Page 12 - Religion, Media, and the Public Sphere

Introduction

Birgit Meyer and Annelies Moors

Modernist assumptions about the decline of religion as a public force notwith-
standing, religions are thriving all over the world. Pentecostal, Buddhist, Mus-
lim, Jewish, Hindu, and indigenous movements publicize their message through
sound and image, and instigate alternative politics of belonging, often in com-
petition with the modern nation-state. How does the accessibility of new mass
media, offered by new global infrastructures and media technologies as well as
state policies of media liberalization, facilitate the public articulation of reli-
gion? What role does the crisis of the modern state play in allowing for the pub-
lic role of religions?
The relationship between religion and media has recently been subject to
more thorough re®ection, in academia as well as in public debate. In the 1980s
religion and electronic media were by and large seen as belonging to different
spheres (belief and the culture industry), with the notable exception of Ameri-
can televangelists, who were, however, dismissed as hopelessly conservative,
even ridiculous (Harding 1994) by critical public opinion. Today we witness not
only a spread of the televangelical format in Pentecostal-charismatic move-
ments in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, but also the deliberate and skillful
adoption of various electronic and digital media—cassettes, radio, video, tele-
vision, and the Internet—and the formats and styles associated with these me-
dia, by Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, or indigenous movements. It seems
that, as a New York Times article of May 16, 2002, aptly expressed it, at the wake
of the third millennium we cannot help but realize that “religion ¤nds tech-
nology” (Biersdorjer 2002). At the same time, as we are reminded, for instance,
by the prominence of Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ and the rise of religious
theme parks worldwide, religion also features prominently in cinematographic
and other forms of entertainment.
This volume explores the entanglement of religion and media by focusing on
a number of salient examples. Jewish ultra-orthodox Ashkenazim, for instance,
have successfully marketed their literature, building on claims to “authenticity”
and tradition, whereas ultra-orthodox Sephardim have adopted pirate-radio to
reach out to others. The latter, employing a very different style grounded in
popular culture, present themselves as an alternative to both the secular estab-
lishment and the more textually oriented Ashkenazim. Elsewhere other religious
groups have also realized the potential of radio broadcasting to spread their
messages. The struggles between religious groups in post-apartheid South Af-