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50 Media and religion in transition

material relating to transcendent and spiritual, if not religious, themes. 19
These were followed by prominent spirituality-themed series such as Buffy
the Vampire Slayer and Joan of Arcadia.
Similar trends could be seen in film and popular music. As an example,
Joan Osborn’s 1995 “One of Us” explored the meaning of God in contem-
porary life, and was accompanied by a provocative music video dense with
religious symbolism and imagery. More famously, Madonna’s 1989 “Like a
Prayer” video pushed new boundaries in bringing traditional religious
imagery into the popular music context. Irish singer Sinead O’Connor
created an international sensation in 1992 by the act of civil disobedience of
tearing up a photo of the Pope on national television. Film has always been
20
an important medium for the exploration of religious themes and images,
and recent years have seen this trend continue. In addition to a range of
mainstream feature films, alternative films such as The Fast Runner and
Whale Rider pushed the envelope of religiously or spiritually significant film,
combining those themes with alternative voices and cultures. 21
To what can we attribute the sea change of which these trends were
emblematic? It is clear that broadcasting – and the media industries more
generally – came to be able to imagine religion and spirituality in unprece-
dented ways. This is due in part to the increasing fragmentation of
audiences, channels, media artifacts, and services as the twentieth century
ended. As “the media” became less monolithic, they began thinking of
themselves in less monolithic ways. Changes in broadcast regulation
contributed, as well, as the 1996 Telecommunications Act and later legisla-
tion and rulings came to remove many of the “public service” expectations
22
that had applied to broadcasting for most of the century. The assumption
that broadcasting was somehow responsible for the presentation of
content in the public interest had enforced a sense of responsibility on the
part of broadcasters for deciding what was appropriate in the way of reli-
gion along with other things. This whole atmosphere has now changed,
though there continues to be a vibrant debate over the responsibility
broadcasters have to the public for maintaining social and cultural
values. In the case of religion, anyway, in the twenty-first century, broad-
23
casters and other media no longer exercise the level of scrutiny once
applied to religious and spiritual content. At the same time, the diversifica-
tion and commodification of the media marketplace has opened the door
to a panoply of new programs and services. This, combined with a set of
social and cultural trends in the world of religion, has led to the emergence
of a new, more vibrant, and more extensive media marketplace of religion.

Changes in religion
A study released in late 2003 attracted a great deal of attention with its
finding that the number of Americans who answer “none” when asked