Religion in Journalism

I think journalists definitely need to put more of an emphasis on faith.  That's not to say that they need to declare their faith or even write from a faithful viewpoint.  I'm just saying that it is a basic and enduring component of life for every single person on the planet.  Every person has some kind of belief.  Even an atheist or agnostic believes in those views.  Therefore, religion shouldn't be such a taboo subject.  I feel that it can "enhance coverage of almost any topic" as this article states.  I feel like religion needs to be less of a topic that is an occasional factor in a story and instead focus on it more often.  Religion and beliefs often drive people's actions.  Even politics has a place for religion that needs to be reported on.  A candidate's faith may influence his or her actions and a voter's faith may influence his or her vote.  Denying this fundamental element of human life is detrimental to the field of journalism and to journalists as a whole.

There are many solid reasons why religion stories need to be covered.  This article points out a few, one of which I would like to share:

6 in 10 Americans say that journalism is very important in their lives.  Clearly, this shows that there is a need for reporting on religion.  Newspapers report regularly on sports and business and other aspects of life, so it makes sense that religion needs to be covered as well.  I think that a lot of papers and news outlets do a good job of reporting it sometimes, but I do feel that it needs to be more instrumental in our articles as journalists.

There does need to be balance in journalism which covers religion, it's true.  But it's also true that without a focus on religion, there is really less for people to connect to.