With skill and intelligence, the veteran interviewer crisscrosses the country in search of a public school program that teaches religious literacy well, says Publishers Weekly in review of Faith Ed. Read about this and other news in Faith Ed newsletter. Continue reading
June 19, 2015
Almost exactly two months to publication date for Faith Ed. Several bits of news to report, starting with a fun item:
The Teach Don’t Preach Video: You can now see a video, Teach Don’t Preach, that includes an interview with me about Faith Ed as well as interviews with a Wellesley, Mass., middle school teacher and social studies chair featured in one chapter of the book. Backstory: A group of students from Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Conn. made the film as part of the Continue reading
Today kicked off the first giveaway for my book, courtesy of my publisher, Beacon Press. The giveaway runs until July 21. You can enter by going to this link. Thanks, Beacon Press!
Here’s a peek at another photo from my reporting travels from Faith Ed and the story behind it:
In this photo, first-grade teacher Deborah Fagg from Wichita is giving … Continue reading
I just returned from a trip to New York where I took part in an annual Jewish Book Council event for authors of upcoming books. The event ran over three days, and I was in a group of 50 authors, including former Meet the Press anchor David Gregory, on Wednesday evening. The challenge: Give a two minute talk about your book to an audience of 200 to 250. Finish before the emcee holds up a lime-green card “Time’s Up” card with a frowny face. Continue reading
Publication Day: If you’re just reading my newsletter for the first time, Faith Ed publishes on August 18, and my first reading will be on the same day – Aug. 18 at 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books in Cambridge.
Faith Ed Heads to Georgia: I’m pleased to announce that the Decatur Books Fest has invited me to give a reading/talk at this year’s festival. It will be held Sept. 4-6 in Decatur. Stay tuned for more … Continue reading
Stephen Prothero, an author of several books about religion, and Charles C. Haynes, a First Amendment scholar who heads the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum, recently gave a talk promoting religious literacy. They spoke at the 2015 convention of the Religion Communicators Council, and attendees tweeted out what they said.
I listened in virtually and later created a Storify – a recap – of what they said. They both promoted the idea of doing more to educate Americans about religion. Prothero talked about the ignorance about religion among adults in … Continue reading
Less than five months to go until publication day for Faith Ed (August 18), and I figured it was time to tell you a little bit about where I got the idea for this book. Two events – one in my own childhood and one in more recent history – sent me off on this journey to look at public schools’ efforts to teach about the world’s religions.
The first event or experience, really, came from my family’s move from the Finger Lakes Region in western New York state to a small town … Continue reading
Thought you’d enjoy my latest piece of writing – a post for The Huffington Post in response to a school district that advertised for a superintendent with Christian values. Yes, some school systems have not yet realized that it’s unconstitutional to promote one religion. You can find that article at this link.
Meanwhile, in other news, my new Writing About Religion class at Grub Street is just about full. There are just four spots left. The class … Continue reading
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