When journalism meets religion

[rug]

Diane Moore, director of the Religious Literacy Project, is organizing a symposium on religious literacy in journalism. "Scholars have a lot to learn from journalism in relation to how to translate complicated ideas to a general audience, and journalists can learn from scholars how to have a more nuanced view of religion." Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

Symposium emphasizes the many nuances of faith to a profession often mired in oversimplification and conflict

In a television studio, two news commentators ask sharp questions about Islam of an author of books on religion, while along the bottom of the screen a banner reads “Does Islam Promote Violence?”

The interview is painful to watch, said Diane Moore, senior lecturer on religious studies and senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Word Religions at Harvard Divinity School. For nine minutes, the commentators oversimplify and generalize about Islam as a religion that promotes violence, and paint all Muslims with a single, red-tinged brush.

It’s the kind of naive journalism that Moore would like to change. Through the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative, she hopes to enhance understanding of religions to undercut bigotry and prejudice. To that end, a symposium on religious literacy in journalism will be held this Thursday and Friday.

In advance of that, the Gazette talked with Moore about how higher education can work with journalists and other professionals to encourage more realistic and sophisticated coverage of religion.

December 7, 2016
By Liz Mineo, Harvard Staff Writer

GAZETTE: There are many misrepresentations of religion, particularly about Islam, that are widespread. What’s the role of journalism in the misrepresentation of Islam?

MOORE: We can say it’s the media’s fault that we have such a one-sided understanding of Islam or other religions, but I don’t think it’s the media’s fault. The media ends up reproducing assumptions about religions that are embedded in our culture that are problematic, and they do it often unwittingly. And we have to recognize that journalists have a challenging role. They have to report on news, and news itself often is very focused and tends to be related to some kind of violent conflict. So to the extent that religious representatives are involved in a violent conflict or religious communities are targets of that conflict, it’s difficult for journalists to bring in the incredible nuance that is required to represent religion in a more complex way.

So the combination that journalists rarely have exposure to more sophisticated understandings of religion and the challenges in the profession makes them easy targets for our frustration and disdain. But I also think that they’re possible allies in helping us represent religion in a more nuanced way. And many journalists already do this very well.

GAZETTE: The perception that Islam is a violent religion is more prevalent than the idea that Christianity is also violent. Why is that? Why do people forget that Christianity also has a history of violence?

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/12/religious-lit-symposium/

[Jim__]

1. I wish her well.

Our culture can use a bit of nuance.

[guillaumeb]

2. Not surprising that journalists who are educated in the US might absorb the "common understanding"

of certain things.

Like overlooking the fact that the US is an empire.
Like overlooking that Islam has been chosen to be the new enemy, replacing the other Abrahamic religion as the unofficial enemy.
Like overlooking that healthcare is a right in most developed countries, not a source for profit.