I would like to add some thoughts concerning the way television networks treat the subject of religion.<\/p>\n
Numerous surveys have shown that “at best” the media treats religion as if it were an unimportant, insignificant part of people’s lives in spite of the fact that when surveyed the majority of Americans claim religion to be “very important” to them. In the media, however, religion is basically ignored. Families are not shown praying before a meal or worshipping publicly. God is simply not a factor in life insofar as television is concerned.<\/p>\n
However, this does not mean that religion is ignored. In far too many cases producers will introduce a religious “nut” into a story so as to give a negative view of the subject. Preachers are often shown as predatory and untrustworthy. The “religious right” is vilified increasingly. (The Mainstream Media does not recognize a “Religious Left” nor does it express any concern about it.) Protests from “Christian” groups are ignored and even sneered at.<\/p>\n
This does not mean that the religious community is completely held in contempt. On the contrary, the Jewish community is nearly always shown favorably. In fact, no rabbi has ever been shown to be an “Elmer Gantry” type character or in any way shown negatively, so far as this writer knows.<\/p>\n
Islam is also given more respect than Christianity. This is not to say that the “Islamic-terrorist” stereotype is not shown. On the contrary, it is shown too frequently, but the religion of Islam is generally not mocked. With that thought in mind, I would like to introduce you to a few comments by Petronella Wyatt, a syndicated columnist in England:<\/p>\n
“The satirical television programme Spitting Image<\/em> has withdrawn a puppet of Christ after protests from viewers. Nothing wrong with that, you might say, except the protesters are not Christians. They are British Muslims.<\/p>\n
“It is not that Christians did not complain about the portrayal of Jesus last Sunday as a hippy. They did, except for the Church leaders, of course. But Mr. Bill Dare, the programme’s producer, did not listen. It was only when the UK Action Committee for Islamic Affairs pointed out that Muslims revere Jesus as a prophet that he began thinking twice about the puppet’s ‘second coming.’<\/p>\n
“Why? Mr. Dare justifies himself thus. It is acceptable, no desirable, to poke fun at the national religion — because it is a majority religion. Islam, however, is a different matter — it is a minority religion and Mr. Dare does not like offending minorities. “<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
My view, and that of the author, is that Mr. Dare is more concerned that the ones who have threatened the life of Salmon Rushdie ( author of Satanic Verses<\/em>) might similarly consider him expendable. We know this, when the “Christian” community protested The Last Temptation of Christ<\/em> Hollywood responded with arrogance and continued to promote the flick. However, when the Islamic community railed against the movie Mohammed<\/em> it was withdrawn from the theaters.<\/p>\n
The media’s attitude toward religion is simple. If it is the occult, it will be treated with at worst bemusement but at best with reverence. If it is Judaism, it will always be treated with respect. The New Age is given the most profound respect and deference. Christianity? Forget it if you want respect. It is simply not offered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Floyd Chappelear Stand, October 1993 I would like to add some thoughts concerning the way television networks treat the subject of religion. Numerous surveys have shown that “at best” the media treats religion as if it were an unimportant, insignificant part of people’s lives in spite of the fact that when surveyed the majority…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[353,572,215],"class_list":["post-27815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-influence","tag-persecution","tag-prejudice"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61246,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/confidence-in-religious-institutions-at-a-39-year-low\/","url_meta":{"origin":27815,"position":0},"title":"Confidence in Religious Institutions at a 39-Year Low","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Source:\u00a0Christopher Burbach, \"Are We Losing Faith in Religion?,\" Omaha World-Herald, 18 July 2012. Gallup does a yearly survey called \"Confidence in Institutions\" since 1973. One question is whether those surveyed had confidence in the church or organized religion. What exactly constitutes a church or an organized religion is not defined.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44164,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-oldest-recorded-religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":27815,"position":1},"title":"What is the oldest recorded religion?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Mr. Hamilton, I am here to ask a somewhat moderate question: What is the oldest religion ever recorded? The reason why I want to know is that earlier today, I had a discussion with a few of my fellow classmates on the topic of religion. It started when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25213,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-any-scientific-evidence-that-christianity-is-the-true-religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":27815,"position":2},"title":"Is there any scientific evidence that Christianity is the true religion?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am not a Christian! But I have been thinking about that religion. I would like to know more about Christianity. Is there any scientific evidence that Christianity is the true religion? And didn't the church oppose science some centuries back? Thanks. Answer: \"Scientific evidence is the result of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25633,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/only-an-appearance-of-religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":27815,"position":3},"title":"Only an Appearance of Religion","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Amos 4:1-5 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When you look at the religious world, there are many odd ideas about what constitutes a religious person. II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Exhibitionism as Religion \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some people judge how religious a man is by the religious things that he does in public \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Matthew 6:1-6 - Some people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13611,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-people-who-want-a-personal-relationship-with-jesus-against-religion\/","url_meta":{"origin":27815,"position":4},"title":"Why are people who want a personal relationship with Jesus against religion?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I hear many folks, seemingly of the denominational world, speak of having a \"personal relationship\" with Jesus or God. They tend to pit this against religion as if they take offense to the notion of religion. Can you speak to the \"personal relationship\" idea as I can't seem to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14848,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-one-be-a-mason-and-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":27815,"position":5},"title":"Can one be a Mason and a Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have a couple of Mason's at our congregation. One of these men has had their name mentioned in being considered as an elder. I don't know much about Mason's and any information that I find he quickly refutes as being false. Can one be a Mason and be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}