Describe the variety of specifically religious programmes on terrestrial T.V.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Wajahat Akhtar, 11L Page of 9 5/1/2007

RELIGION AND THE MEDIA: G.C.S.E. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COURSEWORK

QUESTION (ONE) PART (A)

There are many different types of religious programmes, and seeing that there is so much choice over the five terrestrial channels, the importance of religious television has started to drop. The decline in the viewing of sacred programmes brings forward two major questions: Are people less interested in watching such programmes, or are they, as a society, not as religious as they once were?

Religious programmes have always been present for as long as the television has been around. An example of a religious programme is a magazine show. The typical features of a magazine show are a presenter, comments on a variety of different issues relating to religion and faith, interviews with celebrities as well as personal stories from ordinary people. An example of a magazine show is “The Heaven and Earth Show”, normally shown around mid-day on a Sunday.

Before watching the show, I believed that the audience of this programme would be of an old age, and would be people who are very religious, whereas after watching the show, I saw that there was no specific target audience, as the audience was people of all ages. The show concentrates on four main things, reviews, interviews, news and a viewer phone session.

The news section talks about topics in which the public has shown interest, which they review. “The Heaven and Earth Show” also investigates about different parts of religion like the spiritual side. Many famous people and ordinary citizens are both interviewed about their religion, and/or on what they think about a specific religious issue. Ultimately, the phone in section is where people phone in and state their views on an important subject. Conclusively, a magazine show, in my opinion, is very interesting and is not always about religion.

Another type of a religious programme is a religious documentary, which has examples like “Everyman” and “Heart of he Matter.” This type of programme sometimes does not even look at religious viewpoints and usually displays a debate or a documentary about something, which is important in the public’s eye e.g. the Iraq crisis at the moment.

Religious documentaries look at all the viewpoints to then construct a list of arguments for and against the matter. Their ending is quite stereotypical, as they seem to end in such a way that allows the viewer to make up his/her own mind.

I am of the opinion that because broadcasters desire to show what society wants to see, new types of religious programmes like religious documentaries and magazine shows, have started to be shown on terrestrial T.V.

Worship programmes, such as “Songs of Praise”, which includes Church ceremonies and hymn singing, have been present from the first days of the television. Conversely, as society has undergone a dramatic change (for example society has now become multi-faith) the stereotype of the typical religious programme has also been altered.

Due to this alteration that has occurred in society, worship programmes have been forced to change. “Songs of Praise”, showed around 6-7pm, has started to include new features. These include features like human-interest stories from ordinary people, inspirational music performances, and how faith has affected their lives. “Songs of Praise” analyses many different dominations of Christianity, such as Catholics etc.

The traditional features of the programme are still shown, for instance the audience can sing along with the hymns as the words actually appear on the television screen. Overall worship programmes have changed by a considerable amount as they have now started to attract viewers from a younger age group. Additionally, religion has always played a role in society; however, the role of religion upon society is now very different to that of the traditional role; consequently numerous new varied religious programmes are being displayed.

Traditionally, society was regarded as strictly religious Christians, and people attended Church and prayed there more often. A recent poll displays that 85% of our society still have faith in God or a superior being. Even though this displays that the majority of people still believe in God, we can’t categorise them as strictly religious. The change in society has altered the way that people view their religion, and modern-day society can be classified as indistinctly religious. I believe this for several reasons, initially people do not pray as often as they used too. Secondly, many people only focus on their religion, during festivals and religious events. Thirdly and lastly, people do not visit their holy places of worship, as often as they used too.

As a consequence of society becoming indistinctly religious, the God slot has officially been eliminated. The God slot is a period of time every day where worship programmes are displayed on T.V. Conversely, due to society not wanting to view such programmes, the only enduring worship programme, “Songs of Praise”, has been forced to modernise. At first “Songs of Praise” only illustrated Church ceremonies, but it now concentrates on moral issues and interviewing celebrities, which clearly demonstrates the enormous influence that society has on religious television.

The fact that society has become increasingly multi-ethnic and multi-religious has led to many ...

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The fact that society has become increasingly multi-ethnic and multi-religious has led to many people converting to other religions, which they find right for themselves. Broadcasters must respect this, thus they have began to display religious programmes that do not just focus on Christianity.

Conclusively, the variety of religious programmes has increased from just worship programmes to a range of different shows, such as, magazine shows and documentaries etc. I believe that society converting from a strictly religious one to an indistinctly religious one is the main reason as to why this change has occurred.

