Globalising, Cosmopolitanisng Mediated World

By Sylvie Shaw

We live in a world surrounded by images, messages, visual noise, and soundscapes. News is instant. 24/7 television news brings even the trivial to the living room, phone, computer. News is global - but what news is that? Who makes the decisions about what is shown and which religious, social or ethnic group is depicted and in what ways?

What is broadcast streams in from media companies locally and internationally but only certain stories are selected. The way the stories are framed, edited, delivered and packaged may mean that important elements of the story are left out, not explained or not backgrounded to fit into the program's format and time and advertising constraints. So often the question to consider is not only what is being covered in the news, but what and who is left out, and why.

Despite the media being global and the attention is placed on a narrow selection of stories. Local politics - but very limited time for any discussion of an issue. Local drama, accidents, disasters. Local sports - which has its own dramas (drugs in sport, off-field antics). International and local celebrities. International disasters. International (US, UK) politics. International wars and other violence. And occasionally religion, especially if connected to drama or celebrity.

From this kind of news I know little about what is going on in the world beyond the fearful and the sad. In a global media saturated world, I would presume to know more about  what is happening in other nations beyond the superficial and the stereoype. But I seem to know less.

My ideal for a globalised world is to end divisions between mediated stories revelling in us and them dichotomies. I would welcome an understanding that we live in a cosmpolitan society and with a precious environment. Both need care.

In an article titled Religious Cosmpolitanism, Justin Neuman (2011) states that: 'any cosmopolitanism worthy of the name must offer a model of inclusivity and universalism that both recognizes and reckons with the substantive differences that separate varieties of religious and secular experience'.

He continues to explain the process saying that cosmopolitanism can be viewed as a 'desire, especially of those on the 'cultural left' (are they simply idealists?) 'to forge an ethos of political engagement that navigates a middle path between the particularizing relativism of multiculturalist identity politics on the one hand and managerial globalisms on the other.'

I am caught between the desire for inclusivity and the argument Newman puts forward that this is a desire of the 'cultural left'. If so, what happens to interfaith movements and peacebuilding across religions and nations? What happens to those seeking to end violence and promote peace if it is presumed that these desires are only to be found among a certain small collection of individuals?

I am left with a sadness about this divided view of cosmopolitanism and refer back to Ulrich Beck in A God of One's Own (2010:71) who talks about the bridge of religious functionalism which no longer distinguishes religionists from non-believers but brings understanding 'as an enrichment in a quite personal sense', and ultimately as habitus. He recommends a culture where 'religions are the object of mutual recognition' (72),

References
Beck U. 2010. A God of One's Own. Malden MA, Polity Press.
Newuman J. 2011. Religious Cosmopolitanism? Orhan Pamuk, the Headscarf Debate, and the Problem with Pluralism. The Minnesota Review, 77

Connecting with Indigeneity

 

by Sylvie Shaw

Travelling to Arnhem Land was an adventure in learning and change.I met a group of Yolngu women who changed the direction of my life and taught me things I felt I should have known since I was a child. To them I am eternally grateful for showing me 'both ways'.

Both ways is reflective of a two way approach to education developed by the Yolngu women in NE Arnhem Land, notably by someone who was central to my knowledge of Aboriginal lifeways and understandings, Raymattja Marika. Along with a group of inspirational women, she gave me a way of seeing which has become central to my understanding of things relationally.

Sitting on the Yirrkala beach she told me about the significant metaphor of ganma, an expression grounded in the interflow and exchange of two waters, salt and fresh which merge and swirl in the confluence of the intertidal zone. In recent times, this ancient metaphor has come to be used in discussions on both ways education, a bicultural and bilingual approach to teaching where Yolngu (Aboriginal) and Western ways of leaning and knowing are brought together.

The metaphor reflects the confluence of the coming together of two peoples, two knowledges, two lifeways and is cited in the glorious book (and now online site), Singing the land, signing the land by Helen Watson, the Yolngu community at Yirrkala, and David Wade Chambers.

Taken from the text, ganma refers to the place:
'where a river of water from the sea (Western knowledge) and a river of water from the land (Yolngu knowledge) engulf each other on flowing into a common lagoon and becoming one. In coming together, the Streams of water mix at the interface of the two currents, creating foam at the surface, so that the process of ganma is marked by lines of foam.'

It was this knowledge and the lesson on the beach that led to profound change and personal exploration. Having worked in the media for many years, I had taken on (hegemonically? or through ignorance?) the stereotype of life in community and was unaware that the stereotype and the representation of First Nations people was a misrepresentation. It showed nothing of the things I learned and continue to learn about Traditional Owner culture and relationships.

To extrapolate this into the wider community, the way Indigenous people are presented in the media can be, as the TV shows Living Black and Message Stick demonstrate, a form of 'resistance identity'. This concept is defined by Manuel Castells (1997:8) as aspects of communal identities 'generated by those actors that are in position/ conditions devalued and/or stigmatized by the logic of domination, thus building trenches of resisistance and survival on the basis of principles different from or opposed to those permeating the institutions of society.'

In Castells' terms, resistance identity emerges as a counter to 'legitimizing identity', those institutions such as the state, political parties, the church, and/or mainstream media, all which represent power, privilege, and in Australia, whiteness. These issues merge when considering how the media frames First Nations' people, in many cases in ways that deny them visibility, 'agency and governance' (Marika et al 2009: 404).

Behind these processes are the western conceptualisations of linear thinking, hierarchical decision making and cartesian dualism. Mainline media constructions of Aboriginal peoples become almost rigid and timelss transpostions of 'them' and 'us' - where images and imaginations reflect an institutionalized system of built-in racism. In contrast, Traditional Owners, over many years, have established and grown a network of community media organisations across the country, and as well, the stations SBS and the ABC have incorporated Aboriginal programs in their weekly radio and TV rundowns.

