By Larbi Megari

In Algeria you can write a strong and wonderful story about a topic related to religion and yet you will not find any media outlet willing to publish it or even have a look at it. 

Decision-makers in Algerian media organizations mostly want stories unrelated to religion. In rare cases, they will run religious articles, but only if they promote particular religious meanings or certain Islamic issues.

Writing about matters relating to religion in an impartial manner in Algeria, and in the pan-Arab countries in general, is unwelcome.

Before describing how religion is covered in other countries in the Arab world, I will first offer examples from Algeria, a predominantly Sunni Muslim nation.  These examples illustrate larger media issues and trends throughout the Arab region.

For instance, in Algeria, the media will sometimes mention that religious issues relate to a larger conflict. But the media do not usually provide further background to the religious issues, which might help explain the roots of the conflict. 

That is what recently took place between followers of Maliki and followers of the Ibadhi traditions in the city of Ghardaia in the south of Algeria, which is the only city  with an overwhelming majority in the Ibadhi tradition.

Another example of religion reporting in Algeria, which has a total population of 37 million, relates to the topic of what is commonly called “unauthorized Christian missionary activity.”

According to Algerian law, if Christian activities are to occur, they need to be pre-authorized. And that can happen only after consultation between Algerian authorities and church officials.

In Algerian print media, news on Christian missionary activity are usually mentioned in newspapers’ sections concerned with courts’ cases which include various tribunals cases such as murders, robberies and issues belongings to civil or criminal law.


In some other cases, Algerian media might focus on Shia activities in a particular area of ​​the country. These activities are usually in the context of speaking about people connected to Iran interestsor to Hezbollah in Lebanon.


In addition, after the rise of the Arab Spring came to be tied to the Salafi movement of Islam, some Algerian print media outlets have recently begun to report on the Salafi trend in Algerian society and its activities within mosques.

From these examples one can easily notice that there is no religion coverage in Algeria that has nothing to do with politics or violence or proselytizing or Shia expansionism.

You do not find media stories in Algeria about how religious issues and events related to religion are simply important in peoples’ daily lives.

People here in Algeria are not used to impartial and neutral coverage of religion matters. This applies to media professionals, whether they are working in government-supported media or in the private media. They are not used to regular coverage of day-to-day matters within the context of religion or matters related to it.

Maybe this is the case because Algeria is not a country of religious diversity, in which ninety-nine per cent of people are Muslim, and the vast majority is Sunni.

That lack of diversity may make the coverage of religion not central to Algerian media outlets.  But it remains an open question: Why are more issues of public interest not covered in regards to how they interact with religious teachings?

For instance, one large issue that could be addressed is the impact of religious edicts on public health. That would include looking at the donation of human organs to gravely sick patients and whether those organs can come from living people or corpses.

Another example is the impact of religious belief with respect to birth control, which has a profound impact on the demographic and economic growth of the country. As well, psychiatric issues and mental health in Algeria are being affected by what some religious people think are religious recommendations.

Is the situation of religion coverage in Algeria different from reporting in other countries in the Arab world?

Is it especially different from those Arab countries, in which, unlike Algeria, there is clear religious and sectarian pluralism?

In order to understanding the reality of religion reporting in the Arab media, I contacted a number of journalists from various Arab countries, including media professional colleagues who have an interest in coverage of religion. I have asked them specific questions regarding this topic.

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IRAQ

Even in a country as religiously diverse as Iraq, religion journalism is not an established branch of media coverage. 

That is what we learn from Ahmed Hussein, our journalistic colleague from Iraq, which has a population of 31 million. According to Hussein, the Iraqi experience of religion journalism is non-existent. In response to my questions, Ahmed Hussein states:

 “Although religious pluralism exists in Iraq, the country still lacks media specialists in religion.

“Certain religious or sectarian groups have audio-visual media. But this usually means usually these channels aim to promote their ideas and ideological background. There is no independent and neutral media outlets, which are specialized in religious affairs without missionary goals.

“That said, some TV channels allocate some space and programming to deal with religious and sectarian components in Iraq. But these programs are below expectations. They do not touch on the full reality, nor do they look at problems and differences among religious people in order to reach solutions.

“There is one quarterly magazine called “Massarate,” which allocates some of its editions to religions and sects in Iraq. But the focus of this magazine is not religion. Except for “Massarate,” we cannot say there is a media outlet that particularly specializes in Iraqi religious affairs, and which deals with these issues with professionalism.

SAUDI ARABIA


Saudi Arabia is not much different from Iraq. Despite the presence of religion journalism in this Arab country of 29 million people, the performance of the media is still not mature. Concerning the current state of religion reporting in his country of Saudi Arabia, our colleague, Hashim Jad’an, states:


“The religious media in Saudi Arabia lacks a lot in terms of social responsibility. It lacks the professionalism to deal with this special field of journalism in terms of reporting on religious events that are disputed by intellectually diverse and contrasting parties.

“In this country the population is made up of Sunni Salafi, Sufi and Shia. To these Muslim groups can be added people who would consider themselves secular leftists or of liberal thought.

