To help spark some engagement and good discussion over on the sojo myspace and facebook, here is the On Faith question we'll be posting in sojo cyberspace. Please discuss amongst yourselves so that I have some rousing conversation to submit to Deanna come Wednesday.
"Does the mass media, especially television, treat religion fairly in news and entertainment programs? Explain."
Here's the link to the page in case you want to read up on what the professionals are saying:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/2007/03/religion_in_the_media/
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Religion in the media. While most of the "On Faith" bloggers seemed to focus their answers on news media, I immediately thought of entertainment - Must See Thursdays and TGIF on ABC. (As for the news, I actually think that more and more media outlets seem to be both covering religion and actually getting some of it right. A reporter for a Chicago TV station told me last year that religion stories always spike their ratings. Also, I think religion is a big story again, so more exposure and education of reporters is occurring, thus meaning that at least some proportion of their characterizations actually are remotely accurate and fair). What concerns me more is the lack of faith portrayed in mainstream entertainment. If 90% of Americans believe in God and nearly 40% go to religious services at least once a week, then our entertainment is not proportionally reflecting a sizable demographic of our nation, and make no mistake, media educates and influences. It is certainly not that I want all stations to just show reruns of Little House on the Prairie or convert into Fox Family channels, but it seems to me that the absence of realistic depictions of people of faith (of all stripes and levels of devotion) does a disservice to something fundamental to almost all Americans. I am not asking for cardboard cutout characters, pious proselytizing, or milk toast moralizing. I am also not calling for some quota of scenes inside the four walls of a church or some percentage of clergy sightings at sitcom weddings and funerals. But what we DO need is the reality and diversity of faith in America beamed into our homes. We need fewer teleevangelists and cheesy Christian stations and more Rev. Lovejoys and Father Mulchahys.
In a related note, I find it ironic that The Simpsons, the TV family that the religious right loves to hate, is one of the few TV families that goes to church regularly and talks about (and to) God. You'll hear "Jesus" mentioned more during 30 minutes of The Simpsons than a season of most other shows. And you meet all religious sorts in Springfield - pious and uber-friendly Ned, the neighborhood evangelical; Marge and her moral crusades and devotion to Sunday morning pew-filling; Homer's derision of faith but good will in the end; Bart and Lisa both praying in moments of crisis; Rev. Lovejoy, the long-winded, under-appreciated clergy; and Apu, immigrant and resident Hindu. It might not be a perfect show, but that sounds a lot more like my life than either the absence of faith people in most shows or the paternalistic moralizing of much family programming.
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