In 1991, the federal government undertook a significant report, Report of the National Inquiry into Racist Violence by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1991), which noted 'there was ample evidence of discriminatory reporting and racial stereotyping.' In particular it was argued that such representations 'legitimise coercive and violent measures against Aboriginal people.’

Similarly, Marcia Langton, in her landmark report, 'Well, I heard it on the radio and I saw it on the television…' (1993), outlines the issue is not only one of racial discrimination, but 'the need to develop a body of knowledge on representation of Aboriginal people and their concerns in art, film, television and other media and a critical perspective to do with aesthetics and politics, drawing from Aboriginal world views, from Western traditions and from history.' Almost twenty years later her observation is still acute despite the inroads First Nations peoples have made in developing their own media products.

Questions
- How are Indigenous people largely represented in mainline media, e.g. news programs?
- What difference do shows like Message Stick and Living Black make?
- Discuss your view of any Aboriginal film you may have seen, e.g. Warwick Thornton's masterful Samson and Delilah.
- Discuss the difference in the Ramingining communityTen Canoes where Yolngu and Ngapaki (non-Indigenous people) have worked together to create the story and representation.

References
Castells M. 1997. The power of identity. The information age: economy, society and culture Vol. II. Cambridge, MA & Oxford, Blackwell.
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. 1991. Report of the National Inquiry into Racist Violence by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, http://www.multiculturalaustralia.edu.au/doc/racediscrimcomm_2.pdf
Langton M. 1993. Well, I heard it on the radio and I saw it on the television…" An Essay for the Australian Film and Television Commission on the politics and aesthetics of filmmaking by and about Aboriginal persons and things. Australian Film Commission, Sydney.

Marika R., Y. Yunupingu, R. Mununggiritj, S Muller. 2009. Leaching the poison – The importance of process and partnership in working with Yolngu.

Journal of Rural Studies 25(4): 404-413.
Watson H, the Yolngu community at Yirrkala, and DW Chambers, 2008 online [1989, 1993] Singing the land, signing the land. Originally published by Deakin University Press, Geelong Vic.

The Asian Screen Test

by Sylvie Shaw

In the early 1990s, the Federal Government was keen to build stronger bridges to Asia. The Hawke-Keating governments of the time wanted to establish tighter economic relationships with Asia. Countries like Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan were growing rapidly in industry and manufacturing and Ausrralia saw opportunity. Asia was no longer seen as a threat to keep out - as governments had done from 1901's White Australia Policy.

The early 1990s marked a loosening of ties to Britain, and a strengthening of relationships with Asia through a reduction of trade barriers, increased immigration, promotion of Asian language learning in schools, and a growth of tourism from Asia, especially from Japan. 

During this period I was asked by a group at Melbourne University, Asialink, to look at what was happening in the media at the time - about Asia and Asians. How were they represented?

I thought this work would be easy. I imagined that there would be a lot of research material about representation of Asians in the media. But what was not the case. I certainly found the negatively stereotyped cartoons from the 1890s about Asia being depicted as a giant octopus reaching its tentacles into the heart of Australia. 

I visited the Chinese Museums in Melbourne and Bendigo and learnt of the history of the Chinese in Australia. I'd begun this historical journey as I had been picnicking on the side of the road in northern Victoria with a group of friends. We were on the edge of a cemetry in Beechworth and It was there that I saw a large number of small gravestones and wondered whose they were.

There was a small museum at Beeachworth and I learnt about a part of Australia's history that I did not know well - that a huge influx of Chinese mostly men, indentured labour, many from Canton, arrived in the colonies - Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland - during the 1850s and 1860s on the quest for gold.

In the Melbourne Chinese Museum, I stood in front of a huge painting of a very long queue, stretching way into the distance, of seemingly thousands of Chinese men loaded with goods, on their way to the goldfields.

What I also learned from the various museums I visited and books I read was that the experience of the Chinese miners was also filled with racism and violence. Other gold prospectors were critical of their mining methods, their different clothing and appearance, their hard work, and the way the Chinese practised their religion. In an effort to curb the numbers of Chinese coming to Australia for gold, various colonial authorities passed legislation to restrict immigration from China and imposed high taxes and fees, but only for the Chinese.

When the gold petered out, not all the miners went back to China. Those who remained established businesses, created market gardens, dispensed herbs, opened restaurants, and became part of the local community. But they continued to face discrimination. Anti-Chinese campaigns grew during the 1880s and 90s with movements to boycott local Chinese businesses and products. Mass rallies were held, especially in Sydney, calling for increased restrictions against the Chinese. In 1901, the Immigration Restriction Act was passed.
...
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, pockets of anti-Asian bias remained. But they were disappearing in the midst of increased immigration to Australia and a government intent on building trade and economic links with Asia. In 1989 the government commissioned a report from Professor Ross Garnaut, who recently headed the report on climate change. Known as the 'Garnaut report', it promoted Asia's growing prosperity and recommended the Australian community should become Asia-literate.

As part of this shift in policy and outlook, I was asked to develop a research project around Asia and Asians in the media. This was done in two ways - the first was to work with filmmakers, bringing Asian and Australian filmmakers together to discuss ways to enhance the image of Asians in Australian film. I worked with Chinese film expert, Chris Berry, and we ran a successful roundtable seminar to discuss the issue and ways to shift the limited representation of Asia on screen. An outcome of this meeting was a report called 'No Koalas Please'. It reviewed the image in Asia of Australia as a tourist destination to see animals, the reef and the outback and called for change to more realistic and contemporary media representations - of both Asia and Australia.

For the second part of the project I ran workshops with local television producers, direcrtors and actors, again to raise the profile of Asia in Australian soapies particularly and other programs as well. One of the results of this research became an article in the local film zine, Cinema Papers. It was called The Asian Screen Test. The article examined the role and representation of Asia in film and teleivision, focusing especially on the eroticism and exoticism of storylines and images, the martial arts stereotype, and the notion of the inscrutible and wise elder (e.g. Karate Kid, Ninja Turtles).

