CASE STUDY - RELIGION IN MEDIA : PART 1
BBC News – Archbishops Doubt Morality of Iraq War.
By Hammad Khan
The news of a possible war on Iraq has received a lot of mixed opinions around the world. Some totally support the idea, and want a new government in place of Saddam’s. Others totally disagree, and instead want a regime change in the United States. But then there are people who feel words should be exchanged, not bullets.
Those who want peace are average people. They range from teachers, musicians, to skilled labourers. Yet, there are other peace activists. They are the Imams, Priests, & Rabbis. The leaders of religions, and for some the spokespeople for humanity. It is the religious leaders who help us to the right path. So, it comes as a surprise that these leaders are against a war, even though some world leaders feel they are doing humanity a favour. These are the same leaders who claim to be deeply religious. But, they go astray when it comes to listening to their religion’s spokespeople.
When I went to BBC’s website on Wednesday the 19th of 2003, I saw an article I was quite intrigued by. “ARCHBISHOPS DOUBT MORALITY OF IRAQ WAR”, it said. The fact that it was placed on the main page made me read the complete article, something I rarely do, as the latter parts of news articles go off topic. This article instead stayed on topic.
The article focused on two prominent Archbishops in the UK who doubt the morality of war. One, Dr Rowan Williams clearly expressed his opposition to a possible war due to the lack of morality in the evidence put forth. On the other side of the story Archbishop Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’ Connor somewhat played the role of a politician by not commenting on his stance. By reading the article I get the feeling both Archbishops oppose war, one opposing war more than the other.
But I was getting uneasy while reading it. Sure, it’s a great thing when a religious leader opposes war, and promotes a peaceful outcome. But where were the other religious leaders? Was it that they didn’t care? Surely it wasn’t. Every religion opposes war, so how come I wasn’t hearing their side of the story. How come I didn’t see any articles about Rabbis or Imams standing up for peace? If Christian leaders made news, why didn’t the leaders of the second and third largest religions in the west make news?
Maybe I visited BBC at the wrong time. They are a very reliable news
source; maybe they had a whole article about Rabbis and Imams earlier. Being
confident I’d find something, I dug in to the many news databases that scatter
the Internet. Sadly, I came up empty handed. I won’t be biased, so I’ll admit
there were portions of articles, which had Rabbis and Imams opposing war, but
the truth struck me. There were no articles dedicated to Rabbis and Imams opposing
war. None. Meanwhile, every other page I clicked on had an article about
Priests opposing war, or the Pope sending an envoy to Iraq as a peace effort.
Nothing from organizations such as JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace) or MPF (Muslim Peace
Fellowship).
War may soon be a
reality, but amidst this we can see a bias in our media against some religions
of the world. Some people viewing this article might mistakenly think
Christians are the only people opposed to a war, but in reality people of all
religions are opposed to a war. In times like these instead of having articles
focused on one group or religion, they should give a fair perspective from the
other religions that exist.
Bibliography
Unknown Author “Archbishops
doubt morality of Iraq War” BBC World News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2781783.stm (20 Feb 2003)