“If journalists are not conscious of the details of these groups and sects, their coverage of the events related to religion will lead to tensions between intellectuals and religious leaders. What is happening now is a sign of lack of social responsibility in dealing with the journalistic coverage of religion.”

PALESTINE


Yahya Ayash is our journalistic colleague from Palestine. Palestine represents the height of religious conflict. Even though Ayash says there is religion journalism in Palestine, it is clear through the examples he provides that it is not impartial religion journalism as it is often practiced in the West. When Ayash speaks of religion journalism, he is mainly describing reports on the Islamic religion. Ayach stated:


“There is religion media in Palestine, such as the magazine called “Awkaf dinia” (which means ‘religious endowments’ in English). There are no entire newspapers specialized in religion journalism. But there are a number of pages in the daily newspapers specializing in religious matters.  The Palestine daily newspaper allocates a page to religion on a weekly basis, as do the Al-Ayyam and Al-Hayat newspapers. And some Palestinian media outlets allocate some space to religion on special occasions, such as the month of Ramadan.

“There are also some broadcast media outlets concerned with religion, such as the radio station called «Holy Quran.” Some other local radio stations devote limited hours to this kind of journalism, such as “Houria” (which means “freedom” in English) Radio, “Iman” (which means ‘faith’ in English) Radio and many others.

“Despite the spread of this kind of journalism in Palestine, it is not done at the professional level one would hope. We hope to develop this kind of journalism in Palestine and in all Arab countries.”



LEBANON


Perhaps the only Arab country in which there is professional coverage of religion is Lebanon. This country of four million people is known for its religious pluralism. It contains up to 19 religious sects and traditions, all living in a geographically small country. The strategic geo-political location of this country in the Middle East has complicated its task of maintaining co-existence between people from different sects. Lebanese journalist Salman Andari, who specializes in coverage of religions, states:


“In Lebanon there is quite a bit of media coverage of religion.  In a complex country of more than 19 religious sects, Lebanon generally respects democracy and gives sects strong authority, even at the expense of politics.

“In Lebanon journalism often gives priority to covering conflicts, disputes and events on a sectarian basis. Even coverage of corruption and some political issues is often associated with this religion or that. This is not because the Lebanese or the journalist would deliberately choose this direction, but because these events can be linked to the religious diversity of Lebanon and the blending of religion and politics.

“Most political parties in Lebanon are connected to a religion or a certain sect. This is the case with the majority of social realities in Lebanon. In spite of all these difficulties, the media in Lebanon have been able to maintain its lead in the Arab world. When the security situation in the country is tense, various events are often covered from a religious angle. But often this coverage is negative.

“The positive role of religion gets a little bit of coverage by journalists in Lebanon, but there needs to be much more. Some media coverage has highlighted outstanding performances by religious people.

“There are many examples of religion reporting in Lebanon. For example, the Lebanese daily newspaper, Al-Nahar, developed a special page and put it under the title, “Religions and Civilizations.” In addition, various articles, reports and investigations focused on religion are regularly published in newspapers.”

CONCLUSION

With these examples from across the Arab world, we can conclude that there have been some small positive developments in religion coverage. But, in regard to the larger goal of professional, fair and balanced coverage of religion, the region is far behind that of much of the media in the West. Certainly there are reasons for this situation. And one of them is the restricted media freedom in general.

The United House of Prayer for All People in Washington, DC. (Wikicommons)

There is plenty of evidence documenting how negative perceptions of minority religions lead to discrimination, persecution and even, in many places of the world, violent conflict responsible for the suffering of millions.

But that is only one part of the story.

It is also critical to keep in mind that as religious understanding increases, so also can there be dramatic increases in tolerance, respect and the creation of civil societies enriched by, as opposed to being torn asunder by, diverse faiths and cultural experiences.

Take heart. Your work in promoting excellence in accurate reporting on minority religions can have a profound impact in the lives of all of us.

Here is some of the evidence to back that up:

Public attitudes matter

In their comprehensive study of global religious persecution, sociologists Brian Grim of the Pew Research Center and Roger Finke of Pennsylvania State University found nations where societal attitudes toward other religions are mostly tolerant are nearly three times less likely to report high levels of violent religious persecution.

Low levels of persecution are even more likely in nations were social attitudes are open to conversion to other religions and established or existing religions refrain from trying to shut out other religions.

A striking feature of the research is that countries with the greatest openness toward all religions include nations that are “rich and poor, northern and southern, allies and adversaries, Muslim-majority and Christian-majority, and so on,” Grim and Finke state in their book, “The Price of Freedom Denied: Religious Persecution and Conflict in the Twenty-first Century.”

While nations throughout the world attempt to legislate religious assimilation in areas from dress to evangelism, Grim and Finke note: “Our work implies that multiculturalism does not lead to violence, but the attempt to prevent multiculturalism does.”

Familiarity breeds respect

Even if you do not start out loving them, getting to know your neighbor goes a long way to limiting prejudice, research has found.

