OPINION: Media and Religion

When you think of media and religion, you may think that there isn’t a relationship between the two. In reality, there is more to it than you think. Mass media shapes our way of seeing and judging religion. It can morph the true beliefs with what the media shows, meaning that what you see in the paper and television is what people think that religion represents. In some cases media outlets have zero bias while reporting on religious events, but there is also a double standard when it comes to which religion the media is talking about. Media twists the audience’s brain especially when it comes to a very simple, yet fragile term, we call religion.

Christianity and Islam have always butted heads due to the reporting of news outlets, but only because mass media makes them. If it weren’t for media, religions would have been keeping a bit more peace. Mass media creates this competition between the two, especially after the 9/11. News reporters and writers have created this negative persona around Islam and makes Christianity look like the victim. But, the victim of what? Islam is portrayed as an evil religion, and due to the fact people will not ask about beliefs or theology, and continue to resent Muslims just because of different beliefs, proves that American media makes their audience turn against Islam. 

We see “Christian” men shooting up mosques because of their hatred of a different religion, and Snapchat videos of ignorance and islamophobia aimed at people who are not even Muslim, but instead are Sikh. This also dabbles into racism. There is a trend of white Christian men and women harassing brown people and claiming they are terrorists and satanic. Media has created this stereotype: if you wear any fabric on your head and have brown skin, you are dangerous and the enemy.

Although Christianity and Islam are seen as enemies in our media driven world, even different sects of Christianity are created as arch nemeses. Protestants and Catholics have been opposites for hundreds of years. Right now, everyone is reading about the Catholic Church crisis, and Protestants are feeling like winners. It is always about being right and the other side being wrong. There is no unity even though, their theology is all within the same sacred book.

No one cares about history and theology when it comes to religions. No one wants to see that there is peace within the majority of religions. No one cares about what each religion is truly about. Everyone just wants to be right, and media refuses to just report without bias. It can just be the way the title is written that can make a reader act on hatred. Media shapes one tragic event or one evil person who claims to follow a religion, and then the mass audience sees the religion as evil and destructive. 

Not all media outlets are this deep in religious competition, though. There are still many writers and resources that are not biased. However, those who have no bias get attacked by those who do. It is just a circle. The relationship between media and religion is chaotic. The relationship between media and anything is chaotic because media controls our eye’s view on everything. Instead of creating a façade, media should be spewing facts.