Religious Reinforcement

When I was researching reinforcement, I noticed that no "scholars" acknowledge that the media reinforce religious stereotypes. They will freely write about religion reinforcing negative ideas such as homophobia and the always hated "sanctity of life," but terms like Christian Right and Islamic Terrorist appear in objective news articles unnoticed.

I wondered why this happened, and the more I read, the more I noticed hostility toward religion from journalism. It ranged from religion being viewed as a negative influence on politics to being outright violent. One writer said religion was the only cause of the 9/11 attacks. Another blamed religion for the fighting in Ireland.

Still others say that CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) disguises itself as news while actually pushing a partisan agenda. Of course, I couldn't help but notice that a channel called Christian Broadcasting isn't really hiding anything.

I plan to point out some examples of the polarized points of view displayed in the media. I also want to acknowledge some of the figures that appear frequently to turn people against religion (Jerry Falwell, Osama Bin Laden, etc.). Even though I probably won't be able to figure out why the media portrays religion so negatively, I at least want to bring the problem to people's attention.