{"id":17,"date":"2010-06-21T11:48:14","date_gmt":"2010-06-21T11:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/religionandpubliclife\/2010\/06\/o-that-gentle-religion-reporting.html"},"modified":"2010-06-21T11:48:14","modified_gmt":"2010-06-21T11:48:14","slug":"o-that-gentle-religion-reporting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/religionandpubliclife\/2010\/06\/o-that-gentle-religion-reporting.html","title":{"rendered":"Reporting on Religious Conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a Beliefnet newbie, I’d like to add my two cents to last week’s dust-up between my colleagues Rod Dreher and Nicole Neroulias over the issue of journalistic treatment of religious differences. To briefly recap, Nicole confessed<\/a> to being a bit troubled by Steve Prothero’s new book, God is Not One: And Why Their Differences Matter<\/i><\/a>, saying that she prefers to consider what brings religions together rather than the conflicts among them. Rod took exception in a couple of posts, first<\/a> using an essay<\/a> of Jay Rosen’s to criticize journalists for bias in favor of the bland middle ground; then<\/a> (with an assist<\/a> from GetReligion’s Terry Mattingly) claiming that religious conflict makes journalists nervous. <\/p>\n

Given that (as Nicole suggests) the usual complaint against religion reporting is that there’s too much emphasis on “conflict stories,” it’s in a way refreshing to encounter criticism from the other side. In Unsecular Media<\/i><\/a>, I contend that one of the standard themes (topoi) <\/i>of religion reporting is that tolerance is a Good Thing. The larger argument of the book, however, is that themes like that are not the special province of “the media,” but rather deeply embedded in American culture. If American journalists prefer to privilege “my Father’s House has many mansions” religiosity to a model of endemic tension, they are solidly in line with the basic inclinations of the rest of the population.<\/p>\n


\nThe journalistic challenge here is more subtle than usually
\nacknowledged. An example of public intolerance–.e.g. a prominent
\nBaptist preacher declaring that God does not hear the prayer of a
\nJew–is reported on precisely to hold the remark up to general obloquy.
\nBut if we recognize that God is truly not one, then why should this
\nexpression of odium theologicum <\/i>even be news at all? The point is
\nthat what is considered or not considered newsworthy necessarily
\nreflects that norms of the culture within which the journalism is being
\npracticed.  <\/p>\n

Of course it’s not good journalism to give short shrift to the religious
\ndimension of social conflict just because we wish it weren’t there. But
\nthere’s no less danger in reporting as if religious differences create
\nidentifiable and permanent conflicts of values among groups of
\nadherents. As important as it is to recognize the varying ways in which
\nmajor religious traditions view the world, the danger of embracing the Protherian
\napproach–whether in journalistic or other shorthand versions–lies in
\nreducing complex and ancient traditions to a few catchphrases.<\/p>\n

Back in January, David Brooks went
\nso far<\/a> as to blame Voodoo–a religion
\nthat “spreads the message that life is capricious and planning
\nfutile”–for the extent of the devastation inflicted by the earthquake
\nin Haiti.<\/span> Likewise, Pope Benedict’s Regensburg speech dismissed
\nIslam<\/a> as a fideistic religion that ignores the kind of marriage of
\nfaith and reason that characterizes Catholic scholastic tradition.
\nSuch wildly inaccurate characterizations are about as useful to public
\ndiscourse as shouting fire in a crowded theater.  <\/p>\n

Dreher’s particular concern has to do with an alleged journalistic
\nreluctance (observed among his erstwhile colleagues at the Dallas
\nMorning News<\/i>) to underplay Muslim extremism. But when it comes to
\ncoverage of tough religious ideas, there was, after 9\/11, no end to
\nreporting on the Koranic command to jihad. Was it a mandate to war
\nagainst all infidels or an injunction to self-reform? Should we expect
\nthere to be a single answer to such a question in a religious tradition
\nof a billion people and several major sects, any more than we would
\nexpect a single understanding of the New Testament proscription of
\ndivorce for the world’s billion and a half Christians?<\/p>\n

It’s also worth bearing in mind that the impetus to lift up religious
\ndifferences very often amounts to nothing more than a rationalization of
\nexisting prejudice. Take a look at Jim Dwyer’s June 18 NYT piece<\/a>
\non a town hall meeting on Staten Island to discuss the proposed
\npurchase of a former convent by a Muslim organization:<\/p>\n

\n

\nThere were many statements from the audience dressed up as questions to
\nthe Muslim representatives: Were any parts of the Koran incorrect? Would
\nthey denounce Hamas<\/a> and Hezbollah<\/a>,
\nand wasn’t it true that they were connected to those groups? Didn’t all
\nterrorists come out of mosques?\t\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

\nMr. Finnegan, 25, began by introducing himself. “I said, ‘My name is
\nBill Finnegan, and I’m a United States Marine recently returned from
\nAfghanistan,’ ” he said.\t\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

\nCheers rang out. He turned to the representatives of the Muslim group,
\nseated at a table in the front.\t\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

\n“My question to you is, will you work to form a cohesive bond with the
\npeople of this community?” he asked.\t\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

\nThe men said yes.\t\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

\nMr. Finnegan then faced the audience. “And will you work to form a
\ncohesive bond with these people — your new neighbors?” he asked.\t\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

\nThe crowd booed. A voice called out: “No!”\t\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nMessage delivered.  \n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good reporting, Dwyer. Happy, Rod?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a Beliefnet newbie, I’d like to add my two cents to last week’s dust-up between my colleagues Rod Dreher and Nicole Neroulias over the issue of journalistic treatment of religious differences. 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After teaching at Harvard in the Department of History and Literature for three years, he became editor of the Boston Review. In 1987 he joined the staff of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he worked variously as a reporter, editorial writer and columnist. In 1996 he became the founding director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College and in 1998 founding editor of Religion in the News, a magazine published by the Center that examines how the news media handle religious subject matter. In 2005, he was named director of the Trinity College Program on Public Values, comprising both the Greenberg Center and a new Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture directed by Barry Kosmin. In 2007, he became Professor of Religion in Public Life at the College. Professor Silk is the author of Spiritual Politics: Religion and America Since World War II and Unsecular Media: Making News of Religion in America. He is co-editor of Religion by Region, an eight-volume series on religion and public life in the United States, and co-author of The American Establishment, Making Capitalism Work, and One Nation Divisible: How Regional Religious Differences Shape American Politics. In 2007 he inaugurated Spiritual Politics, a blog on religion and American political culture.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/religionandpubliclife\/author\/msilk"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/religionandpubliclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/religionandpubliclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/religionandpubliclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/religionandpubliclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/religionandpubliclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/religionandpubliclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/religionandpubliclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/religionandpubliclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/religionandpubliclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}