The research project was conducted at the same time as other projects scrutinizing the media around all aspects of multiculturalism and ethnicity. The question I still think about when I watch TV 20 years after doing the project is where are the Asians on Australian television and film? What roles do they play (e.g. newsreading on SBS)? And why is there still a tendency in ads and other shows to rarely show the diversity of Australians?

Questions:
- How are Asia and Asians currently represented on Australian television?
- What roles do they play on screen?
- Why has SBS introduced 'Pop Asia' while other stations have all but stopped their weekend video hit shows?
- Why was the film Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon important in Hollywood?
- What is your favourite Asian film?
- Have you seen a change in the way Asia and Asians are shown in film and television - and in what ways?

References
Shaw, S. 1990. No Koalas Please. Canberra. Commonwealth of Australia. 
Shaw, S. 1992. The Asian Screen Test, Cinema Papers, March.

Representing each other

by Sylvie Shaw

 
The issue of representation can't be ignored. It fills TV screens, news reports and is fashioned from narrow and negative stereotypes which acts to diminish and marginalise people who are deemed other. As a stereotyped group, people representing certain religions, ethnicities, sexualities are labelled, stigmatised and belittled.

Labelling has two main functions - one is to demean the individual, the second is to reinforce the narrow and prejudiced views of the labeller. The person being labelled as a deviant, criminal or threat can begin to take on that label as a fait accompli. For some it may be a mark of resitance. For others, a sign of resilience. The label sticks for both groups - those who are negatively stereotyped, and those who label.  

The result is a loss of agency and voice among the marginalised. It can affect people's health, wellbeing and quality of life. Adams et al. (2007) point to the issue of prejudice and oppression as an outcome of social pressures and social norms or habitus. They argue that dominant ideological beliefs about 'the other' are internalised - by those targeted as well as the perpetrators. To highlight this issue, the authors state: 

'The ideas that poor people somehow deserve and are responsible for poverty, rather than the economic system that structures and requires it, is learned by poor and affluent alike. Homophobia, the deep fear and hatred of homosexuality, is internalised by both straight and gay people. Jews as well as Gentiles absorb antisemitic stereotypes' (Adams et al. 2007:4). 

The result has both social and political consequences. Jackson et al (2011:114), for instance, focuses on the political meanings and consequences of such judgemental processing saying that negatively stereotyping a social group also has the effect of stifling the exploration of 'alternative understandings' of that group or issue.

Stereotypes then are short shots, often promulgated by the media, reinforced through gossip and interpersonal communication whether online or off. Having only a superficial rendering of a person or social group can lead to discimination, persecution and worse. The view of David Schoem (1991) is straightforward and clear. He writes: 

'The effort it takes for us to know so little about one another across racial and ethnic groups is truly remarkable. That we can live so closely together, that our lives can be so intertwined socially, economically, and politically ... is clear testimony to the deep-seated roots of this human and national tragedy.' (1991:98) 

When the labelling is about religion, to use Schoem's framing, that too is a human and national tragedy. Getting along, getting to know the other, is a process that can also be 'truly remarkable'. Interfaith gatherings create understanding and relationship as people share their inner heart-workings and learn the beauty of each other's essence and their profound religious identity. 

 Questions

- What is the effect of marginalising people according to superfical gossip, social media or news headlines? 

- What is the effect of the stance of a dominant group who labels the other in terms of negative stereotyping. How is the dominator group affected? How is the marginalised group affected?

- How can marginalised groups become resilient? Or is the only direction for action to resist the ideological framing? 

 References

Adams M, LA Bell and P Griffin. 2007. Teaching for diversity and social justice. A sourcebook, 117-285. New York: Routledge.

Jackson RA, L Jarvis, J Gunning and MB Smyth. 2011. Terrorism: A critical introduction. London: Palgrave MacMillan. 

Schoem D. 1991. Inside separate worlds: life stories of Blacks, Jews and Latinos.

Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

 Image source
http://pixabay.com/en/church-inside-interior-ceiling-89409/

Herding ducks in the morning: Reflection on nature and religion

Sunday morning. Earlyish. Headed for the gym. Walked the long way round. On the way to and from the workout, I passed what could be described as six ritual places (that is in addition to the body worshipping centre of the 24/7 gymnasium). Not far from home I picked up an Owl's feather and thought I would look up the symbolism of the Owl when I got home.

From the Catholic Church comes the muffled sound of liturgy. Hearty singing wafts through the doors of the Anglican and Uniting Churches. In both places, young men stand at the door cradling their babies in their arms, catching the service while calming their children. Outside the Evangelical service, a group of youths play basketball amidst gales of laughter and vigourous shouting. Then I pass a group of Habitat Brisbane workers engaged in the eco-social worship of planting trees and pulling up weeds. But at the last place of worship something unusual is happening. Outside what appears to be a Chinese cultural or spiritual meeting place, an elderly gentleman is herding ducks. It seemed the pet ducks have been out for a walk to graze on the nature strip, and the duck wrangler is guiding them back home.

This brief excusion around the neighbourhood shows me that religion and spirituality come in all disguises. Some formal, some informal, but all sacred - from the secular to the spiritual, from the everyday and vernacular, to the traditional. It gives testament to the view that in contemporary religious practices, the sacred-profrane-mundane lie on a continuum in which the past distinctions of Durkheim and Eliade have blurred.

While religious ritual retains its liminal and communitas structure and function, rituals are enacted in different ways in different places among different groups of people (and animals). Online or offline, in the built environment in places of worship, or in natural places deemed sacred or special, religion is brimming with activity and vibrancy. But within the shifting status of religious practice, is the sacred diluted or expanded? What's your reaction to what's going on?

What is sacred?

The sacred is not something set apart (as it was defined by Durkheim), but is something inclusive of and interactive with the everyday. Sacred places, just as sacred buildings, are revered, respected, treasured and protected. The sacred reveals itself (as Eliade proposes) as an hierophany. It can move us, shape us, transform our attitudes and actions. 

