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Articles Of Faith: Media's portrayal of religion skews to the right
Last updated August 24, 2007 9:22 p.m. PT
By ANTHONY B. ROBINSON
GUEST COLUMNIST
DOING THIS "Articles of Faith" column the last eight months, I've discovered there are a whole lot of people out there with very negative feelings about religion, Christianity and churches. For some readers, a minister writing a column like this is a bit like waving a red flag in front of a bull. For others, their antipathy toward religion is more measured but still strong.
For a person like me, and many friends, such sentiments are not wholly surprising, but still sad and bewildering. In my life, the church, while imperfect, has been a place of humanity and understanding. It was the church that got me involved in the civil rights movement and other efforts of social change. Religious leaders have encouraged me to think deeply and honestly. The church put me in touch with amazing people in this country and other parts of the world. It taught me stories of hope and songs of faith, as well as ways of prayer and worship that have been both healing and life- changing.
Why all the hostility toward religion?
Some of it, I suspect, is that these are anxious times, and one way to deal with anxiety is to have something or someone to blame. Lord knows, religion offers plenty of candidates!
Another inducement for anti-religious feelings is probably the identification of the failed Bush administration with evangelical Christianity. Some of it, too, may be recoil at radical Islam, a sentiment many Muslims share.
Of course, some hostility toward religion is simply deserved. Religion is powerful. Anything as powerful as religion will be abused by some. But abuse does not nullify proper use.
Another possible explanation for the disdain toward religion and Christianity may be found in a recent study conducted by the Washington-based watchdog group Media Matters. Its study, "Left Behind: The Skewed Representation of Religion in the Major News Media," came out earlier this summer.
Conducted between the 2004 elections and the end of 2006, it showed that conservative or right-wing religious leaders were quoted, interviewed or mentioned nearly three times more often in U.S. media than moderate or liberal religion leaders. On television that disparity jumped to four times more appearances by conservatives than by religious moderates or progressives.
An earlier study by the same group showed that while prominent leaders of the religious right such as James Dobson, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson had been on Sunday morning news shows 40 times in a particular stretch, there had not been even one appearance by a leader of a mainline church or denomination.
"Despite the fact that most religious Americans are moderate or progressive, in the news media it is overwhelmingly conservative leaders who are presented as the voice of religion," write the report's authors. "This represents a particularly meaningful distortion, since progressive religious leaders tend to focus on different issues and offer an entirely different perspective than their conservative counterparts."
What this means is that a person who relies on television and the news media may simply equate Christianity and the religious right. Moreover, unless you are involved in a moderate or progressive religious congregation, you may not know they exist. Another recent study, funded by the Lilly Endowment, concluded that though there are plenty of vital and thriving mainline and progressive congregations, they operate under the radar of both the media and scholarly study.
But why are the media so skewed in their presentation of religion, and in particular Christianity? I've wondered that for a long time. Over the last three decades, nearly all media in America have been handmaids in a culturewide dumbing-down process. Extremists of all strips fit the format of the sensationalized nightly news, daily paper or online site. Extremists say outlandish things, speak in sound bites and reduce complex issues to simple slogans. And much of the media go for it.
My other hunch is that by and large people in the media tilt toward the skeptical when it comes to religion. Showcasing the yo-yos who brag of praying away hurricanes or who blame 9/11 on gay rights confirms the prejudice.
To be sure, religion is a mixed bag and has plenty to answer for. But that's not the whole story. For millions of Americans faith and religion are powerful sources of decency and courage, justice and generosity in their lives and in our society. Yet this rich American tradition is being put at risk by stereotyping and broad-brush hostility.
Anthony Robinson's column appears Saturdays. He is a speaker, consultant and writer. His recent books include "Common Grace: How to be a Person and Other Spiritual Matters," and "Leadership for Vital Congregations." Want to suggest ideas for future columns? He can be reached at anthonybrobinson@comcast.net.
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