Release date: March 11, 2008
Contact: Elaine Justice at 404-727-0643 or elaine.justice@emory.edu

ReligionDispatches.org Goes Live

Online Religion Magazine Premiers, Raises Voices Seldom Heard

ReligionDispatches.org (www.religiondispatches.org), a new online religion magazine, officially launches today, fulfilling a long-held goal of co-editor Emory University religion professor Gary Laderman, to "enhance public understanding and debate—to respectfully and critically examine the role of religion and values in the most vital issues of our day."

"War and stem cells; political change and sexuality; poverty and human rights. For democracies to survive and flourish requires an informed public able to engage in rigorous, open and respectful debate about the central issues of the day," say Laderman and co-editor Linell Cady of Arizona State University on the Web site's mission page. In the United States and globally, religion is central to the most momentous developments of our times. Yet religion, religious motivations and religious actors remain among the least understood elements on the current scene, they say.

ReligionDispatches, which is supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation, will:

• provide information and analysis;
• embody the democratic commitment to open debate, inclusive voices and critical reflection;
• avoid narrow partisanship;
• include the best scholarship in an accessible manner; and
• exemplify an important form of public scholarship—that which works for the public good.

The site does not pretend to neutrality or detachment, say the editors, but will "seek an independent role that can aid in elevating the debates at the heart of our democracy."

In addition to co-editors Laderman and Cady, managing editors include Evan Derkacz, formerly from AlterNet, and Lisa Webster, formerly of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. ReligionDispatches advisory council includes: Daisy Khan, executive director, American Society for Muslim Advancement; Robert Franklin, president, Morehouse College; Ruth Messinger, American Jewish World Service; Juana Ponce de Leon, executive director, Independent Press Association; Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, author; and Diane Winston, Knight Chair in Media and Religion, University of Southern California.

In coming months, ReligionDispatches will focus special attention on a range of urgent issues, including:

• the relationship between religion and violence;
• new realities associated with religious pluralism;
• issues tied to democracy, religion and immigration; and,
• explorations of religion, HIV/AIDS and sexuality.

Special site features include:

• RDBlog by a revolving set of bloggers;
• Religion 101, a glossary of widely used yet seldom understood terms;
• Dispatches From, a rotating series of reports written from the borderlands, the workplace, inside the beltway and even a doctor's office;
• van international forum with contributors writing about religion in the global public square; and
• interviews, book and film reviews, and other special features.

Emory University (www.emory.edu) is one of the nation’s leading private research universities and a member of the Association of American Universities. Known for its demanding academics, outstanding undergraduate college of arts and sciences, highly ranked professional schools and state-of-the-art research facilities, Emory is ranked as one of the country's top 20 national universities by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to its nine schools, the university encompasses The Carter Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Healthcare, the state's largest and most comprehensive health care system.

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