In the past I have questioned whether there are two sources of sacredness. One is intrinsic in nature experienced as an animating lifeforce connecting the ‘mysterious’ and ‘infinite complexities of the natural word’ (Metzner, 1995:61). This view is similarly defined by nature writer Barry Lopez (1986:228) who gives agency to the earth and nature saying, 'the land retains an identity of its own, still deeper and more subtle than we can ever know'. In this visioning, nature is nuanced, profound, actived and perhaps, enspirited.

The other is more human-directed and suggests that a human connection to special places instils a sense of the sacred through the process of place-encounters that are meaningful, profound, and provide a source of purpose, knowledge and insight.

With this construction in mind, Barry Lopez offers an evocative image of the sacred. It was in the Arctic region of Alaska. He was so touched by the region's 'intense and concentrated beauty' that he would bow in homage to the resident birds and animals, while honouring 'the serene Arctic light that came over the land like breath, like breathing' (1986:xx). Here is something other - something beautiful, which demanded his reverence, respect and I would imagine, his care.

How we experience nature and the sacred is outlined by Lopez and other nature writers such as Terry Tempest Williams and Native American author and poet Linda Hogan as a kind of story telling process where nature imbeds its story into our psyche. The story signifies the inherent 'biophilic' relationship between humans and nature, including, says Lopez (1988:62-63), the elements or qualities of the land. He writes of two personal landscapes through which we experience the vital connection between people and nature:

'I think of two landscapes – one outside the self, the other within. The external landscape is the one we see – not only the line and colour of the land and its shading at different times of the day, but also its plants and animals in season, its weather, its geology, the record of its climate and evolution. … These are all elements of the land, and what makes the landscape comprehensible are the relationships between them. … The second landscape I think of is a kind of projection within a person of part of the exterior landscape. … [It is] deeply influenced by where on earth one goes, what one touches, the patterns one observes in nature – the intricate history of one’s life in the land, even a life in the city, where wind, the chirp of birds, the line of a falling leaf are known. … The interior landscape responds to the character and subtlety of an exterior landscape; the shape of the individual mind is affected by land as it is by gene.'  

Within this description, Lopez shows the qualitative and transformative process that takes place when we engage with the sacred in nature. According to forest researcher Herbert Schroeder (1992), nature has a spiritual value which is celebrated in art, literature and music, but rarely conveyed or acknowledged in resource management policy or development. Writing two decades ago about barriers to effective forest management, Schroeder maintained that the 'crisis in forest management may in part be due to a failure by the forestry profession to understand and respect the strong spiritual values that many people find associated with natural environments' (25).

But twenty years after this important observation, have natural and marine resource managers become any more aware of the need to comprehend the community's desires to protect and retain special places on land and water because of a spiritual connection to place? My view is not. Perhaps there is a limited awareness that certain natural places are considered sacred and special by large numers of people, so much so they do not want these places fracked, logged, mined, or tampered with. But no action in stakeholder engagement, community consultation or environmental reports, that the issues of sacredness and spirituality are important considerations for resource management.

This gap in understanding about the values of place - as spiritual or places of development, economic benefit, is often at the heart of environmental disputation. Whose values are deemed more important and by whom? On one hand values are associated with control and management of nature for economic profit, while on the other, values are focused on the richness of nature's beauty and its intrinsic worth which combines a mix of aesthetic, symbolic and sacred values. 

Schroeder (1992:28) reveals that resource managers may view a community's opposition to resource management decision making is related to 'ignorance on the part of the public'. In contrast, he suggests that it is not people's lack of knowledge but their experiences of nature and sacred encounters in nature that uphold their anti-development stance. He says: 'From a spiritual viewpoint, nature represents an "other" to be loved and respected, rather than a physical and biological process to be controlled and manipulated for human benefit.'

Perhaps an understanding on the part of managers and developers of the significance of spirituality in nature as well as the importance of nature connecting in enhancing people's health and wellbeing, might go part way in the government and industry decision making to incorporate social and spiritual impact assessments when any earth-devastating changes are mooted. 

Meanwhile, on my rounds in the neighbourhood, I'll keep a lookout for the beauty and the sacred in the many types of religious and spiritual experiences and rituals - those enshrined in sacred places of worship both indoors and out, and especially the elderly gentleman herding his ducks in the morning. 

Almost home and I noticed a mist of dark grey wispy feathers floating in the air. Then some smaller Owl feathers collecting in the gutter. Owls sometimes symbolise death and the myriad feathers meant there was a problem, so I started looking for the body. I had been excited earlier as Owls had visited the area. But sad when I found the mangled and crow-picked carcass. I took the body home and burried it with a prayer under some fallen leaves. 
 
Questions:

- What is your favourite place in nature?

- What do you experience there?

- Do you have a special place or environmental campaign that you are involved in?

- If you are religious, does your religion or place of worship have an environmental policy or action program? 

- How do you envisage that nature is spiritual?

References: 

Lopez B. 1986. Artic dreams. Imagination and desire in a northern landscape. New York: Bantam Books. 

Lopez B. 1988. Crossing open ground. London: Picador. 

Metzner R. 1995. 'The psychopathology of human-nature relationship', in T. Roszak, ME Gomes and AD Kanner, Eds. Ecopsychology. Restoring the earth. Healing the mind. San Francisco: Sierra Club.

Schroeder HW. 1992. The spiritual aspect of nature: a perpective from depth psychology. Proceedings of Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium (p. 25-30), April 7-9, 1991, Saratoga Springs, NY. 

'i'm a M.....'. Can social media promote religion literacy?

by Sylvie Shaw

When I went shopping a few days ago, the assistant asked me if I'd had a good day. 'Yes', I replied. 'I was working'. 'What do you do?', he asked. When I told him, he wanted to chat some more. He acknowledged how interesting it must be to teach about so many religions and asked how I found it. Then he almost whispered. 'I'm a, you know, Muslim'.

