Contact:
Leah Seupersad, 404-413-1354
University Relations
ATLANTA—Dan Gilgoff, religion editor for CNN.com, will speak at the first Religion and Public Life Fellow lecture at Georgia State University at 6 p.m. March 13 at the Rialto Center for the Arts.
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| Dan Gilgoff |
As the first Public Life Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies at GSU, Gilgoff has spent the past year sharing how religion plays a role in his profession, through brown bag luncheons, teaching courses and leading student visits to CNN. His speech is titled “What Media and Academia Can Teach Each Other About Religion.”
“Georgia State's religion department is boldly expanding the conversation around religion's role in society, which is a big part of what CNN has been doing over the last year,” Gilgoff said. “I'm excited to help shape that increasingly relevant discussion at a moment when there's growing recognition of religion's role in the headlines.”
Since January 2009, Gilgoff has overseen all religion coverage for CNN. He launched and manages CNN’s "Belief Blog," which receives more than 6 million hits per month. Gilgoff was recently awarded one of three American Academy of religion awards for Best In-Depth Newswriting on Religion.
He is also the author of "The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War." His writing has appeared in many publications, including USA Today, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and The New York Times.
The event is free and open to the public, especially business and civic leaders who are interested in how religion may play a role in Atlanta citizens’ and employees’ lives and in city, state, and national policy-making.
“The creation of this position signals the department’s commitment to fostering conversations between professionals in many fields and religious studies scholars,” said Kathryn McClymond, professor and chair of the Department of Religious Studies. “We see this as the department’s response to the University’s Strategic Plan goal to help key decision-makers and leaders in Atlanta develop effective solutions to the complex challenges of cities, especially Atlanta.”
March 12, 2012