A University of Munster study indicated that having personal contact with Muslims was strongly related to reversing stereotypes in Germany. In the former West Germany, 71 percent of respondents who had a lot of contact with Muslims held positive attitudes toward Muslims, while just 17% who had no contact reported favorable attitudes. The responses from the former East Germany were similar, with 64% of respondents with frequent contact holding positive attitudes toward Muslims, and 22% who had no contact holding favorable attitudes.

In the 2002-2003 Religion and Diversity Survey, large numbers of respondents said they would object to their child marrying a Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist, and were far more welcoming of Christians becoming a stronger presence in the US than members of many other minority faiths.

Yet when people met across faith lines, the experiences were mostly positive, according to the US survey. About two-thirds of respondents said their contacts with Muslims were mostly pleasant; 6% said they were mostly unpleasant. Three-quarters said their contacts with Buddhists were mostly pleasant, with 3% saying they were mostly unpleasant.

Change happens

In the US, a nation with a long history of virulent anti-Catholicism and anti-Semitism, Jews and Catholics today, along with mainline Protestants, a tradition that long held sway in American culture, are held in the highest regard by the American public.

In their new book, “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us,” Robert Putnam of Harvard University and David Campbell of the University of Notre Dame also share data from their Faith Matters Surveys that show getting to know members of less popular groups such as evangelical Christians, atheists, Muslims and Buddhists as individuals leads to greater acceptance of people of diverse beliefs.

One might think people just want to be with others like themselves, but Campbell said: “Our evidence suggests that it does go the other way,” that the more people build relationships with people of different beliefs, the more accepting they are of other faiths.

For example, the authors found that people who gained an evangelical friend showed much warmer attitudes toward evangelicals.

The increased civility did not stop there. Putnam and Campbell also found convincing evidence of a spillover effect, that “as people build more religious bridges they become warmer toward people of many different religions, not just those religions represented within their social network.”

People want religious freedom

More than nine out of 10 respondents to a Pew Global Attitude Project’s 34-nation survey said it was important to live “in a country where I can freely practice my religion.”

Less than 2% indicated it was not important. The importance of religious freedom was high across the globe, ranging from 84% in Eastern Europe to 98& in Africa.

Civil societies that respect religious diversity not only have the greatest potential for peace, but they are associated with several other social goods, including better health outcomes, higher incomes and better educational opportunities.

The stories you tell about minority religions make a difference.

Republished with permission of the Association of Religious Data Archives

Students from Columbia University School of Journalism speak to Yazeed Kamaldien, a freelance journalist from South Africa and a graduate of a recent ICFJ online course on religion reporting.

Are you looking to expand your knowledge on covering religion and global politics? Then join a select group of journalists from across the world as they share their insights, resources and strategies for reporting on religion and politics via a six-week online seminar.

Facilitated by the International Center for Journalists, the course will run from January 7 through February 15 and will examine more effective ways of reporting on sensitive topics such as religion and politics around the world.

The course will also bring together the most up-to-date research and reporting, with a select group of international journalists committed to working together in dialogue to provide fair and accurate coverage of the people, beliefs, policies and practices shaping the political life of nations throughout the world.

As well as exploring the coverage of religion and politics around the world and sharing a wide range of professional approaches, participants will also look at up-to-the-minute case studies of issues relating to religion and politics from the Middle East to West Africa to Europe to the United States. And the seminar will be flexible and responsive, dealing with the latest news relating to religion

In addition, participants will receive objective tools for covering religion and politics, as well as access to sources and the latest international research.

The seminar, which will be offered in English and Arabic, is designed to be a lasting resource for journalists leading the field in excellence in religion writing and reporting.

The course will be run by:

Stephen Franklin (Lead instructor) is a former reporter and foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and has reported from Afghanistan to Peru. He has also trained journalists in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. He was a fellow with the International Center for Journalists in Egypt, and designed courses for the ICFJ dealing with labor and economics in the Arab world and with immigration in the US and Latin America. He is the editor and project manager for Islam on Main Street, an effort to explain Islam to US journalists. The effort has produced two websites and a book is due out in Spring 2013. He currently trains and organizes black, Latino and immigrant journalists in Chicago. An award-winning journalist, he also worked in newspapers in Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Miami. He has a master’s degree in political science from American University in Washington, D.C., and has taught at the University of Illinois, DePaul University, Columbia College (Chicago) and American University in Cairo. He was a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Turkey.

Elisa Di Benedetto (co-instructor) is a journalist based in the North-East of Italy. She has worked in the field of journalism and communication for ten years. She started her career working for an Italian daily newspaper and for the past five years she has covered a variety of topics from cross-cultural and cross-religion issues to immigration to Italy, from civil-military cooperation to gender issues. Her areas of focus include the role of media in peacekeeping process and conflict resolution. As an independent and embedded free-lance journalist, she reported on Afghanistan, Lebanon and Kosovo. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna in Italy and a master’s degree in Peacekeeping and Security Studies from RomaTre University of Rome. She is a founding member of the IARJ and in 2010 she received the international award “Giornalisti Del Mediterraneo – Journalists of the Mediterranean-Italian Peace Operations Section”.

The deadline for applications for the free online course is 11:59 pm on December 16.