QUESTION (ONE) PART (B)

Analyse and explain the way in which a religious or moral issue has been dealt with in a television soap opera or the national daily press.

I have decided to explain a religious and moral issue that has been dealt with in the soap opera, “EastEnders”. In “EastEnders”, Gary and Lynne are husband and wife, where Jason is the ex-fiancé of Lynne. After a long time Jason comes back into Lynne’s life and she is tempted to meet him again, which she does on numerous occasions. As Lynne knows that Gary will never allow her to meet with Jason, she has to persistently lie to Gary about where she is going. Gradually, Lynne and Jason’s relationship gets so strong that it reaches a point where they have sexual intercourse. This causes Lynne to feel enormously guilty concerning the whole thing but Jason reassures her that they are doing nothing unjust or incorrect. Lynne knows that her relationship with Jason is totally immoral yet continues to see Jason. At the end of this whole incident she is left with two choices, to carry on seeing Jason, or to go back to her lawfully wedded partner, Gary.

The issue displayed in “EastEnders” can be seen as both a religious and moral one. The religious issue is simple. In a Christian marriage the husband and wife make vows in which the wife pledges to entrust herself completely to her husband. These vows are considered sacred as they are being made to God, and thus to break them is breaking a promise with God, hence committing a big sin. When Lynne starts to regularly meet and occasionally (maybe once) have sex with Jason, she breaks her vows and also commits adultery; hence violating the regulations of Christianity, her religion.

Adultery is basically when a person is sexually active with anyone apart from his or her partner and the commandment; “thou shall not commit adultery” is a clear statement that proves that in Christianity adultery is forbidden. The idea of a marriage vow being broken by committing adultery also indicates how Christianity is strictly against adultery, as breaking the vow is breaking a promise with God.

Similarly, Islam also forbids adultery, which is considered a great sin. Muslims believe that sex should only happen between married couples that intend to start a family. They base their beliefs on their holy book, the Quran, which clearly states that the above is correct. The Quran also states that those who break the marriage contract, by committing adultery will be punished in the “hereafter”.

The issue regarding Lynne and Jason’s relationship is also a moral one, as Lynne is capable of distinguishing right from wrong, and in spite of this, she carries on meeting with Jason, understanding that she will probably carry out sexual acts with him.

Personally, I believe there are two probable solutions to this dilemma. I believe that Lynne should decide who she is really in love with, Gary or Jason, as deep down in her heart she knows whom she really loves. By having an affair with a person other than her marriage partner, Lynne is breaking the law of Christianity.

The first solution is, if Lynne, deep down in her heart, loves Gary and is certain of her feelings then she should finish her affair with her ex- fiancé, Jason, and go back to Gary. On the contrary, Lynne must not keep the affair with Jason as a secret, and instead should tell Gary everything and also why she was tempted to have an affair with Jason.

The second solution is, if Lynne looks deep down into her heart and finds no affections for Gary, but a lot for Jason, then she must talk to Gary and make it clear that she does not love him and why this is. After doing this, the married couple should get a divorce, and then Lynne can build up her relationship with Jason.

The decision, however, has to be well thought as it will not only influence the future life of Lynne herself, but may also influence the future relationship of Gary with other women.

In my opinion, religious views on the Jason and Lynne affair were not portrayed at all within the soap opera; besides the reality that Lynne committed adultery. The idea of Lynne not being able to control her emotions and thus having no strength of unity, was clearly shown, as was Lynne’s lack of sticking by her vows. Gary was displayed as a lazy husband but at the same time he deeply loved Lynne, and the thought of her cheating on him, broke Gary’s heart.

From this I can say that the view, which is clear and has been offered before us, is regarding relationships and how a couple can make their love life a pleasant experience for one another, or on the other hand, they can make it a complete mess, thus leading to adultery or divorce.

There have been a small number of debates between outside of the program, on the subject of whether what Lynne was doing was correct. These debates were argued between friends, and there were interviews in specific magazines, concerning the subject. The main argument was that if Lynne was just following what her heart had told her, she was doing the absolute right thing.

The scriptwriters of “EastEnders” dealt with the issue of Jason and Lynne in an intelligent way. Lynne was ready to depart with Jason to start a new life with him, but her lost feelings for Gary came out at the very last moment, and she realised that her true love was undoubtedly Gary. She could not bare the thought of leaving him forever and told this to Jason. After doing so she ran out of Jason’s apartment and went back to her home, where Gary was, to display her love for Gary. Lynne spoke to Gary about her relationship with Jason over the last few days, which Gary found tremendously hard to cope with. This led to Gary losing trust in Lynne, but after a little while he started to understand that Lynne had made a mistake and that she really loved him. Thus, their relationship started to become secure, once again.

