This special issue of the "Journal of Media and Religion" looks at how religion is framed when it is thrust into the public realm through mediated coverage of a particular event. The first article examines how the public debate about teaching evolution was framed by the press in Tennessee. The next article discusses framing of news stories about Mormons during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. The final article applies Silk's unsecular media hypothesis to coverage of the Jesse Jackson infidelity scandal. Each of these articles uncovers new issues and insights about the framing of religion news. The editors hope that they will become important points of departure for theorization on this important topic. Future research will benefit from the analyses presented by these authors.

This special issue presents four articles on the topic of religion and television. The first article analyzes five of the highest-rated television dramas from the 2000-2001 season in terms of "faith-based" media literacy. It strives for a more systematic and conceptually sound critique that gets beyond the casual assessments frequently found in the popular press. The next article discusses The Simpsons and how it reflects a commitment to satirizing the pietistic and hypocritical elements of American religious expression, but does not attack the bases of American religious faiths. The third article looks to what Veggie Tales--a popular children's video series--presents in terms of race, gender, and authority. The final article is about The X-Files, a science fiction program that--on one level--is one of the most sophisticated treatments of religion in the history of television drama. Its ability to interweave complex issues regarding institutional religion and practice is deserving of attention from researchers.

"This research on the uses of mass media across diverse Christian traditions is both original and provocative. By focusing on what audiences perceive and how they respond, Religion and Mass Media is able to illuminate the experience of faith at a time when devotion is seen as a dimension of individuality best suited to the privacy of one's home. Professors Daniel A. Stout and Judith M. Buddenbaum should be commended for helping advance the study of religion and mass communication in the United States." --John P. Ferrè, Associate Professor of Communication, University of Louisville How do religious audiences react to and use the mass media? Religion and Mass Media is an audience-centered examination that reveals how a variety of Christian traditions experience media news and entertainment--in the context of institutional religious influences and expectations. Drawing on social science theories and empirical research methodologies, the contributors explore responses from Roman Catholics, Fundamentalists, Evangelicals, mainline Protestants, and Mormons and a variety of other traditions. In the first section, contributors set the framework by describing recent theoretical developments in the sociology of religion and communication theory. Section two provides an overview of the particulars of certain religious beliefs, section three looks at audience behavior, section four describes specific case studies (including one on rap music), and section five looks at the changing information environment and the future. Students and professionals in communication, sociology, sociology of religion, and anthropology will find this volume to be both informative and insightful--an excellent supplement.