To apply, please follow these steps:

• Click here.
• Login or create a new account if you are a new user.
• Click on “Applications and Public Courses.”
• Click on “Apply Now: Coverage of Religion and Global Politics.”

For more information, please contact Lisa Ellis at lellis@icfj.org or Babar Taimoor atbtaimoor@icfj.org. To read more on ICFJ’s online courses, please visit: www.icfj.org/elearn.

IARJ at Yale Divinity School: Rachael Kohn, Pedro Brieger, David Briggs, and Nayan Chanda, shared a panel moderated by Sallama Shaker, professor of Middle East & Islamic Studies at Yale.

NEW YORK — In its effort to promote contemporary issues in international religion reporting, members of the IARJ’s Board of Directors held several seminars in November 2012 at leading journalism and academic institutions in the US.

Four members of the IARJ’s board, which held its first meeting in Washington and New York, explored the topic of “Religion and Politics Around the World” at a seminar Nov. 14 at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York.

A panel discussion in Columbia University

The next day, in a seminar at Yale Divinity School, in New Haven, Conn., IARJ members joined Yale scholars in a dialogue on “Faith Across Oceans: Leading international journalists talk about the religion beat.”

The panelists were IARJ Vice-Chair Rachael Kohn, the producer and presenter of The Spirit of Things on ABC Radio National in Australia; board member Pedro Brieger, an award-winning print and broadcast journalist and sociologist from Argentina; IARJ Executive Director David Briggs, former Associated Press religion writer; and Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online and the former editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review. Sallama Shaker, professor of Middle East & Islamic Studies at Yale, was the moderator.

On Nov. 16, López and Brieger discussed “Periodismo y religión en el mundo hispano / Journalism and Religion in the Hispanic World” at the Instituto Cervantes in New York.

Check back soon for more IARJ events!

Endy Bayuni is Senior Editor at The Jakarta Post in Indonesia.

Name: Endy Bayuni

Title: Senior Editor

Publication/news media: The Jakarta Post

Length of time reporting on religion: More than 10 years

How did you end up covering religion?

I am not a religion journalist, but I have reported extensively on interfaith relations in Indonesia. Although I am no longer reporting news in my capacity as senior editor, I write columns on issues of freedom of religion and interfaith relations, primarily but not exclusively in Indonesia.

One of the toughest challenges facing an emerging democracy in multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies like Indonesia is the relationship between communities of different faiths. As I write columns about democracy, inevitably my work frequently takes me to the issue of freedom of religion/interfaith relations in Indonesia, including, unfortunately, the communal conflicts and the persecution of religious minorities that happen recurrently in Indonesia.

What is the main philosophy that guides you when you go out to cover stories about religion?

I am a Muslim so I am guided by what Islam teaches me: That there shall be no compunction in matters of faith; that faith is a matter of personal choice and (therefore) that freedom of religion should be respected and protected by society and by the state. No one should be persecuted because of his or her belief.

What is the key issue affecting your region when it comes to religion?

For people of different faiths to coexist peacefully in Indonesia.

Although Indonesia is predominantly Muslim (accounting for 88 percent of the 240 million population), the archipelagic nation has pockets where other religions (mainly Christianity/Catholicism, Buddhism and Hinduism) are the dominant religion or represented in larger numbers.  There are also faiths or spiritual beliefs that have evolved indigenously over hundreds of years that should be recognized and accepted. Indonesia was founded on the basis of the diversity of its people in terms of race, ethnicity, tradition and custom, and religion. This diversity is enriching our society and our nation, but when poorly managed, the differences (including but not exclusively in religions) can lead to frictions, tensions and full-blown conflicts.

What challenges have you faced as a religion reporter?

The biggest challenge is my own lack of understanding about my own religion and about other religions, particularly my lack of knowledge in understanding the emotions and sentiments people have about their religions that often lead them to commit violence in the name of their faiths.

Why do you think religion reporting is so important?

Even in this modern era, most people still build or run their lives around the observation of religious rituals, and even with the global onslaught secularism/atheism on the back of modernism, many people still hold on to their beliefs, if not more so. I know many (if not most) journalists are not steeped in their own faiths, because of the nature of our profession that teaches us to be skeptical (sometimes of our own beliefs), but this is no excuse for not reporting religion properly, thoroughly and fairly, the way we would with other subjects. Given the sensitivity of the issue, journalists should report religion with even the greatest care.

I have seen a lot of reckless religion reporting, in Indonesia and around the world, that the media has became part of the problem in triggering tensions and conflicts between people of different faiths. The media in any society can and should be part of the solution.

How can we, as a community of journalists, improve reporting on religion?

We can do a lot of things. We can start small by just exchanging our respective experiences in how we overcome the challenges. Different countries/regions have different problems and challenges, but surely there are things we can learn from one another. Later on, we can set up benchmarks on what we consider to be best practices in reporting religion, and we can also conduct joint training programs in religion journalism.

How do you think we can encourage news media to place more importance on religious coverage?

