[asa] Re: Why Christians Are Viewed Poorly

At 5/21/2006 07:03 PM, gordon brown wrote:
>One factor shaping the general impression that people have of conservative
>Christians is that many of them may get their input from the various news
>media. What sort of events are likely to make the headlines? Agreeing with
>science is much less likely to be deemed newsworthy than disputing it.
>

>Gordon leaves an interesting ambiguity regarding which media might cause
>people outside of conservative Christianity to have a negative view of
>conservative Christianity?
We can all think of reports that rely on straw men, or display a reporter's
lack of knowledge of the issues. But in my experience the other side can
be just as damaging to others' views of us. Too many of my experiences
with conservative media, and even some with specifically Christian radio
have involved just plain meanness by the people speaking. Some also
exhibit lack of knowledge of the issues as well.

An experience in graduate school keeps me somewhat generous towards people
who lack knowledge of the issues. In a seminar on American Religious
History I felt like I was in my element. My advisor taught the class and
often looked to me and a particular colleague for our insights as
"insiders" or "participant observers." That ended abruptly the week we
addressed Pentecostalism; I knew nothing about how to speak, or even think,
about Pentecostal phenomena.
Peace,
Randy Gabrielse

D. Randall Gabrielse
Director, Areopagus
RandyG@ISU-Areopagus.org
515-290-0607
www.ISU-Areopagus.org

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Received on Tue Jul 11 22:07:10 2006