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This volume explores the contradiction between the news coverage given to issues of religion, particularly since 2001 in relation to issues such as terrorism, politics, security and gender, and the fact of its apparent decline according to Census data. Based on media research in Australia, and offering comparisons with the UK, the author demonstrates that media discussions overlook the diversity that exists within religions, particularly the country's main religion, Christianity, and presents religion according to specific interpretations shaped by race, class and gender, which in turn result in very limited understandings of religion itself. Drawing on understandings of the sacred as a non-negotiable value present in religious and secular form, Media Perceptions of Religious Changes in Australia calls for a broader sociological perspective on religion and will appeal to scholars of sociology and media studies with interests in religion and public life.
List of contents
1. Problematising ‘Religion’
2. Historical and Current Perspectives on Australian Religion and Spirituality
3. Changing Perspectives on Religion
4. Australian Religion in the Public Sphere
5. Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Q&A Program: A Case Study
6. Changing Nature of Australian Religion
7. Mediation and Mediatisation of Religion
8. The Sacred in Evolution
9. Comparison with ‘Media Religion’ in Britain
10. The Way Forward
Appendix 1: Coding Categories
Appendix 2: Coding: Topic of Discussions
Appendix 3: Transcription Convention
Appendix 4: Program References
About the author
Enqi Weng is a Research Fellow on the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Project ‘Religious Diversity in Australia: Strategies to Maintain Social Cohesion’. She teaches media studies and religious studies units at Deakin University, Australia.
Summary
This volume explores the contradiction between the news coverage given to issues of religion, particularly since 2001 in relation to issues such as terrorism, politics, security and gender, and the fact of its apparent decline according to Census data. Based on media research in Australia, and offering comparisons with the UK, the author demonstrates that media discussions overlook the diversity that exists within religions, particularly the country’s main religion, Christianity, and presents religion according to specific interpretations shaped by race, class and gender, which in turn result in very limited understandings of religion itself. Drawing on understandings of the sacred as a non-negotiable value present in religious and secular form, Media Perceptions of Religious Changes in Australia calls for a broader sociological perspective on religion and will appeal to scholars of sociology and media studies with interests in religion and public life.