He told me how often he gets criticised and his religion vilified - but mentioned this did not happen where he worked, only outside.

So I thought, what's the difference between this shop assistant and his appearance and someone like Charlie Pickering on The Project? Not very much. How could people tell?

When the British religion theorist Grace Davie was at UQ in 2012, she mentioned that one of the most palpable social problems in the UK and Europe, i.e. religious vilification and misunderstanding, is related to the lack of the community's religion literacy or religious knowledge. At a time when knowing about someone else's religion is important, especially to break down barriers and build bridges and interfaith relations, there seems less and less relevant information about the religion of the other, and an increasingly narrow media construction of religion and religious practitioners.

With this in mind, I wondered if social media could help break down the dysfunctional stereotyping and promote religious understanding and even religion literacy. Already, religion sites, especially Christian sites, are the most popular on Fb (Ward 2011). 

An article on ReligionLink (2013) titled 'God and Facebook: Is social networking changing religion?' states that social media has a role to play in continuing 'to influence the way people communicate and practice religion'.

Practising religion has become an online phenomenon. An American Rabbi, Laura Baum (2010) describes her experience in running an online congregation:

'Using computers and mobile devices, people connect to us (their rabbis), each other, and Judaism year-round....They may listen to our podcasts or read a blog and then engage in conversation with others around the world on Facebook. They may participate in our Passover seder, which is set up as a webinar so that people can read sections of the Passover story aloud.

Last Passover, someone from Paris read one page, someone from New York the next, and people from 32 states and 10 other countries sang Passover songs together across continents.

There’s a persistent myth that community is something that only happens in person, that relationships and memberships must be defined in geographic terms. The reality is that relationships built and maintained online, using tools like Facebook, Twitter and Skype, are increasingly common and can even be stronger than physical connections'.

Building social and spiritual communities online has become a significant feature of religious websites as Baum relates. But there is also a parallel growth of hate sites and online hate communities, especially those espousing bigotry and xenophobia towards religion and religious adherents. The intention of hate sites is to aim 'bias-motivated, hostile, [and] malicious speech' to others, with the intention of injuring, dehumanizing, harassing intimidating and victimizing people constructed as other (Cohen-Almagor 2012:1).

Rachel Cohen-Almagor has conducted an extensive search of online hate sites and carried out interviews with internet practitioners. She frames her paper in terms of the norms of social responsibility held in society, where each person acts in a way that does not disturb social equanimity or 'harm the community' (2). 

She singles out a range of hate speech against non-white immigrants, African-Americans, homosexuals and lesbians, Jews, and Muslims, showing that the hate speech protagonists see the internet as a cheap and effective way of getting their grisly message out, including about religion. Cohen-Almagor states:

'Many of the hate sites on the web are very religious in nature. Religion is depicted as the rock around which life should be organized, providing the answer (indeed, the only answer) for all people’s questions; suggesting that we have little choice in making decisions, as everything has already been decided for us by God. They encourage people to be absolutely committed to their faith and trust in the Almighty to guide their way' (6).

Her advice in countering the hate, based on her research study, is to first - rejoinder with speech of a positive kind, but also, to surround the countering communication with education. For example, she cites the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission in Australia which launched a 'Click Against Hate' campaign for Jewish schools to identify and respond to online anti-Semitism. She also mentions a number of community groups who use online solidarity to rally against the purveyors of hate, including discriminatory online social media sites. Another solution she poses is to filter and block nasty sites, and to seek help from ISPs to name and shame these sites.

Cohen-Almagor's recommendation on the role of education is important. She says:

'Education is vital in enshrining the values of liberty, tolerance, pluralism, and diversity in the minds of people. Education should alert and raise awareness to Internet hate and its harms and perils, accentuating that hate speech has led to hate crimes; indeed, to some of the most ghastly, dark days of humanity. The fight against hate is hard and complex. Law alone will not suffice.'

From hate sites, to anti-hate social mediated communities, from online congregations to online religion chat and even religion-specific dating sites, the internet is playing a role in shaping the way religion is discussed, debated, promulgated and practised.

Questions:

How much influence do you think that social media has in relation to religious organisations?
Do you think that participating in online services is as relevant as being there in person? 

What role do you see social media having in promoting religious diversity and religion literacy? 

What suggestions do you have to counter hate sites and religious vilification?

 References
- Baum L. 2010. My faith: why I lead an online synagogue. CNN Belief Blog, Oct 4, 2010. http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/04/my-faith-why-i-lead-an-online-synagogue 
- Cohen-Almagor R. 2012. Fighting hate and bigotry on the internet. Policy & Internet 3(3): 1-26. 
- ReligionLink. 2013. God and Facebook: Is social networking changing religion? http://www.religionlink.com/tip_110125.php

- Ward B. 2011. Religious pages keep engaging Facebook users, http://allfacebook.com/religious-pages-keep-engaging-facebook-users_b57975

Image source

http://pixabay.com/en/black-burn-burning-candle-19276/

The miracle that is Mrs Tutu

by Sylvie Shaw

When I moved to Brisbane  afew years ago I was befriended by a small black and white butcherbird. She wasn't known as Mrs Tutu in the beginning.

One day she came and sat on the balcony and sang the sweetest tune, lyrical, whispery, gentle. Listen here to the delightful song. Mrs Tutu would come alone and ask for small morsels. The different voices she used depended on the time of day and her needs. Sometimes it's shrieky like 'Where's my food now! Please.' Sometimes is soft and chatty, especially when she brings some of her friends over. Then there is a quiet rumbling conversation going on as each bird acknowledges their meal - unless or until someone else wants to steal their cache.

Mrs Tutu has visited for several years now. And her family has grown. Each year she has two fledglings and this is how she got her name.

About two years ago, she came a bit too often. She was obviously feeding. She'd catch moths on the fly and search the garden for luscious worms and other special treats. One day she came and all her tummy feathers had worn away from sitting on the eggs. Then a couple of weeks later, small feathery tufts started to appear. In no time her regrowth resembled a tutu. And from then on, that become her name.