The key is with the proprietors/editors-in-chief of the news media because they decide on editorial policies whether or not to make religion reporting important. We should convince them that their media institutions have a big responsibility in the protection of freedom of religion for everyone, and in making sure that people of different faiths in their respective regions lead a peaceful coexistence. We should also convince them that good journalism, including in reporting religion, builds their credibility, and therefore good for their business and their bottom line.

Can covering religion only be done in a sensationalist way? How do we keep it accurate and interesting?

Journalism thrives on conflicts, that’s the nature of our profession. We are (or should be) at our best in covering stories of tensions, conflicts, and wars, and the consequences these have on the lives of the people. The media that are only concerned with circulations or ratings would be tempted or be pressured to sensationalize such stories. But the audience is much smarter, especially now since they get their stories from all kind of sources thanks to the Internet.  Engaging in sensational stories will only hurt the credibility of the journalists and their media.

One way of keeping stories on religion interesting is by focusing on the people. The audience can make the connection better if the stories revolve around real people, instead of around the religious leaders and their dogma. Stories of religious tensions, conflicts and wars, would have greater impact on the audience if we focus on the consequences on the lives of ordinary people.

How do you think new media and the spread of information today via the Internet impacts your work and the stories that you cover?

For one, the mainstream media no longer has the field to itself in disseminating news and information. Citizen journalists, including bloggers, are doing the same job, while most are probably amateurish and do not observe the principles of good journalism and professional codes of ethics, some of these citizen journalists do a much better job than we do.

I always believe that credibility is the chief currency in this profession/industry, and that is something you build over time and nurture the public trust in you and what you do. This hasn’t changed with the arrival of the new media. If anything, the fierce competitive news environment makes it even more imperative that journalists apply those principles of good journalism and observe the code of ethics/conducts.

What do you hope to get out of being a member of the IARJ?

Primarily networking and exchanging information and experience with those who share the same concern about the way we cover/report on religion and interfaith relations. If there is one thing we share in common, it is that we want to make the world a better place to live for everyone, whatever religion (including secularism/atheism) they believe in.

Peggy Fletcher Stack meets with the Dalai Lama as part of her coverage of religious issues for The Salt Lake Tribute.

Title: Senior Religion Reporter

Publication/news media: The Salt Lake Tribune

Length of time reporting on religion: 21 years

Why is religion journalism important to you?

To me, it is the best journalism beat there is. It touches all the important topics – values, ethics, communities, rituals, philosophical underpinnings, politics, meaning. It has some of the most compelling narratives as well as the richest ironies and an extraordinary cast of characters.

What is the main philosophy that guides you when you go out to cover stories about religion?

I want to make sure that my writing is respectful and fair to any faith. I may have a bias, but I work very hard not to let that show. I try to treat a tarot card reader or polygamist with the same dignity I would afford a Catholic archbishop or a Tibetan nun. There are scoundrels and saints in every tradition, so I try to begin every story with an open mind. Let people tell their experiences and fight the tendency to roll your eyes and not write down the “miraculous elements.” In this case, that often is the story.

What are the key issues affecting your nation and region when it comes to religion?

Our nation is awash in religious faiths and no faiths. It has to be among the most pluralistic countries on earth. Since this country’s founding, it has been tough to maintain the separation of church and state. Today, one of the biggest American stories is the loss of faith among the younger generation.

Regionally, the big news story is Mormonism. Its headquarters is here in Salt Lake City, which means we write about that faith a lot. The second largest faith is Catholic, which we write about locally and globally, including immigration and capital punishment issues, birth control and abortion, among others. But most other faiths exist in our region, too, so we have to be sure to cover all of them from time to time.

What challenges have you faced reporting on religion?

I feel like I am constantly having to move from faith to faith in my coverage and can never get quite as deep a knowledge base as I would like. It would be like a sports writer having to cover all Olympic events, knowing the rules, the players, the history, and memorable games. It’s both exciting and overwhelming at the same time.

Tell us about a story you wrote or edited that challenged stereotypes and contributed to religious understanding in your country?

Here are a few: 

Last spring, I wrote about young Muslim women from Somalia, in particular, deciding to wear hijab, not a passive obedience to male authority but as a proud badge of female Muslim identity.

I compared notions of infallibility in Mormon and Catholic teachings and how neither doctrines are well-understood by outsiders.

I also wrote about mental illness and religion, showing how often religious believers misunderstand the nature of the disease and think of it as “sin.”

I profiled a Conservative Jewish rabbi, who happened to be a lesbian, and how she and her partner felt about moving to Utah to take over the largest synagogue in the state.

I interviewed a young Catholic priest candidate who was being ordained an 2002 at the height of the sex abuse scandal. Why did he want to jump into the frying pan?

How can we, as a community of international journalists, improve reporting on religion?

Given contemporary communication, events in one part of the world immediately reverberate across the globe. Having reliable colleagues in many countries helps us all to add context and depth to our reporting. We can produce joint reporting; we can increase our understanding of the way religions we know play out elsewhere.

How do you think we can encourage news media to place more importance on religious coverage?

The best way is to point out how often the stories of the day touch on matters of faith and having an expert in those faiths provides more thorough, even-handed reporting. It is increasingly essential to have someone on the team who knows what the central faith issues are, rather than just send reporters with little knowledge to cover controversial topics.

