Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 28, 1994                   TAG: 9405310144
SECTION: RELIGION                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By GEORGE W. CORNELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

MOYERS: WE'RE IGNORING A TRUE RELIGIOUS PHENOMENON

He says the absence of religion on TV is particularly disturbing, since television has become ``our all-encompassing environment'' shaping modern culture.

``Just about every other human endeavor is the subject of continuing coverage by the media, even to the point of saturation,'' Moyers said. ``Economics, politics and government, business, foreign policy, sports, sex, cooking, consumer interests, physical fitness, movies and entertainment, war, crime, even wrestling.''

But there is ``no room in the inn'' for religion as a ``crucial force in American life,'' he said. ``So most Americans remain religiously illiterate.''

Moyers, a seminary-trained former CBS-TV news analyst and now producer-interviewer for television public service programs, recently addressed a Religious Newswriters Association dinner marking the 60th anniversary of Religion News Service.

RNS, founded by the National Conference of Christians and Jews in 1934 and lately owned by the United Methodist Reporter, has been acquired by Newhouse News Service and will move its headquarters from New York to Washington.

Moyers said reporters seeking comment on various issues will ask an economist, politician, psychologist, sociologist, lawyer - ``almost anyone'' except a clergy-ethicist or theologian, even when the issue is ``at the very heart of religious concerns.''

``Sometimes it seems to me that the wall of separation that is meant to keep the government from giving any specified religion a privileged position in American life is interpreted as a rampart dividing all of religion from the rest of American life,'' he said.

He said religion receives significant coverage only when scandals or violence are involved.

The unspoken theme of such stories is that religion is a ``cloak for fanaticism and cupidity'' and is ``irrational and hypocritical.'' Sometimes ``I think we are in a spiritual war of attrition,'' he said.

Nevertheless, he said, ``Millions of Americans are searching for some clearer understanding of the core principles of religion and how they can be applied to the daily experience of living as well as to humanity's common destiny and concern.''

Citing signs of that trend, he said, ``The most interesting stories of our time are emerging in the intersection between the secular and the spiritual, between God and politics.

``What religion coverage lacks as a whole is perspective and context,'' he said. ``Something is happening in America that is worthy of the sharpest reporting and analysis we can bring to it.''

He said, ``One story is indeed the attempt to find a new vision for America which has the authority and power of a religious vision but which is inclusive, not sectarian.''

Just what form it might take is yet to be ``articulated in public policy,'' he said, adding, ``The outcome of the story remains unpredictable.''