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 Faith in Media: Improving Coverage of Islam and Other Religions
Blogs from the Conference in Istanbul, Turkey: December 14 to 16
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| God and Country: Panel Discussion
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Location: Blogs Faith In Media Live Blog!Faith In Media Live Blog! |
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| Posted by: mmathew |
12/16/2008 3:22 PM |
2/3 of Americans, says David Briggs, don't want pastors endorsing one candidate over another. The development of the megachurch is an example of a demographic shift. It reaches people from all sorts of backgrounds, affluence, etc. They're not coming for political reasons. They have also been able to reach the Asian community in Cambodia, Thailand, etc.
Ari explains that a megachurch is a church that has music, social services, children programs, teen programs, daycare, etc. There are even smaller churches within the bigger church. Evangelicals are those who have had a personal conversion experience. People who are "born again." They tend to take the Bible literally. They are on the ultra-convservative side.
Question from Yemen: the non-religious seem to be coming back to religion. He thinks Obama has a good dialogue with religious leaders. Does this mean the U.S. is becoming more religious?
Briggs: He thinks that is a good thought and that religion did play a role in the election. He says religion will come back into the public sphere. Had McCain been elected, the Republicans would have abandoned evangelicals. McCain's loss gives religious conservatives a greater voice in society.
Antonio Bernhardt, FOX News, comments that some of his friends say that they "are spiritual." What does that mean?
Ari comments on Colin Powell's comments that defended Obama when people said he was a Muslim. He was praised for having said, "So what" if he was a Muslim?
Now we break for lunch. See you in an hour when we chat about Islam on the Web : Religion in the Digital Age. |
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