In my opinion Lynne was in the absolute wrong when she lied and deceived her husband. If Lynne had talked to Gary, straight away, saying what he was maybe doing wrong etc. then she would never have been in a position to cheat on him. Or if she believed that she just did not love Gary anymore then she should have told him and should have broke up with him, before having an affair. I believe that, although, Gary sometimes took no notice of Lynne and may well have been unbearable and lazy, Lynne had no right to violate the vows she pledged to honour, and by doing so she broke the laws of her faith. Had she conceded with her actions in a proper way, by talking to Gary first, instead of having an affair, I would have approved of what she had done.

Moreover, there are many other opinions about what Lynne had done, and whether it was right or wrong. As mentioned above, many thought that as long as Lynne followed her heart she was doing the right thing. Some people were of the belief that what Lynne had done was completely her fault and she was very selfish to have an affair, and deceit her husband. Others belief on the subject was that Lynne’s action could be justified, as her husband Gary was sometimes very lazy and did not treat her like she deserved.

Conclusively, the media have displayed this issue in a reasonable way. The media has displayed everything as it happens, the laziness of Gary and his behaviour towards Lynne, then Lynne’s affair and how she gets out of it. What the media must have been criticised for is that they did not incorporate any religious viewpoints on the issue and only looked at the morals. This may well have, to an extent, angered some religious people as adultery was portrayed as an everyday thing that happens and is just a common mistake. Society may have gained the impression from this event that committing adultery is not such a big sin and it will be forgiven, thus causing debates amongst many religious groups.

QUESTION (ONE) PART (C)

Analyse and explain the way in which a religious theme of concern has been dealt with in a film or television drama.

Newly in the well-known film named “East is East” the scriptwriters have presented a religious and moral issue. The matter involves the contentious idea of arranged marriage, homosexuality and the concept of free choice. “East is East” is about the growing up of Asians youths in two cultures, where the father has a very influential Asian role. A typical Asian, strict and religious, father is portrayed in the film, who is very keen in wedding his three elder sons. In “East is East” arranged marriages are displayed in a negative manner, the younger men, who the father wants to wed, dread the day of the wedding, and wish they could choose who they marry. The eldest son, who the father tries to wed, runs away as he is homosexual and is too scared to say so to his dad. Thus, he runs away on the day of his wedding. This film clearly demonstrates that it is unfair towards certain cultures where arranged marriage occurs.

Arranged marriage is a very frequent way of marrying in certain Asian communities, as the parents are stereotypically more strict and believe that it is their responsibility to marry off their children. However, arranged marriage is not something that is encouraged in Islam, as the Muslims have an obligation to follow the perfect example of the last Prophet Muhammed (P.B.U.H.), who actually chose his wives himself, and told his uncle, Abu Talib, out of respect. Christian teachings on marriage do not say anything about arranged marriage being a necessity, and it hardly happens in Christian weddings.

The idea of homosexuality is both moral and religious; it is a religious issue as all the major religions forbid it. In “East is East” the eldest son is pressured by his dad, to marry whom his dad chooses for him. The direct result of this is that the son runs away on the day of the wedding, as he is homosexual. I do not agree with whether this would have actually happened in real life.

In the film “East is East” the eldest son who turns out to be homosexual, is a Muslim. Islamic teachings on homosexuality are very firm, they are that homosexuality is forbidden in Islam. These teachings are based on the Hadith, in which the prophet said that those men who dress as women and those women who dress as men, will be severely punished in the “hereafter”. Muslims also base their beliefs on the teachings of their holy book, the Quran.

The Christian teachings are a lot different than the Islamic teachings. Christians have three main beliefs on homosexuality. Evangelical Protestants believe that homosexuality is forbidden in Christianity, and base these beliefs on the Bible, which is strictly against homosexuality. Catholics believe that homosexuals should live a celibate (not having sex) life. They believe that homosexual orientation is not a sin, but homosexual sexual activity is a sin, and base their beliefs on biblical teachings as well as the new Catechism of the Catholic Church. The last main view is that of the Protestants, who believe that homosexual relationships are only acceptable when the couple want to remain in the relationship for life. Protestants welcome homosexuals into the Church, but say that homosexual relationships can never be equal to Christian marriages. These beliefs are based on the teachings of the bible in which David and Jonathan have a same sex relationship. They also base their beliefs on the teachings of Jesus (love and acceptance).

