The Media: Against Religion?

Religion seems to be in the news on a daily basis, it appears in our sit-coms, our soap-dramas and even our cartoons. But is there an anti-religion agenda? To answer this question it is best to look at the three most influential religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. These are the three most featured religions in the papers, on our radios and on the television, and all three are dealt with slightly differently by the media.

An Anti-Christian Agenda?With western culture being heavily based upon Christian culture, and the teachings of the Bible, it would seem absurd for the western media to have an anti-Christian bias. However, there are many indications it is.

Media Matters for America is an American media watchdog founded in 2004. In its own words: Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit progressive research and information centre dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analysing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. From a first glance this looks like a Liberal group that aims to deal with some of the fake news being spread by conservative media outlets, such as Fox News. You wouldn t be wrong for thinking that at all, because, in part, it does. What is not disclosed to the public is the fact that Media Matters for America actually aims to tackle more than it states online, as revealed by a CBN report. In its Application for Recognition of Exemption, the company states:

Media Matters for America (MMA) believes that news reporting and analysis by the American Media has become biased.

It goes on to claim that:

It is common for news and commentary by the press to present viewpoints that tend to overly promote a conservative, Christian-influenced ideology.

So what is wrong with this? Well, as Vince Coglianese states to the CBN audience, Media Matters, in it s application to the IRS, outright, in it s very first paragraph, declares that it s going to be an anti-Christian Organisation . The evidence against Media Matters for America is damning, from what they have written in their application they would be treading on egg-shells in an attempt to not be anti-Christian, whilst also fulfilling their stated plan. What is interesting is that in it s statement, Media Matters claims that the press tend to overly promote the Christian World View, an opinion that will not lie particularly nicely with Christians. Chris Hawley, a Media Consultant, says that The Christian world view, I don t feel, is very well represented at all in North America, in the media. Could it be that since the creation of Media Matters in 2004 the media has become more anti-Christian, or that the media has represented the Christian world less?

It would appear that the anti-Christian sentiment of the media is something that is recognised by many within the field. Ned Vankevich, an Associate Professor for the Department of Media at Trinity Western University, states that If we take an honest and a candid view, we see definite bias in the media, and in specific, anti-Christian bias. There could be some reason for this in the media. Carol Boothroyd, a Media Consultant and Trainer, explains: Covering a positive aspect of, say, Christianity, might actually be fairly boring for a lot of people. It s much more interesting when faith runs amuck. So, could it be that this is what the majority of society wants? Does an audience prefer an anti-Christian media?

The anti-Christian sentiment within the media hasn t gone unnoticed by Christians, which make up 70.6% of the US population according to studies done in 2010. Jade Holownia, the Pastor of Community at Tenth Church, observes: When I see a news report or a movie that portrays a pastor, or minister, or church, it s rarely in a positive light. Stephen Plitt, a fellow Christian, continues this, Is there an anti-Christian bias in the media? Yes. But it s not against us. It s against the caricature of us. As the vast majority of the US population are self-claimed Christians, it would seem remarkable if the population did actually prefer an anti-Christian media.

While the obvious source for anti-Christian biased is the news, it s often our filmography and television programs that show this outright. One of the most striking examples is from the FOX Sci-Fi series Firefly . In one episode River, a young girl, is seen to be fixing the Bible. The audience sees her changing any/all areas of the Bible that are scientifically inaccurate or impossible . She is seen to rip out pages of the Bible and scribble over whole chapters. South Park, the popular series by Comedy Central, appears to not only be anti-Christian, anti-religion as a whole, throughout most of it s history. The first two episodes of South Park, both Christmas Specials, saw Jesus fight a Snowman and Santa in a bid to claim Christmas as his holiday once and for all. Despite this, South Park is into it s 21st Series, has aired 287 episodes and has featured on our television screens continuously since 1997. The series is also one of the most highly rated long-running TV series, with a IMDb rating of 8.7/10 and a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 85%, narrowly beating The Simpsons, American Dad, and Family Guy. With the series being the most anti-Christian and anti-religion out of the four sitcoms, how come it s the most popular?

It seems clear that the western Media is, at least in part, anti-Christian. It is unlikely that Media Matter for America is the only media-based company to be, by it s own definition, against a Christian-influenced ideology . It also seems clear that at least some of the 70% of the US who are Christian are not openly against the media s portrayal of the religion, and that only a small of group within that 70% actively speak out against the apparent anti-Christian agenda within the media.

A Game of Good Muslim, Bad Muslim?The perception of Muslims in the western media is something that angers a lot of Muslims. Perhaps it s best to start with the words of Jannah, a London-based Muslim, who asks, Why is it that when a dodgy Muslim does something the media says Oh my God! Evil Muslim terrorist strikes again! But now, when a Muslim [Mo Farah] has won 3 gold medals for Britain [in the Olympics], they don t say Good Muslim strikes again! , they say God save the Queen. Britain does it again! There s double standards. This is an opinion that seems to be quite common among British Muslims, and probably Muslims across the western world.

