A scholarly report by Hisham Aidi on “Jihadis in the Hood”;

a radio chat show from Chicago’s WBEZ on “The Christian Left” (see “Odyssey,” third item down on right);

some music — Revealer contributor Laurel Snyder on the possible prayers of songwriter Will Oldham;

and The Revealer‘s new guide to the God beat. When we started out some months ago, we almost called The Revealer “God Beat.” Thank God we didn’t — the more time we’ve spent studying religion in the media and media about religion, the more we’ve come to think that the phrase itself is part of the problem. Not the “God” part, but the “beat” part. Is religion really a “beat”? Does it make sense to confine the entirety of faith & faithlessness, practice & conviction, to one Saturday subsection of the paper, one “human interest” corner of the radio news?

Well, no. But the press does it anyway. So here’s a list of links that will help you understand why they do it, and how.