Media Representations of Religion, Spirituality and Non-Religion in Australia

Abstract

<jats:p>Despite predictions of decline, religion has featured prominently in the public sphere and the media since the events of 11 September 2001. Previous research on media and religion in Australia post-September 11 has focused largely on its negative impacts, particularly on Muslim communities. This article, in contrast, examines media representations of religion, spirituality and non-religion on an ‘ordinary day’, of 17 September, over a three-year period in the city of Melbourne. Its findings reveal that religion, in its myriad forms, permeates many aspects of Australian public life, but in ways which do not always reflect the actual religious composition and lived experiences of worldview diversity in Australia.</jats:p>

Worldviews Complexity in COVID-19 Times: Australian Media Representations of Religion, Spirituality and Non-Religion in 2020

“…Similar trends and findings were revealed by the Melbourne component of the 'Religion on an Ordinary Day' (RoD) study (Weng and Halafoff 2020) and are further examined in this Worldviews Complexity in COVID-19 Times study. Weng and Halafoff (2020) in their study of Melbourne newspapers on September 17, in 2013September 17, in , 2014September 17, in and 2015, as part of the international RoD study, found that Christianity, Islam and Judaism received a high level of media attention in news stories and across genres, thereby reflecting their higher status in Australia, compared to other religions. This news coverage was often sensationalised and focused on controversies related to sexual abuse (Christianity, Judaism) or terrorism (Islam).…”

“…To locate news articles for this media analysis, selected keywords related to religion, spirituality and non-religion were applied in searches via Factiva, a print and digital newspaper database available through Deakin University's library. These keywords were informed by previous media research and adapted according to the purpose of this paper (Knott et al 2013;Weng 2019Weng , 2020Weng and Halafoff 2020). Knott et al (2013) applied a broad categorisation to the concept of 'religion' in their Media Portrayals of Religions and the Secular Sacred study, viewed through three categories of Conventional Religion, Common Religion and the Secular Sacred.…”

“…This news coverage was often sensationalised and focused on controversies related to sexual abuse (Christianity, Judaism) or terrorism (Islam). Weng and Halafoff (2020) observed that this negative treatment of mainstream Abrahamic faiths reflects a recent rise in questioning of religious authority, as a result of its association with abuse of power and both direct and structural violence. References to Christianity also frequently occurred in place and football team names, in sports in general, in the arts, and in quizzes and crosswords.…”

“…References to non-religion and the secular (coded as Secular Sacred) were much less frequent, but also tended to be positive, perhaps indicating that they were more socially acceptable than traditional religions. They referred to nature, democracy, human dignity, and football, which were often described as Religion-Like and frequently included Christian references (Weng and Halafoff 2020). Weng and Halafoff (2020, pp.…”

“…These include a national, politically conservative paper The Australian, a Melbourne-based left-leaning paper The Age, and a Melbourne-based right-leaning paper The Herald Sun. A mixed-method thematic quantitative and qualitative approach, using targeted keywords related to religion, spirituality and non-religion identified in previous international (Knott et al 2013; Poole and Weng forthcoming) and local media analyses (Weng 2019;Weng 2020;Weng and Halafoff 2020), was applied in this study. The findings provide insights into Melbourne media representations of religion, spirituality and nonreligion during the pandemic, and religious, spiritual and non-religious responses to COVID-19.…”