Religion in the Television-mediated Public Sphere Transformations and paradoxes

This study suggests to look at the audiences of religious television programmes as a possible common field of interest for both the sociology of religion and communication research. The current visibility of religion on Italian television, amplified by the Jubilee 2000 and confirmed by the repeated successes of fictions dedicated to religious characters, put unusual questions to sociological theory. We argue here that such visibility must be interpreted within the ‘process of de-secularization’, i.e. one of the many processes which are currently de-constructing modernity and confusing the distinction between the public and the private sphere. The ‘mediated’ religion is the result of the ambiguous rediscovery of religion in the post-modern society. From this point of view, the Jubilee 2000 appears as a media event typical of the global media society, in that religion is spread throughout the world but within the limits of media (and especially television) formats.     

Pushing boundaries and blurring categories in digital media and religion research

As religious identity and spiritual practices transform and expand in the digital media moment, this article advocates for more critical scholarship on media and religion that examines the complex ways that individuals make meaning in the digital age. First, I present an overview of foundational media and religion theories that analyze the interactions between these ever‐changing fields, such as the culturalist tradition, mediatization theory, and the social shaping of technology approach. Furthermore, this essay highlights insightful research trends that blur distinctions between media spaces and complicate definitions of religion. Finally, a discussion of gaps in the scholarship will justify an argument for more theories centered in international contexts, as well as analysis of the relationships between media technologies, aesthetics, affect, identity and religious expression. These emerging approaches provide more in‐depth discussions of how the fast‐changing and ever‐complex digital culture is deeply connected to the evolving nature of religion and human existence.     

Religion and New Media: A Uses and Gratifications Approach

This research examines specific relationships between new media and religion. While prior research has focused on the question of whether a relationship exists, we explore technology usage as a predictor of specific religious behavior. Using a sample (N = 423) comprising a cross-section of religious and cultural backgrounds, results indicate that attitudes toward technology and use of social media contribute to how people view religion as a mechanism for meeting needs. Applying uses and gratifications theory in a unique way, three needs related to religion emerged: religion as a means of passing time, religion as a mode of meeting self needs, and religion as a catalyst for learning. We discuss implications of our findings.     

Religion News in Israel

In this study I examine the coverage of religion in the Israeli media. An analysis of religious content in newspapers, radio, and television over a 2-month period found that religion received relatively high coverage over other categories of news. However, when broken down by religion, the coverage was found to be limited almost entirely to the Jewish faith and to the Orthodox streams of Jewry. Religion news in the secular media was mostly limited to a handful of themes, notably religious political parties, religious public personalities, and rabbis. The centrality of secular–religious relations in the Israeli public arena resulted in the subject often being addressed in the media, particularly in discussive program formats in the electronic media. The heavy focus in religious content on the Orthodox communities, particularly the ultra-Orthodox Haredi community, produced a negative stereotype of the Orthodox, widening yet further the secular–religious divide.     

Religion as a Chronically Accessible Construct

Recent studies have examined religion in the context of a chronically accessible construct, one that colors how people attend to and recall information. A national survey is used to test whether religiosity and sharing the religious affiliation with a candidate is associated with more accuracy about that candidate's religion. In addition, the role of attention to the news media is examined in combination with religion. Although attention to the news is associated with more knowledge, it does not interact with religion. Overall religious variables are moderately associated with more accuracy about religion questions than nonreligion questions about political candidates.     

Review of J. Hoberman and Jeffrey Shandler's Entertaining America: Jews,Movies, and Broadcasting

The impact of increasing religious diversity in U.S. society has taken on added significance in recent years. This study, the first broad-based examination of religion and public relations, explores the nature of religion in the United States, its role in local community relations, and its public relations dimensions. Phone and e-mail interviews, textual analysis of institutional media, and field observations were used to obtain data on religious diversity, place-of-worship activities, and public relations practices. The nature of the communication between select religious institutions and their publics, through different media channels, is also explored. Two case studies that are representative and illustrative are included. From a communication perspective, it is suggested that a key to fostering interreligious dialogue and civil discourse on religion may lie in expanding traditional definitions of diversity to include religion and moving beyond expertise and contractual models of public relations toward a model that is covenantal in nature.     

