Reach Out And Touch Faith

By Liz Hartnett

 As Americans, we become familiar with any and every right that becomes exposed to ridicule -- the right to bear arms, the right to print, the right to vote. But one right that we often dismiss and interpret to our own discretion is probably the most important one; the right to practice our religion.

When it comes to practicing faith, Americans become very sensitive. To make a blatant generalization, it’s “alright” to have the freedom of religion when it comes to more conventional and familiar faiths, but when something new and foreign pops up, our most cherished and fundamental right becomes scrutinized.

With saying that, American journalism attempts to not reflect the biases of the mass. After all, as the bearers of light, we need to know better than those who were not blessed by the patron saint Walter Williams. But when religion and journalism mix, it can get heady.

As American culture becomes more and more secularized, you would think that faith-based journalism would lose its place to Justin Bieber and the other troubles of the world today. We face insurmountable debt, wars, disease, and a national election that might as well tear the country apart.  We have become a people of material possessions -- of iPhones, of Ugg boots, of fast cars. To say it plainly, religion has been replaced by something other in our lives.

At least, that’s what it looks like.

Religion journalism is thriving and well in America. The Revealer, a blog dedicated to discussing religion in the media, has been thriving since 2003. Religionwriters.com calls religious journalism the “most fascinating beat in journalism.” The website also has a long list of blogs dedicated solely to reporting on faith, as well as some guidelines with those who want to get started in the beat. And of course, there are news agencies throughout the world, committed to reporting on the different interpretations of God.

In Europe, though, religious journalism takes a different meaning.

Following Journalism Religiously

By Victoria Guida

Our two-week trip was a whirlwind of beautiful buildings, fun outings and media visits. Translation: an amazing experience for a journalism nerd who loves to travel. I learned some new words — “pain” means bread in French and doesn’t sound at all like our less pleasant word of the same spelling. I ate some new food — like goulash, Fidorka (look it up on Wikipedia) and those tasty, actually Belgian, waffles. But I also got to experience firsthand how Europeans cover the news.

St. Peter's Basilica.

During our visit to the school of communications at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, I was intrigued by David Kerr’s take on coverage of the Vatican. Kerr, a friendly Scottish man who reports for Catholic News Agency, said that while Vatican correspondents shouldn’t just produce propaganda for the Catholic Church, other news outlets often present the Church unfair.

This is interesting to me because the Church is an entity based around a religion with which people either agree or disagree based on deeply held beliefs. The Church’s positions on any topic would be expected to come back to, “It’s what Jesus would want,” and that’s something that’s based more on faith than on reasoning. But it’s not like the Church doesn’t use reasoning, and maybe that’s something that is often overlooked. For example, the Church doesn’t continue to condemn the use of contraception because it has ignored the benefits of using it, but because it decided a long time ago that humans should not interfere with the natural process of producing children; a position that still holds no matter the perceived benefits of contraception.

It’s moral decisions like this that could make covering the Church more complicated in a modern world. Is it okay for the secular world to condemn the Church for a position it sees as harmful to the future of the world? I suppose the answer should be: as long as the Church’s position is properly explained. Kerr seems to believe that too often this does not happen, and I decided to see whether he’s right.