Can covering religion only be done in a sensationalist way? How do we keep it accurate and interesting?

Again, the key for me is research, understanding and respect, while maintaining the skills of lively journalism. No beat is better than religion for amazing storytelling.

How do you think new media and the spread of information today via the internet impacts your work and the stories that you cover?

The Internet affects every story I write. It provides background information, while speeding up the time for responding. I can find great sources in diverse places I never before thought to look. It shows me what other papers are doing on some big event, like the 50^th anniversary of Vatican II and helps me promote my own work.

What do you hope we can accomplish in the IARJ as a community of journalists from some 100 nations working together?

I hope we can help set the standard of excellence in religion reporting for the whole world. I have already been inspired by reading the work of this group of amazing reporters. I hope to do many more joint writing projects on religion in the future. I even believe that our collective output may bring some understanding to warring sides in religious battles.

Peggy Fletcher Stack’s top tips for reporting on religion:

• Go with an open mind.

• Read all you can before interviewing a subject.

• Find reliable guides to every group you cover. (They are usually believers, but with an ability to analyze their own faith, rather than just promote it.)

• Note the sights, smells and sounds of a religious ceremony. Religious rites are typically the most sensory of any events you might cover.

• Don’t neglect the minority faiths; they are often the most interesting!

• Watch out for those who would promote an agenda, either to tear down a tradition or to extol it beyond recognition.

• Use the same instincts all journalists have – the story is often in the conflicts, or in the power leaders, or in the margins. Keep sorting through the details until you find it. 

The digital age offers many wonderful opportunities to communicate fair and accurate reporting on religion to audiences throughout the world. New websites offering religion news offer more alternatives for writers and readers, and traditional media outlets are developing greater skills in using the Internet and social media to expand their influence. Electronic resources and new means of communication provide journalists with superb access to religion data and provide the possibility for effective global cooperation among journalists writing on issues of faith and public life.

Above all else, religion journalists should be encouraged. Even as technology automates many other media jobs, original content is more important than ever.

Below are some ideas to keep in mind:

Content rules: As the options for obtaining news multiply, what separates one newspaper or one website or one television station from another is the quality and interest of the stories they tell. All of the technological opportunities offered by new media come to nothing if outlets do not have content that is meaningful to readers.

Journalists who can tell compelling stories on religion will find all the work they can handle.

Stories matter: The first question all writers need to ask themselves is why this story matters to their audience. Before you start to write or even pitch your story to an editor, determine what about your article is new, interesting or important enough that a reader will need to open it up and spend her time with your work.

Start by asking yourself: Why would I want to read this story? If you cannot come up with a compelling answer, be assured neither will other people.

Quality is Job 1: One trap to avoid in the digital age is the temptation to emphasize quantity over quality. The Web makes it easy and inexpensive to deliver unlimited amounts of information. But readers have more choices, and they will choose the stories that effectively command their attention.

Use your creative imagination: A major reason traditional media have struggled in recent years is they have not recognized the fundamental shift in power toward the consumer of news media. Media such as newspapers and television that could once offer the same stories in the same ways are finding their audiences abandoning them for other sites that provide them with the content they want.

Few people will read a story describing a new mosque or synagogue program, or the internal decisions of a religious organization. But religion journalists who find ways to make stories about faith compelling will thrive in the new media age.

Find ways of connecting religion to readers’ daily lives. This can be done by reporting on new research showing the relation between religious practices and happiness or a longer lifespan or articles documenting the relationship between religious persecution and terrorism.

Even if editors insist on “calendar journalism” – doing stories to mark religious holidays such as Ramadan or Passover – use these opportunities to lift up expectations by showcasing compelling stories of faith.

Be aggressive: As indicated above, there are many people, newspaper editors among them, who would reduce religion journalism to ceremonial coverage of major faiths. It is easier to avoid controversy by setting religion to one side than it is to risk offending or inflaming the passions of readers by tackling such a personal and emotional subject.

But it is also dangerous and an abdication of our professional responsibility.
As the recent upheaval in the Middle East shows, burying the tension will not make it go away. Nor does it serve the public interest.

What does serve the public good is fair and accurate reporting on issues such as the persecution of religious minorities, the complex relationship between religion and politics and the way faith motivates social and personal change.

Personal but not partisan: From the opposite end, another challenge facing religion journalism today is the tendency to adopt an advocacy role. The decline of mass-market publications and the development of smaller periodicals targeted to specific audiences increases the temptation to feed the popular attitudes of core readers rather than challenging them with independent reporting.

Some cable news networks see the way to increased revenue by increasing their appeal to liberal or conservative audiences. Each step down this road has the potential to be self-destructive. What we have to offer, as imperfect as we have always been, is an institution that strives to report the truth, and places faith in individuals to interpret information for themselves. Each time we alter the news to cover over, avoid or manipulate the truth we violate the public trust.