The father, who pressurises his son to marry, displays his religious hypocrisy, as he tell his sons to be good Muslims, yet he himself uses Islam as an excuse to marry his children to whom he wants, without consulting his children, which is against Islam. Islam and Christianity both believe in free choice. Muslims have the belief that Allah created the world as a test for humans, and therefore gave them free choice. To be rewarded the Muslims have to use this free choice wisely, and must follow the path of Islam and do good deeds.

After reviewing this the father should allow his children to marry whom they want, yet he persistently forces his children into a marriage, which they did not even know about, thus he is portrayed as a hypocrite.

Christianity also teaches that all humans have a free choice, and that Jesus died for all the sins of mankind which they done using this free choice. However, Christians still try to lead a good and righteous life, to live according to the rules of Christianity.

I conclude by saying that I believe that there is only one possible solution to this problem, which is that the father should have allowed his sons to play a role in their own marriages, which may have led to the problems earlier never occurring. I am also of the opinion that if the father had spent more time with his sons and talked to them about Islam, it may have gotten rid of some problems. However I do not think that this would have stopped his son from being homosexual, but it could have strengthened the relationship of the father with his sons, and the father may have grasped why his son felt like so.

QUESTION TWO

“Television always presents religious people as out of touch with the modern world.”

Do you agree to the quote above? Show that you have considered both points of view.

The quote above basically means that modern-day television presents people who have a faith or religious belief as old and out of touch with the society that they live in and the modern world.

To some extent this quote can be classified as true, as many modern-day religious programmes are aimed at the older age group, who, in general, went to church very often and accepted all of the traditional beliefs e.g. programmes such as “Morning Worship” and “Songs of Praise” don’t draw the interest of the younger audience, as such programmes are seen to be boring and dull. The majority of people who appear on the two shows named above are usually aged over 50 and preach about all that is erroneous with the world we live in today. These people seem to criticise a lot, which leads to the audience judging them as “out of touch” with the modern world. The well-known soap opera “EastEnders” also portrays some religious characters in an old fashioned manner, in terms of religion. Dot Cotton, an elderly character out of EastEnders, is portrayed as a very religious woman and preaches a lot from the bible, the fact that she is elderly and religious implies to the viewers that all religious people are “out of touch” with society.

On the contrary, there are a few programmes on terrestrial T.V. that do present religious people as “in touch” with the society we live in today. A well-known show that does this is “The Vicar of Dibley”, which is a comedy, and is disliked of by many members of the Catholic Church for this very reason. The vicar, who is a female in her 30’s, jokes about all the time, especially about her religion, and has a humorous and lenient character. The Catholics believe that the vicar mocks the religion to extreme measures, and also mocks the role of a vicar. The Catholics also disapprove of the fact of the vicar being a female, as Catholics prohibit female vicars seeing that Jesus only chose male disciples, and vicars are modern day disciples. This programme has an audience of all ages, as the people enjoy such shows, and it is a family programmes.

Another example of a programme that displays religious people “in touch” with society is “The Simpsons”, a cartoon. “The Simpsons” has a few religious characters, a vicar and Ned Flanders. The vicar is less religious, and sins a lot, compared to Ned Flanders, who is strictly religious; this is seen as a very funny issue. The fact that “The Simpsons” is a cartoon means that its most obvious audience are children, who will call the characters as “funny” and “in touch” with society.

Furthermore, a magazine show such as “The Heaven and Earth show” discusses some important issues regarding religion, and also displays religious views on a certain topic. This show does not display religious people as out of touch with the modern world, because the presenters use modern day techniques on the show, like phone in sessions, where they give out advice to callers. In “The Heaven and Earth Show” celebrities are also interviewed, and seeing that they are classed as role models of the modern world, the show does not display religious people as out of touch wit the modern world.

Conclusively, I believe that the idea of illustrating religious people as “out of touch” with society is dying out amongst broadcasters, and that they have now started to depict religious people as “in touch” with society, in the modern shows, to attract more audiences. The fact that no other religions are shown on television is understandable, seeing that people of a certain society may find such programmes a little dull for their interests, and broadcasters have a main aim of scoring top marks on the rating of their programmes. My personal point of view is that if the producers of religious shows can somehow include a variety of religions into the modern world and show them fitting in well, this would be an enormous accomplishment.