Interfaith Organization
Calls for Better Reporting on Religion
http://www.interfaithalliance.org
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA, September 11, 2003: In his speech
here today,
Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, President, The Interfaith Alliance,
said, in
part, "The religious press in this land (USA) has an unusually
crucial
role to play in truth telling by the media. Unfortunately for the
most
part, religion is involved in most of the big stories in today's
news.
From politicians' manipulation of religion to the promotion of
partisan
causes to religionists efforts to manipulate politics for
sectarian
gains to terrorists claims to be servants of the Almighty
to
governmental leaders appeal to Deity and morality to support
their
policies of war, religion is an unmistakable component in today's
news.
The manner in which the role of religion in today's world is
reported
will help or hurt interfaith relations, encourage or
discourage
militancy, and determine to a great extent the public
understanding of
and commitment to religious liberty. Allow me to be
specific.
"News organizations should pay close attention to the role of
religion
in the 2004 elections. Religion will be a major topic in
political
stump speeches as well as a studied strategy for organization in
the
various campaigns. I hope that political reporters and
religion
reporters across the nation will report on religion in the
various
campaigns with the same kind of scrutiny that will be devoted
to
economic policies and foreign affairs, citing not just how
religious
language is used by candidates but exploring as well the meaning
of
what is said.
"Terrific pressures exist to move our nation away
from a commitment to
pluralism toward an endorsement of special privileges
for the majority
faith point of view -- what would be a deathblow to
religious liberty.
One recent poll showed that 77% percent of the public saw
nothing wrong
with the religious statuary of the Ten Commandments being
displayed in
a judicial building in Alabama. Even United States Supreme
Court
Justice Antonin Scalia has suggested that controversial issues
in
church-state relations should be resolved more by the
legislative
process and less by the judiciary. We are failing in the
public
relations battle. People cannot distinguish between our opposition
to
the prostitution of religion and our devotion to the protection of
the
sanctity of religion. To a large extent, the media will shape
public
opinion on these issues.
"Condemnations of other religions
should be set in a broader
perspective. Reporters have a professional
obligation to report the
news but also an ethical responsibility to raise
questions about what
part of this news is fact and what is fiction. Over the
past several
months, I have walked away from several meetings with colleagues
from
around the world reeling from a realization that the
international
community judges religion in America by the profile of Jerry
Falwell
and the voice of Pat Robertson. How critical as well as wrong is
that
image? Recent elections in Pakistan took a serious turn
toward
Talibanization, in part in reaction to news accounts of the
demonizing
of Islam and the prophet Mohammed by former president of the
Southern
Baptist Convention Jerry Vines, evangelist Franklin Graham and
media
minister Jerry Falwell.
"Sensitivity regarding religious
terminology is terribly important in
writing and reporting news stories.
Characteristically, terrorist acts
by Muslims are attributed to Islamic
Fundamentalists while similar acts
by Christians are reported apart from any
reference to religion. The
atrocity perpetrated in this city (the bombing of
the federal building
in Oklahoma City) was a terrorist act by a Christian
fundamentalist
that was anticipated and applauded by many in The Christian
Identity
movement. Attacks on abortion clinics have been spawned by
committed
Christian extremists. Reporting on religion-based acts of terror
should
be consistent lest the reading, television-watching public
concludes
that terrorism is the exclusive domain of Muslim extremists
and
prejudice against Muslims increases.
"Report on the positive and
healing role of religion in public life and
the problems associated with
religion in the public square. Stories of
shared religious values and
interfaith cooperation can serve as
instruments to broaden understanding and
even encourage greater
interfaith cooperation. Suffice it to say that a solid
commitment to
telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
will
sustain the kind of journalism that informs the American public
and
preserves the liberty that allows both religion and the press to
do
their best work."
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