When she was hungry, and just like a baby bird, she would flap her wings and look up at the door expectantly. Each year she brought her babies. For about two years the babies are brown, and then they turn black and white and look resplendent in their new garb.

But at Christmas last year something went awry. Mrs Tutu could not fly. She had only one working wing. She spent her days on the neighbour's verandah and found shelter there in stormy weather. But she could hop and was off to her tree-bed outside the house across the road. She would hop up the treetrunk from branch to branch. And when she was hungry she'd hop back across the way for a feed.

But her recovery was not to be easy. New owners arrived in Mrs Tutu's territory. All the trees, everyone, were gone in a day. Mrs Tutu lost her shelter but lucklly she found refuge in a tallish Callistemon out on the nature strip. What had happened to her? How had she damaged her wing? The new owners did not care. They cut the bottom branches of the tree that Mrs Tutu used as a tree climbing launching pad.

Then came an amazing discovery. Mrs Tutu had two babies she had to look after. She could not feed herself but she could hop across the road for a feed and then hop back and up the tree where you could hear the babies sqwalking.

I didn't know what to do. So I rang one of the wildlife care organisations and told them the story. 'Don't ask for the bird to be looked after', I was told. 'She won't live so let nature take its course. If you have the bird rescued, it will be euthanised'. So I did nothing and continued to support her needs.

When the babies were big enough she brought them across to the front door to be fed. After a week or so, there was only one. The smaller baby had broken its beak and could not feed.

We all lived together like that for several weeks. Then an amazing thing happened. One afternoon, while we were sitting in the living room I heard a familar cry - but from the back door not the front. All the butcher birds have a distinctive voice, and hers was definately recognizable. We were amazed and excited. We watched as she hopped up on the back fence and gingerly made her way round to the front of the house and back across the road.

A few weeks after that Mrs Tutu's wing got stronger. And her long wing feathers grew back. It had been three months and now she could fly. She is indeed a miracle bird.

Question:
Do you have a miracle or transformative experience in or about nature? Why not blog about it? 

Image source:
Pied Butcherbird singing at dawn, Darwin, NT
http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5662444440416178779#editor/target=post;postID=580583594214514461

Shopping around for Spirit

by Sylvie Shaw

Several years ago I spent time in North-east Arnhemland with the Yolngu. They taught me so many things about community, family, ritual and sprituality. When I got back to the city I wanted to know more about spirituality and set out on a quest to find a connection and explanation to what I had experienced in the Aboriginal community. So I shopped around.

It was the heady days of the new age movement and on offer was a plethora of courses, workshops, personal development processes, healing modalities, seminars covering pathways to achieving personal fulfillment, happiness and altered or enhanced states of consciousness. All these programs and activities carried a price tag. Some higher than others.

There was no way to tell whether the workshop or group leader was qualified or ethical, or whether there was any 'truth' to the information being delivered. The new age did not have a code of ethics, but instead, had many authority figures, a multiplicity of scriptures, and endless DIY guides to becoming a better, happier and more prosperous person.

New age bookstores sprang up selling self-help books, protective symbols, amulets, meditation CDs, crystals and tarot cards, and were fonts of information about workshops and courses. Within the new age, gurus emerged to lead seekers towards a finding that better life and strengthen their inner resources.

Wade Clarke Roof (1999) describes this flourishing of consumer spirituality as a 'spiritual marketplace' where the sales pitch is the dream and plan for one's 'new' life. 

An acute observer of this process of selling spirituality and religion is religious theorist Mara Einstein (2011, 2008). Einstein's observations focus on the way religion and spirituality are purveyed, marketed and branded. Religious products, religious leaders and even the religions themselves are being advertised and sold to the population at large.

Increasingly religious organisations are also using social media for self-promotion. Accompanying this move is a range of sources directed at religious leaders on the best way to sell their product with such texts as: The iChurch method: how to advance your ministry online (Caston 2012); Social media guide for ministry: what it is and how to use it (Smith 2013) and Outspoken: conversations on church communication (Shraeder and Hendricks 2011). 

Other observers of the impact of social media on religion, such as religion and pastoral ministry scholar Elizabeth Dresher (2011), outline religions' growing use of social media which, she states, are also remodelling religious practice. In particular Dresher notes the increasing role of religious organisations and religious practices on Fb, Twitter and Apps. For example, in a list of the top 20 Fb sites visited, religious sites make up more than 50%.

But, with a tough word of warning to less connected religions, Dresher warns:

'Word to religious leaders: just as the local religious building is no longer the normative site for religious practice, neither is your church, synagogue, or mosque Facebook page or Twitter feed likely to be. Click on over to where the people are if you really want to connect'.

Among the social media trends for religion, Dresher lists religious and spiritual 'holy apps' which comprise scriptures, prayers, confessionals and meditation practices, as well as the need for religions to develop ethical and practical 'guidlelines for social media'. She also provides a useful link to guidelines published by the United States Conference for Catholic Bishops which state in part:

'The Church can use social media to encourage respect, dialogue, and honest relationships—in other words, “true friendship”... To do so requires us to approach social media as powerful means of evangelization and to consider the Church’s role in providing a Christian perspective on digital literacy'.

New York Times journalist Jennifer Preston (2011) has researched the online approach to evangelizing and yet questions its effectiveness in contrast to face-to-face religious participation. She outlines the rapid popularity on Fb of religious pages like 'Jesus Daily', and cites Fb itself as saying that over 43 million people follow at least one page they classify as religious. This is affirmed by a recent PEW survey which found that 64% of Americans online used the web for religious or spiritual reasons (Helland 2013).

in the fanfare of Pope Francis 1's selection, the Vatican not only sent smoke signals to notify the world of the new pope, it also tweeted (in caps): “HABEMUS PAPAM FRANCISCUM” – or “We have Pope Francis”. Despite this initial innovation, Christopher Helland (2013) notes that the Catholic Church, compared to evangelical faiths, has been slow on the uptake of social media:

'With a “business as usual” approach, the Church (and others) has failed to recognize the radically different way people interact online. The phenomenon known as Web 2.0 means that people are both consumers and producers of information, not just passive recipients'.