In 2015, RT America reported that Republican Candidates of the 2016 Presidential Election debated heavily on Islamic Terrorism, however they all failed to mention the serious threat posed by far-right white gunmen. On the program, the news channel went on to explain that, as of December 2015, 48 people had been killed by far-right attacks in America since 9/11, whilst only 45 people had been killed by Jihadist attacks. Despite this Jihadist attacks still get more press-coverage. The double standards mentioned by Jannah seems to be within most of the western media s presentation of Muslims in news stories. In February 2015, RT America also reported on the murder of three Muslim women, who were shot by a white atheist man, the incident was labelled a random attack by both the media and the police departments. At the time Linda Sarsour, the Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York, said: This is absolutely an act of terrorism, terrorism is a crime that has political or religious motivations behind it. This guy was an anti-theist. If you look at some of his social media posts, he was anti-religion and anti-religious people. These young women were wearing headscarves, they were identifiably Muslim, and we should be calling domestic terrorism regardless of who the perpetrator is, or who the victims are. Later in the program RT Reporter, Ben Swann, seemed to hit the nail on the head when he announced, It seems like what has happened with the media is when they use the term terrorist, it no longer actually means committing an act of terrorism, as in the case of creating terror for someone or terrorising the public, rather to simply mean an act of violence by a Muslim on a non-Muslim. It s highly likely this message will resonate with Muslims living in the western hemisphere. Almost any time a Muslim commits an act of terror within the western hemisphere it is picked up on and classed immediately as terrorism, however the same does not happen for other religious or ethnic groups. One of the few widely covered incidents where a white male has been sentenced as a terrorist was in the case of the murder of Jo Cox, a Labour MP in the British Parliament. Here there could be no doubt that the murderer, Thomas Mair, was committing an act of terror. Jo Cox was an MP that backed immigration, Mair was a white supremacist who despised the idea of immigration. He made this clear when in court. The case was essentially closed before it was opened. This seems to be a rare example. White men are rarely sentenced as terrorists, which is remarkable considering the figures reported by RT America, whereby there were more murders by far-right gunmen than Jihadi attackers.

Muslims are also targeted in filmography as well. Eefa Shehzad, a speaker at the 2014 TEDx Youth in Bangkok, spoke in detail about this. She observed: I ve noticed that Muslims and Middle Easterners are almost always depicted offensively in movies, television shows and even video games. Whether it s the Libyan terrorists that shot down the Doc in Back To The Future, or a cut-scene from Call of Duty. Muslims and Middle Easterners are shown to be violent, uncivilised, and unpredictable in Western media. She later draws example from Disney s Aladdin, which she claims contains stereotypical Arab personalities , she goes on to explain, The opening lyrics to the song were I come from a land, a land far away, where the caravan Camels roam. Where they cut off your ear if they don t like your face, it s barbaric, but hey, it s home. It is worth noting that these lyrics were later changed after complaints from the American Arab Committee. One of the most interesting sections of her talk came towards the end, when she points out, According to research done by Jack Shaheen out of a thousand films from 1896 to 2007, that contained Middle Eastern references, 12 were positive, 52 were neutral, and over 900 were negative. Aladdin was one of the positive ones. How does this effect the US public? Well, according to research done in 2010 more than 40% of Americans admitted to having at least slightly prejudice feelings against Muslims, more than twice the figure for having the same feelings towards Christians or Jews. This is hardly surprising, 93.6% of films over the course of one hundred and eleven years showed Arabs in a negative light. Western culture teaches that the Middle East, Muslims, and Arabs are all bad things. It s as if this is an indoctrinated message that we are fed from our earliest years.

The idea of a double standard appears to be the most accurate descri ption of how the media treat Muslims in western society. While there could certainly be claims to some form of Anti-Islam or Anti-Muslim agenda by the media, it feels more like they are happy to accept Muslims, so long as they are positively influencing western society in the way that western culture requires. The second this is not the case, the media seems to distance the country with the person through their religious group.

Anti-Jewish Hatred Do They Actually Care?Before I delve into the media s reporting on antisemitism I feel it important to clarify one quite significant point the definition of the word antisemitism. Within the media and modern western society antisemitism has become a word to describe purely anti-Jewish hatred. This is a gross misinterpretation of the word, as it excludes the many other forms of antisemitism. Antisemitism refers to hatred shown towards the Semitic people including Hebrews (which encompasses Israelis), Palestinians, some Ethiopians, and Syrians, to name but a few. Anti-Jewish hatred is a form of antisemitism, however, it is not the sole form of antisemitism. With this in mind, let us explore the media s reporting of anti-Jewish hatred.

Until the ongoing attacks by the media on the Labour Party, anti-Jewish hatred had been scarcely reported in Western media. It would not be surprising for a Jewish person living in the Western Hemisphere to feel that the media simply don t care about anti-Semitic, especially anti-Jewish, attacks.

