Pacific Standard March-April 2013 Cover

Do the Arts Open Hearts?

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Would you like to meet people who are engaged in their communities, tolerant of others’ differences, and more willing than most to help out those in need? Try a concert hall, theater lobby, or art museum. People who regularly attend arts events are more likely to embody the aforementioned qualities, even after taking into account such variables as age, race and education. That’s the key finding of a new study by political scientist Kelly LeRoux of the University of Illinois at Chicago. It’s the first in a series of studies on the arts and society funded by research grants from ... Read More

Teaching Religious Literacy in California’s Bible Belt

A fourth "R" has been added to the core curriculum in the Modesto, Calif., public schools: Religion. In September 2000 — one year before the 9/11 attacks — this Central California community instituted a requirement that all ninth-graders complete a nine-week survey course on the world's religions. It is believed to be the first school system in the U.S. to make religious literacy mandatory for graduation. University of Virginia sociologist Emile Lester writes about this experiment in the journal Politics and Religion and in his new book Teaching about Religions, published by the University ... Read More

Burqa Ban a Boundary to Multicultural Impulse?

Arrests have already been made — albeit the stylized arrests that accompany much protest in the West — as France enacted its long-discussed ban on face coverings in public. French authorities cite dignity and curtailing patriarchy in its law, while opponents cite religious freedom. Objections so far, in France and beyond, have been measured, especially given reactions to say, umm, cartoons. A reasonable take was offered by a Saudi housewife opining from Jeddah: "If women are made to dress a different way and wear their hijab in Saudi Arabia and we respect it, then we should respect the ... Read More