Does the phenomenon risk perpetuating hatred, fundamentalism in the region, or strengthen coexistence?

Friday, July 30, 2004

AMMAN: The Arab world has been the collective home of different religious groups for millennia. In the current media age, divergent religious opinion is rampant in print and television. Religion is expressed in the media as a basis for every aspect of one's daily life; it is not just limited to religious programming or content, but is frequently integrated into news stories, sitcoms, soap operas and cartoons. Does this phenomenon risk perpetuating hatred and fundamentalism in the region, or can the media positively portray religious diversity and use spiritual messages of peace to strengthen coexistence?

In a conference on Faith and Coexistence organized by the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) in Amman recently, media professionals and academics from Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt met to consider this question.

However broaching this highly-charged topic is difficult, even in such a workshop. Conference attendees were predominantly Christian with a small Muslim minority. With mixed audiences, discussions about religion can quickly become controversial and personal, often missing key underlying issues.

For example, a Muslim participant looking to draw out some of the deeper interests at stake asked why Christian participants felt they needed a Christian television channel and was met instead with strong assertions of the right to such a station. Yet at other times, the prospect of interfaith understanding around common ground provides hope for real coexistence. The cautious dialogue resulting from this mix is indicative of the dilemma highly-charged atmosphere this topic is being discussed in today.

Examples of the misuse of religion in media are easy to identify. The media has been and still is in the hands of the privileged. The general population is not being heard by the media, nor do they feel they are being adequately represented.

Religion, on the other hand, is now widely accessible at all levels of society. As a result, Atef al-Abed, professor of communication at Ain Shams University, Cairo, said: "Religion is an important component of public opinion and those with the knowledge to use it responsibly can have a powerful effect."

Former president of WACC Middle East, Rosangela Jarjour, added: "Media within the context of the state is power." The temptation to use religious messages to garner public support using the powerful reach of the media has often been too hard for many governments to avoid.

Religion is not only misused by politicians, but has been misinterpreted by other religious groups with detrimental results. This was evident in 1999 in Lebanon when religion was removed from schools and taught outside of the academic system for a year. Fanaticism appeared in both Islamic and Christian texts that attempted to fill the gap and show the other's religion from their own perspective.

In addition, religious media sometimes serves to reinforce unacceptable images of marginalized groups, such as the representation of women as limited to the private sphere.

For example, in most Muslim media, there is no place for women in the mosque. According to a study done by Media House in Egypt, images of women being beaten appear on television 700 times a month. Christian media is not exempt, often showing programs that portray the woman as the primary caregiver whose role is in the home.

These examples do not leave much hope that religious expression can be used in the media in a way that strengthens coexistence and interfaith relations.

However, Asma Khodr, spokesperson and Cabinet minister for the Jordanian government, declared that the media is technically able to "bridge societal conflicts based on peace and cooperation - values common to all human beings."

There is a great amount of experience dealing with religious diversity in the Middle East. Therefore, this region may have the untapped capacity to develop creative options for coexistence that do not ignore religious perspectives but instead encompass expressions of faith to support common human values.

As well, accessibly of satellite television in most parts of the region, and the existence of relatively free print media outlets in some countries have the potential to combine the power of religion with the power of media with impressive results. And although some conference participants were concerned that viewers would be confused if they were presented with too many different religious views, or complex inter-religious dialogue, Hanan Ibrahim, a professor at the Open Arab University in Jordan, pointed out that media already has a very critical audience in the Middle East where consumers are accustomed to looking carefully at the sources of information to determine validity.

Television and print media in different parts of the world have demonstrated the capacity to bring issues of racism and discrimination into the mainstream and portray healthy interaction between different groups. Examples of religious expression promoting coexistence and peace exist today.

Reverend Randy Naylor, secretary-general of WACC, pointed to the website, www.faithfulamerica.org, which provides a message from faithful Americans - a rabbi, an imam, a pastor and a nun - condemning the torture in Iraq, as a constructive religious message that encourages peaceful coexistence.

He added that "we can't just criticize but must offer alternatives to current media."

Based on the hope that religious expression can be positively used in the media, the conference concluded with the drafting of a number of recommendations on how to get to this point.

These recommendations include: strengthening economic and social development in order to build a tolerant media foundation in the region, expanding common religious culture between Muslims and Christians, working toward autonomy of religion as separate from politics, pressuring media to stop invoking fanaticism and to call for a space for dialogue, ensuring women's participation in media content, encouraging interpretations of religious texts that support such involvement in civil society and public affairs and using media to portray the reality of women today.

In addition, practical plans and implementation must follow. Media practitioners need training on how to responsibly include expressions of faith in news reports and programs, and comprehensive research on exactly how religious vocabulary is used in the media is lacking.

However, these recommendations provide the first steps for addressing this topic and offer a unique foundation for media that seek to strengthen coexistence without avoiding religion.

By Juliette Schmidt Special to The Daily Star

© The Daily Star 2004