Religion, Politics, and the Media: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going
The Shirazi Foundation attended an event titled hosted by the Family Research Council titled Religion, Politics, and the Media: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going. An expert in issues connected to the cross-section of religion and politics spoke on the orthodox view of religion in contrast to the worldview of religion in the political realm. He went on to present research pertaining to the many experts in the political realm who are unaware of religious matters but many assume that they are knowledgeable about religion. The expert stated that various scholars hold a view that Christianity has undergone a phase of de-secularization. The role that civil rights has played to shape evangelistic churches today and historically the role the church, in general, has played in bringing about reconciliation between different races in the U.S. was a focus point as well. It goes without saying the Important role that media plays in the world today while understanding that you can’t pick up a paper without in some form or fashion religion coming up. A current challenge that journalist face is attempting to create news that is interconnected to religion, in what he called “the faith angle. A journalist can potentially contribute to smearing the name of a religion by lacking knowledge of the belief system in that faith, and creating news that is unbalanced that leave many misguided. The experts made mention of organizations that offer the counter-narrative to misinterpretations of the Islamic faith and suggested that this work should continue.