Fairness matters: Reporting all sides involves much more than the all-too-typical approach of finding extremists on either side, and allowing them to the spokespersons on an issue. It means doing the hard work to illuminate the struggles experienced by majorities of the population on issues from sexuality to religious freedom.

It also means being sensitive to the many different expressions of faith in each of the world’s major religions. Religion journalists need to be aware of different movements and various interpretations of doctrine to help readers understand why this matters in their community.

Be smart: Being aggressive does not mean taking undue risks. We all respect the courage of journalists reporting in places like Iraq, Libya and the Ivory Coast. Your personal safety, however, must be taken into consideration.

By Roger Finke and Robert R. Martin

Pennsylvania State University

Religious Freedoms in the Global Context

Despite being labeled as the orphan of human rights in the 1990s, religious freedom was one of the first rights to be recognized under international law. Even today a review of formal international and national documents on religion suggests that governments and the international community recognize the position of religious freedoms in the constellation of human rights. Article 18 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights offers the following assurances:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 18 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) also has served as a model for many constitutions. Indeed, the opening sentence of the European Convention on Human Rights’ Article 9 is copied from the Declaration. This modeling goes far beyond Europe. Some countries, such as Cameroon and Ethiopia, incorporate Article 18 of the UDHR into their constitutions word for word.

Indeed, it is the lack of assurances of religious freedom that is rare. As of 2008, 92 percent of the countries (126) with populations greater than two million have constitutions that provide for religious freedom. Only 11 countries fail to include such assurances. Despite the many formal statements promising freedoms, the chasm between the promise of and practical respect for religious freedom is wide. Indeed, a closer inspection reveals that many constitutions provide assurances of religious freedom in one statement, but allow openings for denying the freedoms in other sections of the same constitution. The new constitution of Afghanistan offers one of many examples. Article 2 promises that non-Islamic “religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law” and Article 3 explains that “no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.” As currently interpreted in Afghanistan, this virtually eliminates the public profession of a faith other than Islam and denies the freedom of converting to a religion other than Islam.

For the state and the cultural majority, minority religions are often perceived to threaten the “public order.” One of many examples is when the 1995 National Assembly of France appointed the Gest Commission to report on the dangers of cults for both the individual and society. The Commission conceded that it could not define or measure a cult, yet it identified 173 dangerous sects and cults in France alone. The dangers associated with the cults were also vague, including “psychological dependence,” “deception” and “ill-treatment,” though few specific examples were given.

A long list of advocacy groups report on freedoms denied, but the most convincing evidence has been produced by sources that have no ties to the groups being restricted. In 2009, Asma Jahangir, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion, concluded that “discrimination based on religion or belief preventing individuals from fully enjoying all their human rights still occurs worldwide on a daily basis.”

The multiple measures of religious freedom assembled since 2000 all document that religious liberties are frequently violated. Laws denying religious freedoms are routine even when we limit our attention to the countries promising religious freedom in their constitutions. Of the 126 countries with constitutional clauses assuring religious freedom, 55 percent (69 countries) have laws that interfere with the free exercise of religion. Most of these countries (53 of 69) have laws on the books that regulate some religions and not others, and despite their constitutional guarantees of freedom of worship, six of these countries have legal systems that prohibit the free exercise of religion. Of the 11 countries not promising religious freedom, all have legal systems that obstruct religious free exercise for at least some religious groups.

Studies show more than two in five governments interfere with an individual’s right to worship and 18 percent severely interfered. When assembling a summary index on religious freedoms in 2009, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life reports that about one-third of all countries “have high or very high restrictions on religion.” The Forum’s report goes on to explain, however, that because several of the most populous nations have high restrictions “nearly 70 percent of the world’s 6.8 billion people live in countries with high restrictions on religion (The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life 2009).”

Finally, there are very clear patterns to the global variation in religious freedoms, but there is no global region or world religion that is exempt from denying religious freedoms. Clearly some regions are much higher than others, with majorities of countries in East Asia and the Pacific, the Near East and North Africa, and South and Central Asia limiting freedom of worship. But none of the global regions are exempt from restricting religious worship.

The denial of religious freedoms across the globe raises two important questions. First, why do so many restrictions occur in so many nations? And, second, how are these restrictions on religion related to social conflict?

Sources of Religious Freedoms and Restrictions

Understanding why religious freedoms are denied and how such restrictions might be related to social conflict requires that we first explore the motivations, institutions and movements involved in denying religious freedoms. In particular, we want to understand how both the motivations and mechanisms for restricting religious freedoms can differ from other human rights.

Unlike most other status categories mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, religion is organized into distinctive institutions and holds a myriad of relationships with the state and larger culture. Along with providing religious beliefs, symbols and practices for the local community, religious institutions can also serve as a source of unity at the regional and national levels. Indeed, one of the fears for governing bodies is that religious institutions can provide organizational form to underlying political and cultural pressures. Understanding the varied relationships between religion and state is an important starting point for understanding both religious freedoms and the potential for conflict.