Underlying the 'whether to use or not use' debate, religious institutions which have adopted social media formats are using it to enhance their religious brand, and, as Mara Einstein (2008) reminds us, to make profits. But at an individual level, Einstein also bserves how these brands shape our identity. We identify with products and celebrities who sell them.

Einstein pulls no punches: 'Remember', she says, 'religion is a commodity. Religion is personal and sold the same way as other marketed goods and services' (2008:78). 

References
Caston J. 2012. The iChurch method - How to advance your ministry online. Frisco, TX: Caston Digital Publishing.  
Dresher E. 2011. Five social media trends reshaping religion. Religion Despatches. December 15, 2011, http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/5463/
http://www.religiondispatches.org/contributors/elizabethdrescher/

Einstein M. 2011. Evolution of religious branding. Social Compass 58(3): 331-338. 
Einstein M. 2008. Brands of faith. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Helland C. 2013. On a Tweet and a prayer. World Economic Forum blog, March 27, 2013. http://forumblog.org/2013/03/on-a-tweet-and-a-prayer/
Preston J. 2011. Facebook page for Jesus, with highly active fans. New York TImes, September 4, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/technology/jesus-daily-on-facebook-nurtures-highly-active-fans.htm
Roof W.C. 1999. Spiritual marketplace: baby boomers and the remaking of American religion. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Smith N. 2013. Social media guide for ministry: what it is and how to use it. Nils Smith and group.com.
Shraeder T. and K.D. Hendricks. 2011. Outspoken: conversations on church communication. Los Angeles: Centre for Church Communication.

Image source
http://pixabay.com/en/angel-boy-cherub-child-church-21503/

'The walls have come down' - Pop, Music, Religion

By Sylvie Shaw

The American media station, PBS, in its online Religion and Ethics Newsweekly zine, carried a story in its February 2013 edition about the growth and spread of Christian pop. The story cites the Christian reporter for Billboard magazine, Deborah Evans Price as saying:

'The walls have come down considerably over the past few years when it comes to the divide between the Christian audience, the Christian market and mainstream consumers'.

This statement shows the incorporation of Christian pop into mainline music charts, so the music not only appeals to Christ followers, but also attracts an 'audience' beyond Christian adherents. It also underlines the increasing role of the public marketplace in spreading the gospel message.

Not all of the performers crashing down the walls agree with view. In fact, Religion and Ethics Newsweekly correspondent Kim Lawton, when discussing the Christian popster TobyMac, says that 'for him, it’s not about cranking out hits and making money, but rather watching how God uses the music to touch people’s lives'.

My contention is that a pop form of Christian music is a contemporary update of the role of 'traditional' religious and spiritual music. Faith-centred music is designed to move people, to touch their lives, and to enflower their spirit. Faith-centred music is sacred. It connects people to their conception of the divine, and to beauty.

What's new, however, is the shift from the pulpit to mainline pop. When Swedish House Mafia (SHM) sing: 'Don't you worry child, See heaven's got a plan for you', does the general audience hear that their song carries a strong Christian message?

Gone but not forgotten, SHM band member Steve Angello, talked to the Huffington Post about his reasons for the band's break up (Makarechi 2012). He mentioned being 'sick of fans who assume his job is easy' and explained 'why big business will never get a grip on electronic dance music' (or EDM).

To highlight his disenchantment with the industry and its groping tallons, Angello says that every day he receives 'the weirdest calls' from mega-corporations seeking a relationship with the band. He continues:

'And I'm like "how?" They will tell me they just want to "get into the EDM space." But they'll be, like, selling trimmers. "But you have a beard!" Yeah but, what do you want me to do? Shave on camera so you can tell people all the dance acts use Phillips?'

Religion theorists Carrette and King (2012) in their article, Spirituality and the rebranding of religion, make a serious attack on what they describe as 'Corporate Capitalism'. They argue, and it's a forthright stance they seem to take, that big business involvement in religion 'strips [its] assets by plundering its material and cultural resources' (Carrette and King 2012:64). They fear that religion is experiencing a takeover and in the process, loses something of its traditions.

I would argue differently. Religion is also a business in the contemporary western market-driven world. In fact, the recently-launched cableTV History Channel's hit, The Bible, has already drawn millions of viewers; it's a ratings bonanza. Enshrined in a kind of 'swords and sandals' movie genre, this epic series is filled with over-hyped ochestration, enough to send hearts and souls a-soaring ... well, perhaps....

Sacred music is an umbrella term for myriad music genres that do more than just 'touch' us. They take us on a journey into the transcendent or self-transcendence. We travel on what Geoff Woods, the ABC broadcaster, terms 'The Rhythm Divine', a kind of lyrical magic carpet that takes us to new worlds and strange realms of enchantment, the sacred and again, to beauty.

Woods' radio show explores both 'contemporary sacred sounds and the world’s devotional music' (ABC Radio National 2013). It was on Woods' program that I first heard the Melbourne Muslim hip hop group Brothahood with their moving tale featuring Hannah Magar, We are Egyptians. It used to be viewable online, but only the sound remains to open our hearts and memories to the upswelling of Arab Spring and its outcome in Egypt.

Magar sings - 'It's a new day, a new world, a new Egypt. This is the determination of the makers of the pyramids. We had a dream, we were ready to die for defending....'

The link between the hip hop message of Magar and The Brothahood, or the Christian-inspired pop of TobyMac or EDM of Swedish House Mafia, honours their fervency for God and their profound relationship with their faith and the sacred.

