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Sunday's Big Event
You could have knocked me over with a feather (but I am glad you didn't)! Who
would have thought it? In our culture, where many seem obsessed with sporting
events, who would have thought that in 1990 attendance at all US sporting events
equaled 388 million. But attendance for the same year at religious events
equaled 5.2 billion (yes, "billion" with a "b"). In 1992, 4 billion dollars was
spent on sports, a huge sum to be sure, but much less than the 56.7 billion
dollars spent or donated to religious concerns.
So why does the local evening news devote 15 minutes to news and current events,
5 minutes to weather, 5 minutes to sports, and only touch upon religion when the
story has to do with current events? Why is there so much media attention given
to sports while so little is given to religion? Why are there so many more
sports writers and telecasters than religious writers and reporters? Why are
religious values so seldom mentioned on television shows, and when they are more
often than not, they are ridiculed?
Is it because TV simply refuses to allow positive coverage of religious events,
personalities and ideals? Certainly there are exceptions, but that's all they
are; exceptions. The religious segment of our society dwarfs the
deviant sex practitioner segment, or the feminists segment, or the animal rights segment. You
sure wouldn't know it by watching the media though.
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press guarantees the right of those making
the decisions in the media to be one-sided if they so choose, and they evidently
have made the choice. It may not be responsible or honest, but it is their
right. But where truth is scorned, freedom ultimately suffers. As Someone once
said (Someone of whom the media knows little about), "Know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free."
By Jon W. Quinn
The Final Page
From Expository Files 2.3; March, 1995
