Nicole Greenfield: The media is continually fascinated by what is interpreted as the paradoxical lives of the religiously devout. Most stories center on Christians, mainly evangelicals, and ususally have something to do with their engagement with popular culture. Evangelical hipsters, skaters, sports stars, punk rockers–each has been the subject of countless profiles. The more daring use the same cultural lens to look at other conservative traditions like Orthodox Judaism or Islam, for example, but the story always remains the same–religious people enjoy culture too.

But this week at Salon.com Thaddeus Russell showed us that some are in fact paying attention to elements of a larger picture.