In December 2017, Ezra Levant, of The Rebel.Media, explained: They [the media] have a narrative, and anything that falls outside their expected story line, they throw those facts out. It would be like a scientist having a theory, that s how scientific progress works. You have a theory, a hypothesis, you test it against the facts. If the facts don t fit your theory, you throw out your hypothesis, and come up with a new idea. In journalism they do the opposite. Their narrative, their hypothesis to explain the world, their world view is: Muslims good, Western world bad, the only people who are anti-Semitic are White Neo-Nazi skinheads. If a Muslim does something anti-Semitic, try not to see it. If you see it, try not to report it. If you report it, don t say it s Muslim. If it s Muslim, say it s not real Islam. While what he says is highly controversial, at least some of Levant s theory holds out to be somewhat true, although Levant seems to fail to recognise that one can be both Semitic and Muslim, such as most Palestinian and Syrian people. Antisemitism does not appear to fit with the media s narrative. From January to June 2017 there were 80 violent anti-Jewish anti-Semitic attacks in Britain, however, how many of them were reported to the British public via news outlets?

As of 2017 one-in-three British Jews considered leaving the UK due to anti-Jewish hatred, according to a YouGov poll commissioned by the group Campaign Against Antisemitism. Only 59% of British Jews feel welcome in the UK, with 17% claiming to feel unwelcome. There are some claims that 37% of British Jews have been concealing their Judaism in public, which would be logical considering the 45% rise in anti-Semitic, particularly anti-Jewish, crime since 2014. Furthermore, one in five British Jews felt that Jews did not have a long-term future in the UK, and only 41% of Jews felt that Jews had a future in Europe. So why do we not hear more about the persecution of Jews in the Western world? Why don t the media cover anti-Judaism stories? lt;/p>According to the report, publicised by Campaign Against Antisemitism, 81% of Jews feel that a media bias against Israel and the Israeli government was fuelling the persecution of Jews. This starts to tap into the issues surrounding Zionism and antisemitism. Within the media, and some sections of western society, anti-Zionism is often mistaken for antisemitism or anti-Jewish hatred. Zionism is an international movement for the establishment of a Jewish national or religious community in Palestine and modern Israel. The majority of Jews are anti-Zionist, and the Zionist Jews are mainly focused in Israel, somewhat unsurprisingly. Whilst the anti-Zionist movement within Judaism, especially Orthodox Judaism, has been large for some time, it has taken a surge in support in recent times, due to the escalating issues within Israel and Palestine, including an apartheid in Israel. However, it is also worth noting that anti-Jewish hatred is mostly, but not exclusively, committed by non-Jews who hold extreme anti-Zionist views. Furthermore, the majority of anti-Zionist non-Jews are not anti-Semitic or anti-Jewish, but generally support the rights of all Semitic people. These issues surrounding anti-Zionism, antisemitism and anti-Jewish hatred seem to have been fuelled recently by the media, who have mistaken anti-Zionist views held by members of the Labour Party as being antisemitic or anti-Jewish, and most of society has failed to call out these regular misreportings.

So, could it be that the media has played part in the rise in anti-Jewish hatred? Could the lack of media coverage be due to their own guilt? Those media outlets that support right-wing views would seem less likely to report antisemitism and anti-Jewish hatred, as Conservative and UKIP voters are the most likely to endorse antisemitism and anti-Jewish hatred, as well as Brexit backing voters. Meanwhile, left-wing political parties, and EU backing voters, are less likely to be antisemitic and/or anti-Jewish.

It would appear that the media find not talking about anti-Jewish hatred the easiest option, and only mention it when they can use it to show a popular group or person in a negative light. The idea that it does not fit their narrative could well be true, especially if the media find themselves guilty of fuelling the rise in antisemitism and anti-Jewish hatred.

The truth is in the whole. In the words of Luke Rosser, a guest on Fox Friends, The current world in which we live, specifically within the American media, snark is valued. It s very easy to come after people of faith, no matter what their religion is. Whether you re Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, you re sort of tagged with this label of being puritanical, and not understanding of others, or different viewpoints. I think it s lazy, and I think it s just something that feeds the snickering masses. In all three cases studied it would appear the media is against that group in some way. Whether it s the Anti-Christian sentiment we see, the Muslim double-standards, or the plain ignorance of antisemitism. An anti-religion culture seems to encouraged within the media, it appears the easiest way of them controlling what they show the public and explaining the events taking place in the world around us. Perhaps those that run the media should listen to the words of former-president Barack Obama, who suggested in 2016: We should foster a culture, in which, peoples private religious beliefs, including Atheists and Agnostics, are respected. He later goes on to explain, Where we get into problems, typically, is when our personal religious faith, or community of faith that we participate in, tips into a sort of fundamentalist extremism in which it s not enough for us to believe what we believe, but we start feeling obligated to hit you [atheists] over the head, because you don t believe the same thing, or treat you as somebody who s less than I am. It feels as though, if the media stopped trying to get everyone to take on their beliefs and opinions, we would become a much more accepting society, and we would see much less of an anti-religious biased within the media.