PressEthic

On Sept. 11, I'm reminded that religion is one of the reasons why the towers came down in the first place. And our current president puts a lot of faith in God to help us "win" the war in Iraq.

It has long been a contention that the journalists need to pay more attention to the religion beat. The media, perhaps squeamish of other-worldly moral messages, missed the boat on covering how faith factored into the 2004 election. Some scrambled to make up the difference, but, as a reporter wrote in an article on Poynter, "a lot of TV and magazine political writers around the country spent a lot of time wading into a beat they didn't understand, coming up with clueless observations about candidates and their faith. The lack of knowledgeable coverage can be traced, at least in part, to the limited expertise on staff."

The issue resurfaced at the Religion Newswriters Association annual conference held this past Friday. The Desert Morning News wrote about a panel discussion titled "Faiths That Don't Fit: Classifying and Reporting on 'Other' Churches" with Robert Millet, a professor of religious understanding at Brigham Young University and Bob Adams of the Church of Scientology.

Speaking from Salt Lake City, where Mormons escape jeers for their cultish ways from the largely Catholic and Protestant population, Millet had some interesting points to make.

From the Desert Morning News' article:

Society has to have a way to categorize people of faith as an organizing mechanism. "But the dilemma is when the categorization begins to result in exclusion or dismissal." When that happens, people of faith are "doing the simple thing," by avoiding a discussion of what they may not understand about those they see as "other."

"It's hard work to spend time, to sit down and discuss" semantics that often put Latter-day Saints at loggerheads with historic Christians by using the same terminology imbued with different meaning.

He implied that reporters should allow Latter-day Saints the opportunity to explain their own beliefs, rather than accepting the opinions of others about what the faith does or doesn't believe. "I don't want to be misrepresented, and I don't want to misrepresent anyone else."

Even the Scientologist had something to say that made me pay attention:

Adams told the group that Scientology has over 10 million members and sends volunteer ministers around the world to help with humanitarian relief. Contrary to what some say, Scientology "is a religion" with specific beliefs and a mission to help people reach their highest spiritual potential, he said.

I suddenly felt guilty about all the public snickering at Tom Cruise and his "wacky" Scientologists. How can journalists overcome their own religious biases in their coverage of these religions? And, should these "other" religions be covered fairly? Despite their seemingly strange beliefs and practices in comparison to traditional Christianity, they have large memberships and influence millions of people across the country.

Some say most Americas are "a la carte" Christians, in that they pick and choose what they believe in and disregard the rest. But faith can still influence their personal, and political, decisions. Journalists should recognize that and ask the big questions faith in a country that is more and more influenced by the Christian right with each election.