Initial Reflections on Religion in the Media

For all that is often said regarding the poor portrayal of religion in the media, as well as the purported glorification of those whom challenge the religious status quo, there is little evidence that religion itself is being portrayed in any substantively negative way in the media. Rather than religion as a whole being identified as a bane to society -save those too few occasions when the late, great, Christopher Hitchens took the microphone in hand- in the media, what has happened is that particular religions are attacked or demonized at particular times. People mistake the constant and pervasive Islamophobia for an attack on religion rather than what it is, an argument -often from ignorance- regarding one specific religion, rather than religion itself. Christianity and Islam have almost certainly born the brunt of the attack in the mass media, especially with the rise of the New Atheist movement and the return to a semblance of secularization in many nations. However, simply because these two religions account for a majority of the people of this world does not mean that these attacks are against religion itself. Seldom is a news headline read that states "Religion: Does another layer of in-group and out-group morality precipitate violence?", and yet headlines along the lines of "Islam: Can we expect violence to rise when Sharia Law comes to our shores?" are all too familiar. Religion itself takes almost no blame, but rather than individual religions, which stands in stark contrast to other issues where an apparatus rather than the individual is held accountable to some greater standard, such as in debates over gun laws.

Callum Dunphy