Checking In on the Religious Left
There hasn’t been a lot of hoopla over the “religious left” lately. Before, during, and immediately after the 2004 elections there was a lot of press coverage and soul-searching about building (or giving voice to) an alternative to the “Religious Right”. Web sites were started, books were sold, and debates were held as to who exactly is included in this political counter-movement. But while religious piety and literacy has certainly become an important issue in the upcoming elections, there really doesn’t seem to be any sort of influential cohesive left-leaning religious coalition that would compare to the influence conservative Christians currently enjoy within the Republican Party.
Now Media Matters (a progressive fact-checking organization) has issued a report to explain why they feel left-leaning religious leaders seem to remain marginalized (despite their best efforts). According to Media Matter’s report, a main culprit is the fact that conservative religious voices dominate newspaper and television coverage.
“Since the media increased their focus on religion and politics after the 2004 election, we decided to examine the period beginning on the day after that election and continuing through the end of 2006. The data demonstrate that conservative religious leaders comprise the overwhelming majority of religious perspectives presented in news coverage. For this time period, we examined print media coverage in major newspapers and televised coverage on the three major networks, three major cable channels, and PBS. We looked at all news stories that included mentions, quotes, or interviews of 20 major religious leaders — 10 conservative religious leaders and 10 progressive religious leaders.”
Conservative religious voices in the mainstream media outnumber progressive voices by nearly three to one according to the study. A figure that, according to Media Matters, doesn’t represent the reality of religious life in America.
“The actual data on religious belief and observance in America illuminates a picture at odds with the media’s representation. According to a 2006 survey by the Center for American Values in Public Life, only 22 percent of Americans are traditionalist in their religious beliefs, whereas a full 50 percent of Americans can be classified as centrist in their religious orientation, 18 percent as modernist, and 10 percent as secular or nonreligious.”
But is this because the press is biased towards conservative religious leaders, or is it simply the religious version of “if it bleeds it leads”? Terry Mattingly, a religious journalist and blogger at Get Religion, claims that the “bad news” of the Religious Right pre-disposed it for a greater piece of the religion-coverage pie.
“The views of the Religious Left represent, for most journalists, the logical, smart, ordinary, positions on the political issues at hand. Journalists cover the bad more than they cover the good, because the bad represents the strange, bizarre, even horrifying, side of life. The Religious Right represents the tacky hordes of fundamentalists from blue zip codes who want to sack Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City and Washington, D.C.”
From a journalistic point of view, moderate and nuanced reactions to religious matters is about as exciting as “man pets dog”. This is why grandstanding atheists get far more coverage than polite ministers. I would even venture to say this is why modern Paganism gets as much news coverage as it does, at least its different and somewhat controversial. Religion reporter Gary Stern says that if the nascent “religious left” wants to get more coverage they need to learn a lesson or two from their counterparts on the right.
“But liberal leaders can also do a much better job of explaining what they believe. Get to the point. Make your case. Quote from Scripture like conservatives do. Be passionate. Make the media pay attention.”
Or maybe invite some Pagans to your next press-conference, that would surely shake things up a bit (and maybe entice a few more reporters to show up).
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