One of the most common patterns of religion-state interaction is that the state forms an alliance with the dominant religion or group of religions. For the state, the alliance offers political stability, visible support for the dominant religion and culture, and often provides a mechanism for controlling the activities of the most powerful religious institutions. For religious institutions these alliances offer opportunities to procure resources from the state and to restrict the activities of competitors. The most obvious competitors are other religions, but cultural and even state institutions (e.g., secular courts, schools, etc.) can be viewed as competing with the dominant religion. The institutional alliances can imbue religious authority to most institutions in the country, such as in Saudi Arabia, or they can be based on past traditions and offer little formal authority, as in many Latin American countries. These alliances typically do increase resources for select religions and reduce the potential for grievances to develop, but for minority religions the alliances result in unequal treatment at best and often lead to suppression and persecution.

Even when countries support a secular state that separates the activities of religious and state institutions, the religious freedoms granted are highly variable and all religions are vulnerable to the actions of the state. Some secular states, especially communist nations, support a secular ideology that views religious organizations as potential threats and requiring heavy regulation. Mao’s Cultural Revolution (1966-1979) or the former Soviet Union offers one extreme, where the state attempts to eliminate religion. Countries such as France and Turkey have a secular state and do not hold a secular ideology, such as the atheism of communist countries, but they are assertive in forcing a public secularism.

Moving beyond the formal religious institutions, religions also hold a shared cultural relationship with specific regions or the entire nation. Dominant religions can appeal to the history and culture of their country as motives for denying religious freedoms and even justifying violence. Many national and cultural identities are so closely interwoven with or against selected religions that ensuring religious freedoms for all, is perceived as challenging the cultural identity as a whole.

Social pressures are especially powerful at the local level where administrative units, such as religious bureaus, are vulnerable to such influences. Given substantial discretion on how to interpret laws for registering, defining or tolerating religions, their discretion often serves to favor the majority. In Russia, for example, groups registered as nontraditional religious groups, such as Pentecostals, Catholics, Baptists and Jehovah’s Witnesses, have bitterly complained that the police fail to protect them from acts of vandalism and are slow to respond when intruders interrupt their worship services or even attack them. Hence, even without formal restrictions on religion, the cultural pressures and informal controls can restrict freedoms and promote conflict between groups.

Protecting liberties requires more than constitutional assurances. Unless state institutions provide the authority and support needed to protect liberties, the promises of freedom are never produced.

In the end, religious freedoms rely on the same institutions as other human rights for support and protection, but religions often hold distinctive and complex relationships with the state and the larger culture. These complex relationships are sometimes interwoven with violence toward religion, violence by religion, and violence that seemingly has few religious ties. These are the relationships we explore in the final section of this global overview.

Religious Freedoms Relationship with Social Conflict

Denying religious freedoms is associated with higher levels of social conflict. A sharp jump occurs when moving from states with no restrictions to states that have any restrictions on religious freedoms, regardless of the measure used. The relationship is especially striking for violence related to religion. None of the countries with a “low” score on government restrictions were reported to have widespread violence related to religion. In contrast, 45 percent of the countries with “high” government restrictions had such violence.

Even when the constitutional clauses are clear and religious freedoms are explicitly promised, there are no assurances that freedoms will be protected. The state must be held accountable for enforcing these promises and it must be capable and willing to do so. Free and fair elections combined with open political participation are often identified as a key protectorate of civil rights. Although the will of the religious and cultural majority can be imposed through popular legislation, the elections help to protect the freedoms of the majority. For religious groups and individuals the judiciary is especially crucial for protecting freedoms because the harshest restrictions on religion are typically imposed on religious minorities. Finally, the protection of any freedom relies on the government’s ability to monitor, enforce and protect. And to the extent that governments are effective in securing religious freedoms, social conflict tends to decline.

As social restrictions rise and social movements seek hegemony for a single religion, however, the rates of religion-related violence rise sharply. Nearly one half of the countries with social movements seeking power for a single religion report violence or widespread religion-related violence. By comparison only 19 percent of the countries without these movements report violence and a mere 8 percent report religion-related violence.

Finally, the state and social restrictions on religious freedom often lead to social, political and economic conditions that accentuate tensions and discrimination across religious groups. Hence, even when religion is not the primary motive for social conflict, the denial of religious freedoms can contribute to the conditions leading to conflict.

Denying religious freedoms often results in increased segregation of religious groups and an increase in discrimination against religious groups, especially minority religious groups (Finke and Harris 2012). Religion-related violence was evident in 80 percent of the countries with the highest level of religious segregation, but occurred in only 6 percent of the countries with little or no religious segregation.

Conclusion

Religious freedoms serve to defuse potential violence and the lack of freedom is associated with increased violence. When governments deny religious freedoms the most obvious consequences are the increased grievances of the religious groups being restricted. Yet, as shown in the global overview, the consequences of these formal state actions ripple far beyond the immediate denial of a specific freedom. The lack of freedoms for one group often emboldens the actions of other groups, especially the majority groups. Social movements and less formal social and cultural pressures frequently enact restrictions that go far beyond the actions of the state. The lack of religious freedoms can also result in social, economic and residential conditions that contribute to higher levels of violence. The social restrictions and pressures denying religious freedoms are closely tied to many of most prominent violent religious conflicts in the world today.

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