What does the media believe?

The Three Faiths Forum (TFF) treated its guests to some revealing insights by top news broadcaster Jon Snow at the annual lecture of the TFF’s Undergraduate Parliamentors programme in February. Mr Snow, who has covered global events for several decades, presented a personal view of media attitudes to faith before a 100-strong audience at the National Liberal Club in Westminster.

Introducing the event, Daniella Shaw Gabay, TFF’s Mentoring Project Manager, spoke about TFF’s Undergraduate ParliaMentors scheme which arranges for MPs and Peers to mentor undergraduates for a year, enabling them to develop leadership skills and work on projects that bring about positive social change.  She said: “Today is an opportunity for future leaders to meet with present ones.”

Mr Snow told the audience that he was very interested in faith – which he regards as a journey – and the meaning of belief, but that the media often approach faith in a very specific way. He said: “The media’s encounter with faith veers between religious events, conflict and extremism.”

Becoming a chorister at Winchester was when Mr Snow first experienced religion and faith first-hand when he became a chorister at Winchester. He said: “Since then, for me religion is less about faith and more about a process which binds people together.

“I wouldn’t call myself a Christian, because I can be uplifted equally in a synagogue in North London, the Blue Mosque in Istanbul or a Hindu temple. I go to a Saxon church to contemplate the spirit, my own or that of others. I believe the power of the human spirit is the most powerful force of all, which some call God.”

His experience of doing VSO in Uganda at a Catholic mission school made him determined to find a way to get back to that country one day, which is what inspired him to become a journalist. While doing VSO, he found out more about Catholicism, not on a doctrinal level, but about the power of service. He was impressed by the faith of the two priests who dedicated their lives to the largely Protestant pupils.

Mr Snow mentioned various religious events he had covered including the brief reign of Pope John Paul I who died within three weeks of taking office. He then travelled with his successor, Pope John Paul II, to San Domingo. He said: “It was quite an experience to see so many people turn out, something I had never seen before on this scale, not even with the Beatles.”

He found his time in Iran at the end of the Shah's rule electrifying and exciting, which created a passion in him to learn more about Shia Islam.

In Iraq, he covered the eight-year war and wondered how he survived without any training. “Here it was Sunni against Shia, with the super-powers trying to orchestrate the destruction, again two sections of the same religion coming into conflict.”

He said: “It is difficult for the outsider to get to grips with the cause, but there is always an outside hand with a vested interest. I think the current conflict in the Middle East is not about faith, but about power.”

He added: “The great thing about TFF is that it is absolutely about combating extremism and binding people with the things they have in common.

“Everywhere I have been is in opposition to that. Agents want to create divisions and use them to gain oil, influence, possessions or land. Faith is a tool they play with at our peril. Those who defy those movements are those in whom we should invest a great deal for the future.

“The threat of religious extremism is not purely Islamic – all religions have an extremist threat.

“But I am optimistic because I am standing here and talking to an incredibly holistic cross-section of life.

 “In this country we have better opportunities than many to defy the global odds, de-ghettoize faith and embrace each other.”

He concluded on notes both of optimism and caution: “I am excited by the way in which parts of our community are developing, but I am fearful of those who still want to stir conflict between faiths.”

But, he said, a sense of humour and tolerance could help to get one through.