The Bible produces good “hard news” stories and “soft” features, and brings good news to magazines and newspapers in terms of reader interest and resulting income.
Back in the days when newsstand sales were sizable and carefully monitored as an index of magazine readership, my colleagues at Time could anticipate extra profits, letters to the editor, and cultural buzz when a cover story or a major inside article dealt with the Bible. During subsequent years with The Associated Press, this writer’s assignments for the “wire” included a weekly column about the Bible. It was never difficult to come up with pertinent topics for what turned out to be a run of more than 400 articles.
Fulton Oursler coined the phrase “the greatest story ever told,” but considering the aforementioned factors, as an old joke says, the Bible is also “the greatest story ever sold.” It’s frequently said that the Bible is the most important and most-read book in human history, which is undoubtedly true and not to be forgotten by editors. (Due to world events, Islam’s Quran may be moving up to second place.)
Regarding the Bible in the newsroom, there’s obvious impact in coverage of internal developments with religious organizations and movements. But there’s also an exterior aspect, the way biblical concepts regularly pop up in unexpected ways in politics, economics, athletics, show business, literature, the fine arts, and such. There are few religious or moral debates, or for that matter major historical trends, without a biblical element.
Yet in recent times there’s been a bit of a news media slump. Part of that involves smaller “news holes” and shrinking staffs with fewer specialists. Solid religion coverage usually requires reporters with at least a modicum of knowledge. Religious controversies can be complex and require intelligent exposition of various viewpoints. Sinister groups in the news will sometimes cite the Bible, and frequently fads and fantasies will purport to rewrite biblical history claims that require careful inspection by journalists.
General readers in the U.S., especially Millennials, are gradually losing their grasp of biblical materials that underlie much of western civilization and increasingly shape the cultures of modern Asia, Africa, and Latin America with their expanding churches. It’s said the typical college graduate today knows less about the Bible than the unlettered plowman of a century ago.
That’s what makes projects like “The Bible and Its Influence” high school textbook so important. There’s a fair amount of ignorance, confusion, misinformation and prejudice that public education and the news media alike should seek to overcome. Basic education is treated by other essays in this collection. I would add that biblical knowledge fosters socio-political understanding and tolerance in an increasingly multicultural America. This is vital for inter-group understanding and appreciation of religious minorities’ freedoms under the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights. That’s one of the many reasons biblical knowledge is essential for non-religious citizens.
Take a simple example. Centuries ago the ancestors of today’s Mennonites and Quakers took Jesus’ New Testament words literally and embraced the unconventional belief that all participation in warfare is evil. To its great credit, the American nation allowed the minority of biblically inspired pacifists to avoid military service, from the Revolutionary War onward. Similarly, the efforts to abolish human slavery and Jim Crow, and many other social campaigns that journalists need to understand, have been grounded in the Bible. That’s most unlikely to change in the 21st Century.
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