I am glad to hear and see a greater willingness in society to discuss religion, its applications and the way it can be used for great good, great evil or someone in between. I thought that this was a good quote from your article, " Covering religion — or debating it in newsrooms — doesn’t come easy to many of us in the media. We are trained to park our religious beliefs at the door. To leave them at home. We don’t often openly engage among ourselves in the type of religious debate that is probably commonplace to many in our audience." From what I understand, I would believe this to be true. And yes, with increasing coverage of religion and religion-related newsstories, we run the risk of offending someone, providing misinformation and fueling prejudice. However, the media, should it take the time to make the proper investment of time, money, energy and in an attitude of humility admit its' shortcomings on its ability to deliver a news story, the media could prove to be a tool to help the public become more aware of what atheists, agnostics, and peoples of religious faiths believe: an understanding of what people believe and the realization that almost every religion has a common underlying message: to ' love your neighbour as yourself' ( your neighbour being anyone with a need and everyone else)
Yes, I agree with April Gustavsen when she said, " I found this article on religion an interesting one. I am not sure how I would feel about the media covering religion. I am not sure how unbias or fairly this topic would or could be covered. I see the media now as already showing a huge bias in favour atheism and humanism, and a bias against Christianity in particular" But going back to what I quoted earlier, I think this exists because within our school system, our government , our media and in the general public, we often lack the understanding of religion necessary to actually discern what religious-based ideas are far-fetched and which ones are not. I think part of the solution is to increase the general knowledges public of religion by not only educating people on the religion itself ( it's rituals and practices), but the way one's religion influences the way those who follow any given religion will act whether it be politics, the media or some other job) but also how it will affect their morals, interpretations of world events and their political views. Recently, I read an article from 'Faith Today' magazine entitled ' Church, Conscience, Corruption and the Conservatives: what were the forces behind a "C" change in Canadian politics in 2006" In this article, it offers some statistics for polls taken among Catholics, Protestants and all canadians and what party they would vote for and display the correlation between one's faith, church attendance and what party they said they would vote for. Although slightly off-topic, the magazine said this of english canada, " Canadians who live outside Quebec can be divided into one of four schools of thought on the federal vote, a special analysis of reasons for voting revealed... And it uncovers a fascinating picture of the ecistence of a religious left as well as a religious right in English Canada. " The article named four views: Religious Moderates ( " community minded, attend church regularly and vote Liberal or NDP in support of healthcare for all, social programs and Canadian unity.......") , Religious Conservatives ( " voted for Harper because they feel Canada is headed in the wrong direction-with Liberal corruption and same-sex marriage serving as red flags. They hoped for a Conservative majority and tend to oppose same-sex marriage and abortion" ), Anti-Harper Progressives ( " These non-churchgoers are concerned about healthcare, the economy and social programs and are comfortable with the current laws on same-sex marriage and abortion" ) and Economic Conservatives ( " hoped for a Harper-led majority government, because they feel Canada needs to get back on track. They are bothered about corruption, the economy, taxes and crime. These unchurched and more well-to-do Canadians are generally in favour of the current abortion law, but many would like to see same-sex civil unions rather than marriage for gay couples") ( "Faith Today" , March/April 2006,
www.faithtoday.ca, 'Church , conscience, Corruption, and the Conservatives' ) To summarize, I consider myself a blend of the Religious Moderate and Conservative positions as I am a christian who lives christianity as a relationship not a religion, I choose to follow God's instruction from his word because I consider him my friend not because I am forced to from above and I am a religious moderate on issues of healthcare for all, social programs and Canadian unity yet I am slightly religious Conservative on issues of morality such as abortion and same-sex marriage. As for abortion, I believe the best higher ground between all 4 viewpoints is initiatives to address the issues of poverty, unprotected sex, and other issues that lead to unwanted pregnancy to reduce the number of children who are aborted before they have the chance to live, I sponsor adoption as an alternative to abortion and refuse to buy into the judgmental attitude that many people of faith have and/or are stereotyped as having. To conclude, I believe that the media is a place to inform people on what is going on in the world,a source of information, public discussion and my last request would be an increase in the number of jobs available in the media for those with some form of religious education from many faiths and perspectives among with the journalistic training that these people need to tell the stories that we as canadians and global citizens rely on.
