on what it means to be Latino/a in America misses the mark completely.
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Spinning Ft. Hood
RD associate editor Hussein Rashid scrutinizes a cross-section of reactions to the Ft. Hood massacre, from those eager to blame Islam to a number of Muslim-Americans.
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A Daily Utopia: Creating Our Moral Values Every Day
The author of a new book talks to RD about the radical that lies beneath our everyday practices, whether ethics requires religion, and the “education of desire.”
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Beautiful Dreamers: A Documentary Asks “What is God”?
Peter Rodger traveled through twenty-three countries in three years asking the same question to everyone he met, and filming, gorgeously, the results. Turns out the question—“What is God?”—reveals more than a person’s faith.
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Good Hair, Good God! The Divine Politics of African-American Hair
Chris Rock’s new documentary scrutinizes the politics and pathos of black hair care: from the beauty salon to the hair show, and from chemical relaxers to the Indian hair that fuels the hair weave industry.
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Hitchens Debates Conservative Evangelical: Nothing Happens
A new documentary called Collision follows the collegial debate between new atheist Christopher Hitchens and conservative evangelical Doug Wilson. Spoiler alert: Neither budges and both gloat to the respective choirs they’d been preaching to. Is this the best we can do?
Read MoreScientology Woes Continue with Fines and Homophobia
A church/business model like Scientology relies on good PR—something in short supply lately.
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Reverend Billy For Mayor: Is He For Real?
Performance artist or man of God? Agitator or politician? The Church of Life After Shopping’s Reverend Billy has a choir and a congregation like a preacher—does he have to be a “real” clergyman to minister to the masses?
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Mother (Nature) Will Eat You: Lars von Trier’s Antichrist
Von Trier’s terrifying rumination on the triad of “pain,” “grief,” and “despair” reminds us that, in contrast to the pronouncements of politicians on what is natural and normal, in nature eating one’s young is not too far out of the ordinary—especially in times of stress.
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Media Fails to Report on Joel Osteen’s Unsavory Choice of Charity
In a recent visit to Yankee Stadium, the Family Osteen preached its Cotton Candy Gospel. Why did the media overlook the deep pockets of the sponsors of the costly event and the dubious nature of the charity they pushed?
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