Issue

Religion

Religious faith is central to the lives of billions, a driving force in everything from family structure to relationships within and among the world’s nation states. It is also the venue, and often the source, of conflict.

Religion presents Pulitzer Center reporting on these themes from throughout the world—from the explosive growth of megachurches in Africa and Latin America to intra-Islam schisms of the Middle East, to the self-immolation of Tibetan Buddhist monks and Buddhist soldiers running roughshod over the rights of Burmese Muslims, to the struggles of faith groups everywhere to come to terms with human sexuality.

In some parts of the world, notably China, governments that long suppressed religious expression are now invoking those traditions as part of the solution to environmental and other challenges. Elsewhere, from majority-Catholic Philippines to Muslim Indonesia, religious doctrine on issues like reproductive rights is in uneasy dialogue with the forces of modernization and globalization.

In Religion, we aim for reporting that tackles these tough, core issues—but without the easy stereotypes and caricature that too often make journalism a tool for demagogy. In the Pulitzer Center reporting presented here we seek instead to be a force for understanding.

The Pulitzer Center’s reporting on religion and public policy issues is made possible through the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, the Kendeda Fund, and other Pulitzer Center donors.

 

Religion

Basra

Richard Rowley, for the Pulitzer Center

lights stutter on and off.
the sun rises and sets behind heavy curtains
while thousands of ants slowly inherit this tile and plaster to the desert.

Abbas Ibn Fernas' wings spread like a warning.

in the smooth marble stomach of our abandoned cities,
brush the flies away from the corner of his mouth

'what kind of men lived and worked in buildings like these?'
'strange to know that they were us...'

David Enders Interviewed on "Your Call with with Rose Aguilar and Sandip Roy"

On the next Your Call, it's our Friday media roundtable. This week, Rupert Murdoch's bid for the Wall Street Journal was accepted, the House passed ethics reform, and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld testified at a hearing about the death of Pat Tillman. Joining us to discuss the news of the week is Robert Hodierne of Army Times, David Enders, independent reporter in Iraq, and Pratap Chatterjee of CorpWatch. What was your story of the week? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.

Can't Say Goodbye

Richard Rowley, for the Pulitzer Center
Iraq

lights stutter on and off.
the sun rises and sets behind heavy curtains
while thousands of ants slowly inherit this tile and plaster to the desert.

Abbas Ibn Fernas' wings spread like a warning.

in the smooth marble stomach of our abandoned cities,
brush the flies away from the corner of his mouth.

'what kind of men lived and worked in buildings like these?'
'strange to know that they were us.'

India: Photographs from Jason Motlagh Part 2

No stranger to hardship, northern Bihar state – India's poorest and most corrupt – is faced with some degree of flooding each year. But none in distant memory compare to this year's monsoon deluge, a symptom of climate change that has affected tens of millions, killed hundreds and exposed the extent of state neglect rooted in class politics.