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When Religion
Gets Tangled With Science...
(October 8, 2004) -
Are religion and science incompatible? In the journalist’s
everyday work, not at all. But be careful with sensitive issues:
the instant they arise, they unleash angry readers, frosty editors
and self-censoring reporters.
Sensitive issues can be amazingly countless. Anything
to do with the life sciences can already be considered "sensitive",
said Denis Sergent, a science reporter with the French daily,
La Croix, yesterday. La Croix ["The Cross"]
is a "religious obedience newspaper" — in other
words, Catholic. Its journalists have editorial freedom, and Sergent
has never been asked about his religious beliefs. Yet the newspaper’s
charter stipulates "doctrinal fidelity", whatever that
might mean. Moreover, its readership (paid circulation of 100,000)
is more rightwing than left, primarily male, and mostly (54%)
over the age of 65. As a result, any coverage of embryology, stem
cells, euthanasia, the question of determining where life begins
and ends, invariably takes on a special hue.
Yet not everybody considers this a real problem.
Sergent was one of the three panelists in the Science &
Religion workshop. The other two, each in their own way, emphasized
that they considered the original question they had been asked
— are religion and science compatible? — secondary.
"It’s very Western to ask that kind of question",
said Egyptian reporter Nadia El-Awady, who edits the science and
health pages of cybermedia IslamOnline, published since
1999. It’s not even properly Western, countered Australian-born
American Margaret Wertheim. In Great Britian and Australia, that
type of question isn’t asked. It’s in the United States
where religious issues are polluting so many scientific (and by
extension, political) discussions. "And it’s getting
worse."
"Yet religion," said the science
writer and author, "is not a problem for science. What
is is particular form of religion fuelled by ignorance."
Therein lies the importance of the science journalist’s
role, said El-Awady: to increase knowledge and fight against ignorance.
In this regard, what are the real problems that science journalists
face in the Arab world? Well, science is buried deep in the inside
pages, is mostly material from news agencies, and the reporters
have little training. Remind you of anything?
Pascal Lapointe
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