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Dialogues on events
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| HUMAN AFFAIRS Dialogues on events that shape our world |
A place where roads meet. A time of change.
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| Media and Religion A discussion on the ever-growing attention of TV, newspapers, and magazines on religious topics |
| SPEAKERS: Lorenzo ALBACETE Theologian, author, columnist Peter STEINFELS New York Times religion columnist Helen WHITNEY Award-winning TV producer for ABC and PBS |
| Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 7:00 PM Fordham University, Pope Auditorium 113 West 60th Street @ Columbus Avenue New York DOWNLOAD THE INVITATION |
“Media and Religion,” is a broad enough topic to
include many possible aspects, such as why the
media cover religion the way they do, how they
could do better, how we can help them and so on.
We would like to offer just one simple observation
that may help start the discussion. Clearly,
“religion” has been a very hot topic in the media
during the last few years. The catalysts of this
interest are well-known: domestically, the
important social and political role of the so-called
“religious right” (whatever that means); externally,
the role of political Islam as a global ideology,
especially after 9/11. These phenomena seem to
have generated among many people working in
the media (who apparently tend to be quite
secular) a vague sense that there is this semi-
foreign reality out there called “religion,” which
had fallen off everybody's radar screen but which
now is causing quite a fuss and must be
covered. What is striking though, is that the
coverage is almost never about religion per se.
Rather, it is mostly about religion as a function of
something else. Religion as a political motivator,
religion as a source of social values, religion as a
cultural marker, religion in relationship to science,
religion and the “clash of civilizations,” and so on
and so forth. But the reality of religion itself is
rarely explored, religious ideas and experiences
are not considered newsworthy by themselves.
Few seem to suspect that “religion” as a general
concept only goes so far, that people do share
the same questions but that the answers can be
very different and interesting. Paradoxically, a
reason why some people in the media are not
genuinely interested in the world of “religions”
(plural) is because they hardly grasp what
“religion” (singular) is about, namely the deeper
questions and needs that make us human, that
level of our experience that Msgr. Giussani called
the ”religious sense.” To refer back to another
Crossroads discussion from a few months ago,
media people often share in the common
mentality of our time, which reduces faith to
sentiment. Once again, what seems to be called
for, also on their part, is that “broadening of
reason” that Benedict XVI proposed in his
Regensburg address.
We are very pleased to have three distinguished
panelist who can speak of these matters out of
their own personal and professional experience,
not just academically. In fact, this is what we are
most interested in: learning from these three
remarkable people, all deeply engaged both with
the media and with religion, what they have
learned from their experiences, their struggles,
their successes and, we suppose, even their
failures.
include many possible aspects, such as why the
media cover religion the way they do, how they
could do better, how we can help them and so on.
We would like to offer just one simple observation
that may help start the discussion. Clearly,
“religion” has been a very hot topic in the media
during the last few years. The catalysts of this
interest are well-known: domestically, the
important social and political role of the so-called
“religious right” (whatever that means); externally,
the role of political Islam as a global ideology,
especially after 9/11. These phenomena seem to
have generated among many people working in
the media (who apparently tend to be quite
secular) a vague sense that there is this semi-
foreign reality out there called “religion,” which
had fallen off everybody's radar screen but which
now is causing quite a fuss and must be
covered. What is striking though, is that the
coverage is almost never about religion per se.
Rather, it is mostly about religion as a function of
something else. Religion as a political motivator,
religion as a source of social values, religion as a
cultural marker, religion in relationship to science,
religion and the “clash of civilizations,” and so on
and so forth. But the reality of religion itself is
rarely explored, religious ideas and experiences
are not considered newsworthy by themselves.
Few seem to suspect that “religion” as a general
concept only goes so far, that people do share
the same questions but that the answers can be
very different and interesting. Paradoxically, a
reason why some people in the media are not
genuinely interested in the world of “religions”
(plural) is because they hardly grasp what
“religion” (singular) is about, namely the deeper
questions and needs that make us human, that
level of our experience that Msgr. Giussani called
the ”religious sense.” To refer back to another
Crossroads discussion from a few months ago,
media people often share in the common
mentality of our time, which reduces faith to
sentiment. Once again, what seems to be called
for, also on their part, is that “broadening of
reason” that Benedict XVI proposed in his
Regensburg address.
We are very pleased to have three distinguished
panelist who can speak of these matters out of
their own personal and professional experience,
not just academically. In fact, this is what we are
most interested in: learning from these three
remarkable people, all deeply engaged both with
the media and with religion, what they have
learned from their experiences, their struggles,
their successes and, we suppose, even their
failures.
