The political pluralisation of American evangelicals: how old media built a movement,and why the Internet is poised to change it

Although religious movements are a powerful force in politics, there has been relatively little work that adequately analyses the relationship between communication technologies and Christian political mobilisation in the United States. In addressing this deficit, this article has three interrelated objectives. First, it traces the impact of media technology on the evangelical project, paying specific attention to radio and television, and argues that these two media have had a largely unifying influence. Second, it seeks a better understanding of the impact of the Internet upon evangelical organisations by reviewing relevant academic literature in the context of on-the-ground developments. In doing so, the authors argue that instead of working to facilitate greater unity among evangelicals, as radio and television did in the past, the Internet is instead fragmenting and polarising them. Third, and more speculatively, they discuss implications for a fragmented evangelical community, and call upon scholars to conduct more research into recent developments in communications technology as it relates to Christian political mobilisation in the United States. Combined, these goals work to illustrate the complex relationship between media, religious organisations, and mass political mobilisation.     

Mass denial in modern society

Abstract

Denial in society is discussed with reference to the media's use of language, and application is made of Breznitz's (1983) model of denial. Particular reference is made to the media reporting of crime and the public reactions to BSE and the ensuing beef crisis. Denial is seen as serving as a protection against anxiety over external threats, and against fears of one's own natural impulse to wish death on others. Denial might serve a useful purpose to protect the individual from unnecessary stress, but can possibly lead to a kind of madness in society.     

Murderers and martyrs: Violence,discourse, and the (re)construction of meaning

In recent years, the question of violence has drawn attention from religious studies scholars and public commentators alike. From schoolchildren with guns to terrorists with bombs, the perpetrators of violent acts have forced communities, nations, and even scholars to grapple with the nature and meaning of violence. But although significant attention has been paid to religious groups that foster violence and to those that resist it, the ways in which violence challenges structures of meaning have been addressed primarily by theologians seeking to grapple with overwhelming episodes of violence. This article suggests that certain violent acts can be classed as ‘symbolically disruptive violence'—acts that threaten or shatter a group's symbolic world. Although this analytical concept has broad applicability, the article explores its relevance for one in‐depth case study: reactions to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming.     

Art from the Heart

Abstract

This article describes art therapy techniques grounded in a relational-cultural approach used in a middle school group for girls. Art from the Heart is an interactive preventive intervention designed to facilitate increased connections among group members. It is intended to bring together multiethnic groups of urban girls with complex relational histories to learn about growth-fostering relationships, without relying on sophisticated verbal abilities. Specific techniques encourage the expression of “feeling thoughts” and other interpersonal dynamics that do not lend themselves well to words. The interactive nature of the art projects creates a context where interpersonal disconnections can be explored and understood, and connections can be celebrated, both by talking and by making art.     

Using online social media,Facebook, in screening for major depressive disorder among college students

This study explored the feasibility of using Internet social networking media in an online program for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) screening and psychoeducation targeting college students. A Facebook advertisement targeted students at five colleges in the United States to complete a mental health research survey that screened for MDD using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Students who screened positive for MDD were offered an eightweek follow-up survey. Of the 259 students who consented to participate in the study, 26.7% screened positive for MDD, while only 14.2% were receiving treatment. The use of Facebook to advertise for online screening for MDD required very little start-up time, and the average cost was $11.45 per subject recruited. It is feasible to use online, commercially available social networking media such as Facebook for online screening for MDD among college students. However, conducting online screening and offering treatment resources alone did not increase treatment rate in this population.     

Between the Horns: A Dilemma in the Interpretation of the Running of the Bulls – Part 1: The Confrontation

The essay, divided in two parts, examines the event of the running of the bulls (encierro in Spanish). The phenomenon of the encierro, a complex cultural activity of deep historical roots, demands to be understood: What drives people to risk injury or death at the horns of untamed bulls? How should we make sense of this, subjective and objectively? To answer these questions, I use a framework that relies on explanation and assessment of popular views on the way to arguing for a philosophical alternative. This arrangement is readily adaptable to many other sporting (and non-sporting) activities where risk and/or mass participation are key factors. Its unorthodox format – organised around an opening narrative of a paradigmatic, skilled and lucky run with the bulls, as well as hors texte (direct appeals to the reader) – brings the reader straight into the fray, philosophical and otherwise. Part I begins by presenting the history of the encierro. It also explains the dynamics of the event, often via images with pedagogical and critical side-commentaries. It proceeds to introduce and critically engage with prevalent explanations, most with ethnological tendencies, that conceive the running as tradition, rite, ritual and sport. This part ends with a dilemma whereby we either try to explain matters by resorting to particular and partial interpretations, or a ‘democratic’ conglomerate of superficial and confusing boundaries, or in the end we simply concede our inability to understand the phenomenon of the running of the bulls in toto. This philosophical impasse will be evaded in part 2 (Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 2, 1) via existentialist and phenomenological analysis.     

Mothers and Children Together

Summary

Treatment groups for both mothers and children together who have experienced mother assault is a unique therapeutic milieu which has been underutilized in the treatment field. This article presents a 10-week feminist-informed family systems group model as part of a treatment approach for children exposed to family violence and can be used with families of children from pre-school to adolescence. This model provides a context in which the experience of family violence can be debriefed, and issues related to trauma, safety, secrecy, and post-abuse family restructuring can be addressed by family members together. In addition, play and art therapy based interventions are presented and are tailored for the beginning, middle, and end of the group process.     

Young men’s minimisation of their body dissatisfaction

Abstract

Objective: To examine men’s body dissatisfaction qualitatively.

Design: Forty-two British men aged 18–45 years took part in a two-session group intervention across 12 groups. The intervention was designed to improve body dissatisfaction by engaging them in a critique of the appearance ideal through written and behavioural exercises.

Main outcome measures/results: Analysis of the topics discussed during the intervention generated two core themes. Theme 1 showed that, in general, men minimised the existence of their own body dissatisfaction while (somewhat surprisingly) outlining the ubiquity and potency of the appearance ideal for men in general. Theme 2 involved men reporting the problematic impact of body dissatisfaction in their lives (despite earlier minimisation), such as social avoidance, strict eating and supplement regimes, or difficulty in situations where the body was exposed.

Conclusion: The results stress the need to acknowledge that men experience a range of impacts of body dissatisfaction beyond clinical presentations (such as disordered eating) that influence their everyday lives, while also recognising that they tend to minimise this dissatisfaction in conversation. These findings have important implications for advocacy and interventions to improve men’s body dissatisfaction.     

Hard Luck: How Luck Undermines Free Will and Moral Responsibility

I reconcile the spatiotemporal location of repeatable artworks and impure sets with the non-location of natural numbers despite all three being varieties of abstract objects. This is possible because, while the identity conditions for all three can be given by abstraction principles, in the former two cases spatiotemporal location is a congruence for the equivalence relation featuring in the relevant principle, whereas in the latter it is not. I then generalize this to other ‘physical’ properties like shape, mass, and causal powers.