Spiritual News 3.19

• Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are briefed about the rising dangers of Christian Nationalism (RNS) 
• How did Evangelicals become Putin's biggest American fan base? (MSNBC)
• A New Jersey town hosts its first Holi celebration (NewJersey.com) 
• An ex-Scientologist is running for town council in Clearwater, Florida, the headquarters of the Church of Scientology (Newsweek)  
• Study: Females, Republicans, and Southerners the atheists most likely to hide their beliefs (RNS)
  

Final Research Project

Representation in the media matters. In fact, television is particularly powerful medium for representing not only sex, gender, class, and race, but also spirituality (or a lack of one). Those depictions might vary from accurate and objective to stereotypical and biased, even offensive. Still, these depictions often help establish defining characteristics of an entire belief system. For your final project, you will examine the representation of faith (or lack of faith) in an American television series from the last 20 or so years. The goals are to illustrate the ways in which a specific belief system is portrayed and to analyze that portrayal's impact on the general perception of those beliefs.

In 12 slides, you must:

• Part 1: A clear thesis, arguing how this belief system (faith-based or non-faith-based) is portrayed in a specific television program
• Part 2: The media's historical representation of this particular belief system (e.g. Judaism, Mormonism)
• Part 3: This program's representation of that belief system via specific characters, plot lines, themes, etc.—focus on a minimum of three episodes 
• Part 4: Present a contrasting view of this belief system via a secondary television program (no more than two episodes) to compare and contrasted with your primary source
• Part 5: A conclusion that illustrates an understanding of this intersection of faith and media
• Part 6: Works Cited slide (not included in the 12-slide count)
  

The primary focus of your presentation should be on one of the following television shows; your secondary source may also come from this list:

1. 30 Rock (NBC)
2. American Gods (Starz)
   
3. The Americans (FX)
4. American Horror Story (FX)
5. The Americans (FX)
6. Arthur (PBS)
   
7. Battlestar Galactica (2004 remake; Syfy)
8. The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
9. Big Love (HBO)
10. Black-ish (ABC)
11. Blue Bloods (CBS) 
12. The Bold Type (Freeform) 
13. The Book of Daniel (NBC)
    
14. Bones (FOX) 
15. The Borgias (Showtime) 
16. Broad City (Comedy Central) 
17. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX, NBC)
18. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (The WB, UPN)
19. Caprica (Syfy)
    
20. Carnivale (HBO)
21. Catastrophe (Amazon)
22. Charmed (The WB, The CW) 
23. Community (NBC)
    
24. Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) 
25. Daredevil (Netflix)
26. Dexter (Showtime) 
27. Empire (FOX) 
28. The Exorcist (FOX)
29. Family Guy (FOX)
30. Game of Thrones (HBO)
31. Gilmore Girls (The WB, Netflix)
32. Glee (FOX)
33. God Friended Me (CBS)
    
34. The Golden Girls (NBC)
    
35. The Good Place (NBC)
36. The Good Wife (CBS)
37. Grey's Anatomy (ABC) 
38. The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu)
39. House (FOX)
40. House of Cards (Netflix)
41. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX) 
42. Jane the Virgin (The CW)
43. Joan of Arcadia (CBS)
    
44. Justified (FX)
45. King of the Hill (FOX)
46. The Leftovers (HBO)
47. Living Biblically (CBS)
    
48. Lost (ABC)
49. Lucifer (FOX) 
50. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
51. Moon Knight (Disney Plus)
    
52. New Girl (FOX)
53. The O.C. (FOX) 
54. Orange is the New Black (Netflix)
55. Outlander (Starz)
    
56. Oz (HBO)
57. The Office (NBC)
58. The Path (Amazon) 
59. Parks and Recreation (NBC)
60. Preacher (AMC)
61. Rectify (SundanceTV) 
62. The Righteous Gemstones (HBO)
    
63. Rome (HBO)
64. Seventh Heaven (The WB)
65. The Simpsons (FOX)
66. Sex and the City (HBO)
    
67. Six Feet Under (HBO)
68. The Sopranos (HBO)
69. South Park (Comedy Central)
70. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (UPN)
    
71. Star Trek: Discovery (CBS All Access) 
72. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Cartoon Network)
73. Supernatural (The CW) 
74. Superstore (NBC) 
75. Sweet Magnolias (Netflix)
    
76. Touched By an Angel (CBS)
    
77. True Blood (HBO) 
78. True Detective (HBO)
79. The Tudors (Showtime)
80. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
81. Virgin River (Netflix) 
82. The Walking Dead (AMC)
83. Will & Grace (NBC)
84. The X-Files (FOX)
85. The Young Pope (HBO) 

Requirements:

• MLA Style, including parenthetical citation 
• Works Cited
  

Due: Thu 5.12 (Note: There is no submission window for this assignment)

Week 8: Tue 3.15/Thu 3.17 – Mexicayotl

Starting in the 1950s, Mexicayotl has aimed to revive Mexico's indigenous religious practices

Week 8: Tue 3.15/Thu 3.17 – Mexicayotl
Read: BLUE—18. Love: How to really Love Other People – 20. Jesus: The Lines of His Face
Class: Reading discussion; Multimedia presentations; Lecture—"What’s the Appeal?: Aristotle’s Modes of Persuasion
Due: BURKE’S DRAMATISTIC PENTAD

Upcoming:

Week 9: Tue 3.22/Thu 3.24 – Atheism
Listen: GO—0:00-2:06:30
Class: Reading discussion; Multimedia presentations; Guest speaker—TBA
Due: ARISTOTELIAN ANALYSIS