Toongabbie Anglican Church Blog

Weekly Blurb

The media’s secret agenda

Sunday 11 September, 2005 · Posted by Philip Bassett

When you watch the news or the current affairs programmes on the TV or read the newspapers, do you ever get the feeling that the media has some sort of secret agenda to denigrate the church or at least show anti-Christian bias? Our Archbishop, Peter Jensen, addressed this issue in a talk given at the Christians In The Media Access All Areas Conference last month. He said that there is a secret agenda, but he redefined it: "Secret" because the media itself is unaware of it and "Agenda" because it tells a consistent story.

Peter Jensen set it in the context that God speaks to us primarily through a book, the Bible, in words. He said that God has revealed himself in nature but that revelation is incomplete without his interpretive word. In addition, because of the fallenness of mankind, we don't even listen to his word right.

We habitually take part of the wonderful world God created and worship that instead of the creator. We would rather be in charge of our gods instead of submitting to the one true God. All too often people today unite against the truth, often unconsciously, by accepting the fashion of the day, by believing corporate falsehood, by sheer laziness as we take what we are told without checking the facts. We are victims of the cliche in dealing with other people and with each other.

Peter Jensen said that there is a consistently distorted media line. Often he said that "God" and "Jesus" were omitted from what he was reported to have said. Journalists seem to be uncomfortable with such concepts and so omit them from what they report. The result is that religion is turned into just a social function, its worth is measured in social impact, or its capacity to give offense or cause conflict. Churches are depicted as either political pressure groups or conflicted, failing organizations.

Our Archbishop challenged the media to do their homework. To bone up on the true history of the Christian church in Australia, to understand the various voices that the church speaks with. He said that the media is so often captured by its secularist philosophy that it just doesn't hear what is actually being said.

Even more than this post-modernism has lead to a suspicion of words so that the person who spoke them is no longer allowed to determine what they mean. In the end this only succeeds in making relationships impossible, locking people into little cells, we can never trust others, we are sad creatures, alone in all our glory. It is no wonder he said that much of secularism is anti-marriage, anti-family. It is the age of the individual.

Peter Jensen said that in the end the media is the reflection of ourselves and the answer lies in whether or not we are prepared to trust God.

If you would like to read the full address go to www.sydneyanglicans.net.

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