The Oversimplification Of Religious Faith In Modern Media

To me, it seems the media often engages religion, any religion, by trying to find a simple, and therefore reductionistic, form of the religion represent the authentic form of any religion. This means, the media tends to look at religion in the same way fundamentalists do, and often, it does so by embracing the fundamentalistic representation of religion because that representation is pre-made for them, leaving the reporter less work or study to do before doing their write-up. Not all who report on religion do this. Indeed, there are  many good reporters who look beyond such simplifications, but, when they do this, they often lose their audience, for their audience wants that simplification to justify their own reaction (either in support or against the religion under discussion). Read Full Article »