"Media Matters for America and Faith in Public Life released the report, titled "Left Behind: The Skewed Representation of Religion in the Major News Media," at a Washington news conference May 29. It found that between the 2004 elections and the end of 2006, prominent conservative religious leaders were interviewed, quoted or mentioned in 2.8 times as many stories as were prominent moderate or liberal religious leaders.
In television news, the numbers were even more surprising: for every story that mentioned or quoted a religious progressive, 3.8 stories mentioned or quoted conservatives. The difference was less dramatic in newspaper stories, but conservatives still outweighed "progressives" by a factor of 2.7-to-1."
This from Associate Baptist Press, your nearly daily source for the latest and greatest updates. What's happening? Is it that reporters in "progressive" areas are not as prone to consulting religious leaders on the issues of the day? Is it that those of us who might be considered liberal religious leaders are simply not clamoring for the microphone? I know that when I first arrived in Newton I reached out to all the local presses and newsfolks that I knew of and offered up whatever I could in terms of resources and availability. My area tends not to be as engaged in the hot-button issues that conservative religious leaders are so enmeshed in, though. I do believe it's up to those of us who sit on the side of liberality to let folks know we are here and available, and it is wise to keep writing letters to the editors when it matters. Even those of us in the Baptist tradition, who cannot claim to speak for all our people on every issue, can let folks know where we serve and what our understanding of the gospel truths are in relation to the issues of the day.
Of course, on the other hand, it can be really damaging to always be consulted on every little thing. Sooner or later you are going to say something that makes you look like...well, like what you are. And often there are parts of our personalities that are better left, well, personal. There is also a pervading sense that folks in the Northeast have little need for those of us who live a religious life.
We are more outside the systems that we used to be part of running. While a reporter in the deep south might be more prone to consult a local preacher on a particular tragedy or issue (and I have NO statistical evidence to support this idea) it seems the reporters up here do nothing of the kind. And if they do, they go to the same people over and over, which probably makes sense in terms of ease and familiarity.
I maintain that the biggest reason we have been marginalized is that we have allowed ourselves to be. Can we use kernels like this as impetus to change that?
Friday, June 1, 2007
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Why am I here?
I began this blog in preparation for what has been billed in some circles as the "last desperate hope for non-SBC Baptists," the New Baptist Covenant.
Who's us? Well, in my case, American Baptists. I am a cradle American Baptist, having grown up in the Union Baptist Church of Mystic, Connecticut (see links) where I was baptized into the faith in 1981. I pursued various secular goals for a while before recognizing a call to Seminary at Andover Newton Theological School, which led to ordained ministry here at First Baptist Church in Newton.
I am a disciple of the writings of C.S. Lewis, Walter Rauschenbusch, and William Sloan Coffin. As such, I am a student of "liberality," as so well expressed in the recent Christianity for the Rest of Us by Diana Butler Bass. That means I personally believe in welcome and inclusion of ALL persons into the Christian faith, even the folks I disagree completely with.
Is the title self-referential? No, not by a long shot. However,"...a vast number of folks have adopted the appellation 'Baptist' to mean a whole bunch of things that have little to do with what it meant to be Baptist in the first place.Who will be the last Baptist standing? That's unknown, but I can assure you: we'll have to choose from among the available Baptists. All three or so."
2 comments:
Maybe we need to start speaking for ourselves. When conservative baptists use the microphone, they act as if they are speaking for ALL baptists. You are not going to change them. What's the sad part is the media and regular citizens who don't know any better, assume they ARE representing all baptists. That is the sad part.
Is it their fault? Do we allow that to happen and not speak up for ourselves? I also think the media likes to go to the outspoken conservatives because they know the "ministers" will say something to spark some controversial reaction.
Thanks Linda, and I think this is exactly what the Covenant is going to do--change the perception that one group speaks for all. At least that's the hope. Oh, wait, MY hope...
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