Communicating mixed messages about religion through internet memes

This article investigates the dominant messages Internet memes communicate about religion. Internet memes about religion are defined as, ‘memes circulated on the Internet whose images and texts focus on a variety of religious themes and/or religious traditions’ (Bellar et al., 2013). By drawing on meme genres identified by Shifman (2012) and analyzing techniques used to frame ideas concerning religion in memes, this study identifies common genres found amongst religious Internet meme and core frames used to present messages and assumptions about religion online. This article further draws attention to the importance of studying religion in digital contexts, as it highlights trends, recognized by scholars toward ‘Lived Religion’ within digital culture (Campbell, 2012). Lived Religion argues that contemporary media and digital culture provide important resources for presenting popular beliefs about religion. This study also suggests that studying Internet memes about religion provides a useful lens for understanding popular conceptions about religion within mainstream culture.     

All Work and All Play: Using Games to Teach Religion and Media

To help students learn the concepts, personages, and events central to a course on religion and media, students were charged with designing a board game or a card game that employed this information. They drew from required books and documentaries, which the instructor chose for breadth and inclusiveness, focusing on both print and electronic media as well as on Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The games were evaluated according to the appeal and educational value of the game design, the clarity and coherence of the written instructions, and the accuracy, significance, and comprehensiveness of the knowledge tested. The assignment helped maximize the time students spent thinking about key information in the course. It also provided the instructor with games that students in future classes can play to help them learn terms central to the study of media and religion.     

Anti-muslim sentiment on social media in China and Chinese Muslims’ reactions to hatred and misunderstanding

This study documents the extensive online anti-Muslim sentiment in China as well as the use of social media by Chinese Muslims from various backgrounds to engage with the online public sphere and respond to this hostile discourse. We analyzed more than 10,000 social media posts on Weibo relating to Muslims and Islam and conducted in-depth interviews with 34 Chinese Muslims who were active users of social media. Our findings reveal an anti-Muslim online frame, and we detail the ways in which Chinese Muslims have sought to influence public policy in order to protect their rights. The participants in this study responded to hateful posts and worked to increase the understanding of their religion and culture by providing glimpses of their daily lives and by discussing Islam. Nevertheless, owing to government censorship and to the prevailing Han-centric discourse, Chinese Muslims continue to face numerous risks and challenges, particularly in coping with the ideological conflict between their religion and the atheistic ruling party.     

Digital media,ageing and faith: Older Sri Lankan migrants in Australia and their digital articulations of transnational religion

To date, older adults have received little attention in the newly emerging technological narratives of transnational religion. This is surprising, given the strong association of later life with spiritual and religious engagement, but it likely reflects the ongoing assumption that older adults are technophobic or technologically incompetent. Drawing on ethnographic interviews with older Sinhalese Buddhist migrants from Sri Lanka, living in Melbourne, this paper explores the digital articulations of transnational religion that arise from older migrants’ uses of digital media. We focus on how engagements with digital media enable older Sinhalese to respond to an urgent need to accumulate merit in later life, facilitating their temporal strategies for ageing as migrants. We argue that these digital articulations transform both the religious imaginary and the religious practices that validate and legitimize a life well-lived.     

Merchandizing the Sacred: Commodifying Hindu Religion,Gods/Goddesses,and Festivals in the United States

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 opened the gates for immigrants from India, who have come to the United States for various reasons other than religion. Their religious consciousness has grown along with the age of their children who are born in the United States. They have felt the need to retain and hand down their tradition and culture. In the process, sustaining their tradition and culture has become equivalent with religion, so they express it through rituals and festivals. With these festive observances has developed an intimate connection between commerce and religion, fashion and festival, celebration and consumption. In this scholarly essay, I analyze how Hindu religion has succumbed to the world of advertisements, mass production, and marketing in the United States. This aspect is significant because it gives an opportunity to conceptualize a larger transnational space that deals with Hindu religious practices and sees the participation of retailers and businesses located in various Hindu diasporic spaces using various marketing media strategically.     

Saintly Campaigning: Devotional-Promotional Communication and the U.S. Tour of St. Therese's Relics

This article discusses the public relations campaign for the U.S. tour of St. Therese's relics from 1999 to 2000, from the approach of devotional-promotional communication, a particular form of communication that inspires allegiance for an individual, political entity, or religion. Textual analysis of media coverage, survey research, and personal in-depth interviews are used to examine the campaign. The campaign appears to have been successful for organizers in terms of media coverage, attendance, and other effects.     

