AAPT Members American Association of Philosophy Teachers

There's not a lot of these yet, but the book looks promising for intro to Phil. Religion. It's described as 'wickedly funny' and 'an anecdote to the pedantic debates stirred by the likes of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens...'.

Rebecca Goldstein - 36 Arguments for the Existence of God - Time Out Chicago

Philosopher and writer refutes God’s existence in new novel | j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California

Books of The Times - Rebecca Newberger Goldstein’s ‘36 Arguments’ About God - Review - NYTimes.com

UPDATE 2-8-10

Brainy fictional debate over God too cute by half -winnipeg

I've been tracking reviews of this movie here, but since it has just opened in the UK, adn a whole new flock of reviews has arrived, I'll start a new post:

Examined Life Movie Review (2009) from Channel 4 Film

Examined Life, review - Telegraph - short blurb

Brain food: philosophy hits the big screen | Science | The Guardian

I thought I saw a bad review at one point, but I can't find it again. All of these are positive.

I can't understand why an online magazine "dedicated to the analysis and understanding of religious forces in the world today, highlight a diversity of progressive voiced and aimed a broadening and advancing the public conversation" is interested in the enactive mind thesis, but apparently they are: You Are More Than Your Brain: A Revolutionary Theory of Consciousness | RDBook | ReligionDispatches

Consciousness, he argues, and all the things that that word means (thinking and feeling and the fact that the world shows up for us, to use Noë’s turns of phrase) does not originate from the brain the way digestive acids originate from the stomach, or the way light originates from the lens of a movie projector. Consciousness is the product of a living organism dynamically interacting with the world around it

Actually, we do know a little more than that: Thompson, who advocates a view of perception similar to that of Noë's, explicitly endorses Buddhist theology through his work in philosophy of mind and cognitive science - but I've never known Noë to do that. I'm just not sure what this has to do with religion.

At the bottom (after spending a whole section criticizing the 'new atheists' and never mentioning Noë once), the article finishes with:  read more »

Philip D. Hansten, professor emeritus of UWash Seattle (Pharmacology) has published a book using Montaigne to understand the mass susceptibility to fallacious reasoning during the Bush (II) era.  In the words of his press release, the nice phrase 'Premature factulation' is:
 
Philosopher Scientist Pens Premature Factulation Book, Probing Man’s Proclivity to “Ignorant Certainty,” with Recent Bush Presidency as an Example

Dr. Hansten defines Premature Factulation as “the process of coming to conclusions without adequate study or contemplation; usually applied to complex concepts or situations.” Or, put simply, it is drawing conclusions and making decisions without facts and logic.

It's a refreshing and original twist on critical thinking - could be a polemical jumping off point for a CT course. I should note that I haven't read it - I've only read the press release. But I will. If it is worth using, I'll update the comments with my view.

Andrew Pessin's (Connecticut College) new popular book 'The God Question' is getting a little press. This one from the Warwick Beacon is a fairly sympathetic review. It certainly would be worth considering in a First Year Seminar, or an introductory course.
Warwick Beacon - Breaking News, classifieds, businesses, and events in the Warwick area.

Projo.com, a news source for Providence and Rhode Island, has a book review / profile of Pessin's two books: The God Question and the 60-Second Philosopher.  Both are written for the public, so are probably suitable for an intro class and /or First year seminar:
Philosopher urges us: Don’t just sit there, think! | projo.com | The Providence Journal Books |

From the FT.com. It might be worth including an a class discussing the so-called 'culture wars' or the 'clash of civilizations'.  I can't testify to its value as a work of philosophy, but it might be worth looking at:
FT.com / Books / Non-Fiction - In Search of Civilization

I caught a story a few weeks ago about "Moon", a new SciFi movie coming out next week.  The director, Duncan Jones, is a former Philosophy graduate student.  The reviews are starting to come in - and it looks like it might be very, very useful in future classes:

'Moon' Brings Philosophical Questions To Movie-Watchers - Starpulse Entertainment News

I caught this movie review in the Post the other day - it's an independent film covering a conflict around a 'squatters' community garden in East L.A.  Locke's notion on property does not explicitly appear in the movie, but it clearly informs the conflict that the movie protrays--and the Post review!  Keep an eye out for this movie--it may be very useful in Social-Political and/or British Empiricism classes:

Movie Review: Philip Kennicott on the Oscar-Nominated Documentary 'The Garden' - washingtonpost.com

I've been seeing some buzz in the British press about the Cannes premier of 'Agora', a movie about the ancient philosopher Hypatia (Wikipedia entry). The reviews have largely been about the real-life Hypatia, rather than the movie, but it is worth keeping an eye on:

Alejandro Amenabar's Agora: a gift for classicists | Culture | guardian.co.uk

AFP: Spain's Amenabar brings Cannes toga-clad philosophy flick