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The Oversimplification of Religious Faith In Modern Media

The Oversimplification of Religious Faith In Modern Media

Last updated on: September 16, 2025 at 9:26 am by Henry Karlson

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The Oversimplification of Religious Faith In Modern Media 2025-09-16T09:26:31-05:00 Henry Karlson

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When I look back to what I understood about other religions when I was young, I realize how I was influenced by how the media often portrayed them, and portrayed them incorrectly. I believed Buddhism was a nihilistic religion. I thought that Hinduism could only be a polytheistic religion. I believed Islam was a violent religion. At best, the media took a particular representation of a religion and used it to represent the whole; it ignored the complexities and differing views within each religious faith tradition, generating, instead, a simplified presentation of it. For example, Buddhism is not nihilistic, but Buddhists will argue with each other, and in doing so, warn opposing viewpoints they risk promoting nihilism; simplifying this, the media presents Buddhism as representing various forms of nihilism. Hinduism comes in many forms, some of which are simple and straight polytheism, but many others are henotheistic, monotheistic, panentheistic, or pantheistic. While we know of various violent kinds of Islamic representation in the world, we often are not shown those who oppose the violence, those like Badshah Khan, who promoted peacemaking as being a part of the Islamic faith.

Catholicism certainly suffers similar media misrepresentations as other religions. The media influenced the way I saw Catholicism as a kid (while, of course, finding my misperceptions reinforced by my Protestant background). I only came to understand Catholicism and its theological teachings and practices when I started reading and studying the history of Christian thought. After I became a Catholic, I often saw the media misrepresenting Catholicism by the way it judged statements made by various Popes. They would try to take a statement by the Pope and suggest the Pope is going against traditional Catholic teaching and cause general confusion. A common example of this is the way many Popes point out hell does not have to be seen as a particular place and instead, it should be seen as a state of being. It is a terrible experience to have, one should try to avoid it, but that doesn’t mean the hell-state of being has to be understood as being found in a particular place, such as at the center of the Earth. More than once, I have seen a Pope point this out, and more than once I’ve seen the media suggest that this means the Pope has rejected Catholic teaching about hell. To a lesser extent, criticism over limbo has also been seen to represent a fundamental change in Catholic teaching, despite limbo never actually being a part of Catholic dogmatics (even if it were a rather popular belief).

Another great example of how the media does not understand Catholicism is found in the way it misunderstands the sacraments such as the eucharist: the media suggests Catholic teaching of the real presence, the reality of the transformation of bread and wine into the body of Christ, is to be understood as a physical change. Theologically, that has never been Catholic teaching: Catholics realize that the accidents, the physical properties, remain those of bread and wine. The eucharist is truly Christ, and there is a transformation which takes place, one which brings the real presence of Christ to those who partake of communion. That presence is a sacramental presence, not a physical one. Most in the media do not understand this, which is why they will proclaim it is a disbelief in the eucharist being presented when they find someone saying that the real presence is not a physical presence. Similarly, the media does not understand that there is always a symbolic element to the sacraments, including the eucharist; they think symbols must be contrasted with reality, so that if someone points out Catholic teaching indicates there is a symbolic dimension to the sacraments, including the eucharist, the media once again claims they have found a Catholic denying Catholic teaching. Both of these mistakes can be seen in the way bad surveys are made, surveys which lead to the media to falsely claim most Catholics do not believe in the real presence.

To me, it seems the media often engages religion, any religion, by trying to find a simple, and therefore reductionistic, form of the religion represent the authentic form of any religion. This means, the media tends to look at religion in the same way fundamentalists do, and often, it does so by embracing the fundamentalistic representation of religion because that representation is pre-made for them, leaving the reporter less work or study to do before doing their write-up. Not all who report on religion do this. Indeed, there are many good reporters who look beyond such simplifications, but, when they do this, they often lose their audience, for their audience wants that simplification to justify their own reaction (either in support or against the religion under discussion).

Thus, religion is generally represented in an over-simplified, fundamentalistic manner. Anyone who supports that representation is seen as “traditional” or “conservative,” and anyone who questions it is seen as a “radical” or “liberal.” With such a mindset, equivocations emerge; those who challenge a simple view of religion are declared liberals, and as liberals, political motives and agendas are predicated upon them – both by the media, but also, in internal debates coming from the religion itself. Within Catholicism, we can see this in the way Pope Francis was treated: every time he said something which went against a simplified, fundamentalistic approach to religion, he was declared a “liberal;” once that was label was accepted, his other teachings were questioned and treated as also being “liberal,” leading those who considered themselves as being “conservative” to reject his teachings, even ones which can be seen to be directly connected to what Christ taught (such as the preferential option for the poor). This explains how and why many rejected his teaching on the death penalty; they have a very simple understanding of the past, one which ignores the internal debates which existed since patristic times; having done that, they suggest Francis taught something new, something non-tradition, and so something “liberal” which must be rejected (ignoring that Francis was in continuity with his immediate predecessors).

Religion, in this way, often becomes a tool for political agendas and debates. The media helps perpetuate poor representations of religions, ones which over-simplifies religion. This helps those political groups which want their followers to lack nuance, not just in regards religion, but political involvement as well. It is important to recognize there are many ways to engage a particular religious tradition, and people within a particular religion will disagree with each other on many issues while still being of the same religious faith. We must not fall for a “No True Scotsman” fallacy in any fashion, such as those who would suggest that either “conservatives” or the “liberals” cannot be an adherent of a particular religious faith. This is not to say they equally following all the teachings of their faith faith; they may or may not, but that is a question the media must not answer, rather, the media must let each faith tradition determine that for themselves.

* This Is Another Post From My Personal (Informal) Reflections And Speculations Series

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N.B.: While I read comments to moderate them, I rarely respond to them. If I don’t respond to your comment directly, don’t assume I am unthankful for it. I appreciate it. But I want readers to feel free to ask questions, and hopefully, dialogue with each other. I have shared what I wanted to say, though some responses will get a brief reply by me, or, if I find it interesting and something I can engage fully, as the foundation for another post. I have had many posts inspired or improved upon thanks to my readers.

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