OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA, September 11, 2003: In his speech here today, Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, President, The Interfaith Alliance, said, in part, “The religious press in this land (USA) has an unusually crucial role to play in truth telling by the media. Unfortunately for the most part, religion is involved in most of the big stories in today’s news. From politicians’ manipulation of religion to the promotion of partisan causes to religionists efforts to manipulate politics for sectarian gains to terrorists claims to be servants of the Almighty to governmental leaders appeal to Deity and morality to support their policies of war, religion is an unmistakable component in today’s news. The manner in which the role of religion in today’s world is reported will help or hurt interfaith relations, encourage or discourage militancy, and determine to a great extent the public understanding of and commitment to religious liberty. Allow me to be specific.
“News organizations should pay close attention to the role of religion in the 2004 elections. Religion will be a major topic in political stump speeches as well as a studied strategy for organization in the various campaigns. I hope that political reporters and religion reporters across the nation will report on religion in the various campaigns with the same kind of scrutiny that will be devoted to economic policies and foreign affairs, citing not just how religious language is used by candidates but exploring as well the meaning of what is said.
“Terrific pressures exist to move our nation away from a commitment to pluralism toward an endorsement of special privileges for the majority faith point of view — what would be a deathblow to religious liberty. One recent poll showed that 77% percent of the public saw nothing wrong with the religious statuary of the Ten Commandments being displayed in a judicial building in Alabama. Even United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has suggested that controversial issues in church-state relations should be resolved more by the legislative process and less by the judiciary. We are failing in the public relations battle. People cannot distinguish between our opposition to the prostitution of religion and our devotion to the protection of the sanctity of religion. To a large extent, the media will shape public opinion on these issues.
“Condemnations of other religions should be set in a broader perspective. Reporters have a professional obligation to report the news but also an ethical responsibility to raise questions about what part of this news is fact and what is fiction. Over the past several months, I have walked away from several meetings with colleagues from around the world reeling from a realization that the international community judges religion in America by the profile of Jerry Falwell and the voice of Pat Robertson. How critical as well as wrong is that image? Recent elections in Pakistan took a serious turn toward Talibanization, in part in reaction to news accounts of the demonizing of Islam and the prophet Mohammed by former president of the Southern Baptist Convention Jerry Vines, evangelist Franklin Graham and media minister Jerry Falwell.
“Sensitivity regarding religious terminology is terribly important in writing and reporting news stories. Characteristically, terrorist acts by Muslims are attributed to Islamic Fundamentalists while similar acts by Christians are reported apart from any reference to religion. The atrocity perpetrated in this city (the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City) was a terrorist act by a Christian fundamentalist that was anticipated and applauded by many in The Christian Identity movement. Attacks on abortion clinics have been spawned by committed Christian extremists. Reporting on religion-based acts of terror should be consistent lest the reading, television-watching public concludes that terrorism is the exclusive domain of Muslim extremists and prejudice against Muslims increases.
“Report on the positive and healing role of religion in public life and the problems associated with religion in the public square. Stories of shared religious values and interfaith cooperation can serve as instruments to broaden understanding and even encourage greater interfaith cooperation. Suffice it to say that a solid commitment to telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth will sustain the kind of journalism that informs the American public and preserves the liberty that allows both religion and the press to do their best work.”
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