Questions
- How do you envisage the argument of Carrette and King (2012)? Is it a question of diluting religion through 'Corporate Capitalism' or an enhancing of religion as the message is spread in different mediums?
- What does the term sacred music mean to you?
- Do you have a favourite band or performer who wears their religion on their sleeve or in their music message? Discuss and analyse their role in supporting their sense of what is divine, sacred or special.

References
- ABC Radio National. 2013. The Rhythm Divine.http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rhythmdivine/about/
- Carrette J. and R. King. 2012. Spirituality and the re-branding of religion. In G.Lynch, Ed., Religion, media, culture. New York: Routledge.

- Mainstream Christian music. 2013. Religion and Ethics Newsweekly. Feb 8, 2013.
- Makarechi K. 2012. Steve Angello on why Swedish House Mafia broke up, new music & what Nnew fans don't understand. Huffington Post, Sept 14, 2012.
- We are Egyptian REMIX (Hannah Magar feat. The Brothahood). 2012. http://brothahood.bandcamp.com/track/we-are-egyptian-remix-hannah-magar-feat-the-brothahood
 
Image source
http://pixabay.com/en/silhouette-people-personal-human-78407/

Images - how they lure us

Art historian David Morgan, in a number of his throught-provoking texts, especially 'Would Jesus have sat for a portrait?'...(2002) tells an intriguing story about the construction of Jesus images over time. In the 19th century and early 20th century, there emerged a division between Christian followers, with one side preferring Jesus to be represented in a softer more compassionate way. While those opposing this rendition suggested this approach highlighted Christ's effeminate qualities, whereas their preference was to portray Jesus in a more manly or masculine light, stressing his manhood, his courage, his charisma and his strength. Jesus was to be the veritable all American hero. But why not embrace both perspectives?

In many of the depictions of Jesus over since the 1800s, Jesus has blond hair and blue eyes? So let's consider the historical, social and political rationales for this 'white' construction.

In their book, The Colour of Christ:The son of God and the saga of race in America, authors Ed Blum and Paul Harvey (2012) outline the construction of the Jesus image according to the socio-political and historical eras and events in the US. In particular, they show how the Jesus image has been used both as a symbol of freedom and civil rights, as well as its total opposite - a symbol of white supremacy promulgated by white supremacist groups such as the KKK.

In an interview with one of the authors, Ed Blum stresses that showing Jesus always as white falls directly in line with white supremacy viewpoints: 'The belief, the value, that Jesus is white provides them an image in place of text, ...It gets them away from actually having to quote chapter and verse, which they can't really do to present their cause'.

When asked what 'colour' Christ would probably have been, Blum replied that it would not be white. [He would be] 'darkly complected, not pure black, more in a kind of light brownish [color]'. In fact, Blum points out that up until the 18th century, Jesus was generally shown with brown eyes.

So how did he become white and why? Blum and Harvey document the shift from Jesus as the bringer or epitome of Light to a re-rendering of light into white. For colonial Americans, light connoted power, goodness, love. White [at least in those days] was a sign of trouble' (Blum and Harvey 2012). In fact it was this 'darker' version of Jesus that sparked interest among Native Americans and African Americans, a move which may have fostered a shift from dark to light, white and right.

The rise of Protestant Christianity and the sacred values of Christ were promoted across the US through the 19th century by an organisation known as the American Tract Society. Started in 1825, it spread the Gospel message far and wide. During the 1800s, with an active slave trade and the dispossession of Native American lands, Christians distanced themselves from the earlier 'darker' Jesus image. Armed with increasing migration, the support of providence and the philosophy of manifest destiny, American was destined (it was believed) to become a Christian nation heralded by a now white Jesus representing 'civilized Christian values' (Blum and Harvey 2013).

Blum and Harvey conclude their article in The Chronicle of Higher Education with a pessimistic or perhaps it is a pragmatic vision for the future of Jesus images in America by saying:

'Jesus will probably remain white for most Americans, because Christ still serves as a symbol and symptom of racial power in society. But because of the nation's complicated histories of race and religion, Jesus will also continue to be a complicated savior—white without words, and yet made and remade in many shades'.

Arguments about the allure of Jesus images have shifted over time in relation to gender stereotypes, colour representations and political and religious expediency. Images, like words, have power, and the power to influence public perception and public opinion. A white Jesus becomes normalised, unquestioned, accepted and adopted. What would it mean if the image was not this norm? 

To find out what Jesus may have looked like, the BBC program 'Son of God' has reconstructed a possible representation of Jesus based on the skull of a first century Jew. Using forensic, historical and archeological techniques, the face that emerges from the screen is that of a man of Middle Eastern appearance. In contrast to the white 'Hollywood' Jesus, the BBC's rendering showed Jesus of Nazareth was likely to have been very different from the idealised Christian American and so-called 'civilised' version. It's fascinating viewing.

Questions
- If you were to cast a movie of Jesus in 2013, what kind of actor would represent the Saviour? 
- Could Jesus or a particular image of Jesus be deemed a kind of 'trade-marked' (TM) brand?
- If you were running an advertising campaign promoting Jesus or contemporary Christianity, how would you do it?
- How do you perceive the argument of gender qualities still relevant in 2013? Why?

References
BBC. 2001. The face of Jesus reconstructed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2-0jU2-m6I [There are several youtube clips from the series Son of God].
Blum E.J. and P. Harvey. 2012. The Colour of Christ:The son of God and the saga of race in America. University of North Carolina Press.
Blum E.J. and P. Harvey. 2013. The Contested Color of Christ: How the image of Jesus has been made and remade in American history. The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 17, http://chronicle.com/article/The-Contested-Color-of-Christ/134414/
Morgan D. 2002. 'Would Jesus have sat for a portrait?' The likeness of Christ in the popular reception if Sallman's art. In S. Brent Plate, Ed., Religion, art and visual culture: A cross-cultural reader. New York: Palgrave.

Image source:
http://pixabay.com/en/antique-art-building-cambridge-21803/