Hijacked - A Critical Treatment of the Public Rhetoric of Good and Bad Religion - Leslie Dorrough Smith

Hijacked - A Critical Treatment of the Public Rhetoric of Good and Bad Religion - Leslie Dorrough Smith

8. The Strange and Familiar Spiritual Journey of Reza Aslan

Hijacked - A Critical Treatment of the Public Rhetoric of Good and Bad Religion - Leslie Dorrough Smith

Martha Smith [+-]
Fullerton College
Martha Smith is Assistant Professor of Religion at Fullerton College. Martha's teaching covers all aspects of religion in culture and the diversity of religious traditions around the world. Her research and writing focus on North American religious diversity and pluralism, race and ethnicity, new religious movements, and religious studies pedagogy. She has written articles on hula hooping, communities of practice, antiracist pedagogy, and religious diversity and pluralism in the United States.

Description

This anchoring essay of the media section presents the CNN series Believer, hosted by Reza Aslan, as a paradigmatic example for a specific liberal progressive discussion of religion in North American mass media. It delivers a detailed description of the series (considering content, form, as well as marketing and genre of the series) and points out that Believer, rather than interjecting a critical examination of religion into the mass media, instead reinforces a series of popular perennialist ideas that are intellectually problematic. This happens primarily by portraying religion as a personal, “authentic,” universal element of human experience.

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Citation

Smith Roberts, Martha. 8. The Strange and Familiar Spiritual Journey of Reza Aslan. Hijacked - A Critical Treatment of the Public Rhetoric of Good and Bad Religion. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 71-86 Aug 2020. ISBN 9781781797273. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=35422. Date accessed: 30 Mar 2025 doi: 10.1558/equinox.35422. Aug 2020

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