Religious effects on environmentalism

Understanding of religious influences on environmentalism has been biased by political conflicts. This article summarizes the demographic parameters of environmental concern, then evaluates religious and political influences on that concern and related activity, using General Social Surveys data. It assesses influences on willingness to pay for environmental programs, individual environmental behaviors, and participation in political activities for related causes. Young people and women express greater environmental concern, but older persons more often engage in individual environmental activities such as recycling. The association of fundamentalism with political conservatism compounds interpretation of religion because political conservatives are antagonistic to environmentalism. Religious affiliation strength has positive effects on environmental concern, and worship attendance has positive effects on individual environmental behaviors, when fundamentalism and political variables are controlled. This article is part of the third stage of literature on religion and environmentalism in which positive as well as negative patterns are recognized.     

Constructing a Place for Religion and Spirituality in Psychodynamic Practice

A focus on spirituality has become in vogue for the media as well as for professional conferences, journals, and schools of social work. Likewise, our clients are struggling with how to integrate religion and/or spirituality with their therapy. The premise of this paper is that we have a role in assisting our clients with this integration and to consider some of the current postmodern approaches. However, in attempting such an integration it is important to retain certain parameters and guidelines that have been helpful to our clinical work. This paper will examine how to make room for religion and spirituality in psychodynamic psychotherapy and the ways in which constructivism can be helpful in this process. The influences of psychodynamic theories and postmodernism shape the discussion in the following areas: definition of terms, self-awareness, deconstruction of clients' narrative, assessment of strengths and vulnerabilities, and reconstruction of a useful narrative.     

Child Sexual Abuse Disclosure: Maternal Response and Other Variables Impacting the Victim

Disclosure of childhood sexual abuse is a process unique to each victim and may be influenced by factors of race, ethnicity, culture, religion, and gender, as well as by abuse specific factors. The response by caregivers and professionals effects disclosure and can be responsible for recantation. Maternal responses that convey protection and support have been found to be associated with victims' improved mental health and social functioning. Non-abusive caregivers are often marginalized by the child welfare system in its attempt to secure physical safety for the child. This article summarizes the literature regarding sexual abuse disclosure and maternal response. Areas for future research are discussed.     

The good will umbrella

The six reproductions concern a Mobil oil company public relations rationale. The artist discusses political art in a preface.     

Newspaper Coverage of Christianity in South Korea, 1996–2005

This study analyzes a sample of 2,614 news articles dealing with religions published in Chosun Ilbo from 1996 to 2005, focusing on how this major newspaper covered Christianity in terms of its tone and frames. The results show that this religion was portrayed in a neutral or positive manner and that both Protestants and megachurches were mostly considered providers of social work services. These findings have implications for academic, media, and religious sectors.     

Challenging the Darwin Skeptics: Examining Proevolutionist Media Persuasion

The socio-religious skirmishes known as the Evolution Wars may have major implications for global religion, education, and popular perceptions of science. These so-called wars have witnessed the rise of several media-vocal proevolutionist organizations, which have sought to challenge Darwin-skeptic ideas and enterprises. Such proevolutionist organizations include the atheistic Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, the religiously neutral National Center for Science Education, and the BioLogos Foundation Christian advocacy group. This study executes a content analysis of media produced by these leading proevolutionist organizations from 2009 to 2011 and gauges the occurrence rates of several persuasive cues associated with the Elaboration Likelihood Model. This exercise reveals ways in which certain persuasive elements are articulated throughout proevolutionist media, and juxtaposes these observations with data previously gathered concerning Darwin-skeptic materials.     

Teaching Religion and Media: Syllabi and Pedagogy

This study explores the pedagogy of Religion and Media. The topic has garnered growing attention in recent years (Stout, 2012 Stout, D. (2012). Media and religion: Foundations of an emerging field. New York, NY: Routledge. [Google Scholar]) and the sheer array of classes is a testament to its status as a lively growing topic. This study takes a nonnormative, exploratory approach to uncover four key categorical approaches to how the topic of religion and media is taught in universities. The methodology included a textual analysis of 48 syllabi and interviews with professors who teach religion and media.     

People Think Like Me: Religion and Wishful Thinking in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election

Wishful thinking occurs when a personal preference influences one's prediction of an outcome, most often in political campaigns. This preference-expectation link is explained by the selective exposure of persons to people like themselves and uses of this information when first asked to predict an election outcome. Few studies have examined the role of religion, which theoretically should enhance wishful thinking. Persons high in doctrinal orthodoxy and religious salience were found to engage in greater wishful thinking. Exposure to mainstream news media, however, tended to moderate this effect.