Let’s Not Forget These 6 Big International Religion Stories In 2022
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(OPINION) One of the greatest challenges for religion reporters and writers in the United States is to consider the global context rather than just the U.S. context.
Recently, my colleague Bobby Ross Jr., who writes the Weekend Plug-In column at ReligionUnplugged.com, asked fellow religion reporters what stories we should be watching in 2022. In answering that question, I looked back on the list of top 10 stories in 2021 as voted by members of the Religion News Association.
RNA is a great organization for religion reporters, as it organizes resources, events and awards. Nevertheless, its end-of-year list often strikes me as somewhat U.S.-centric. For example, it named the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters as the top religion story of 2021. The Taliban retaking Afghanistan (my vote for top story in 2021) took second place and was one of only three international stories in the top 10. The rest of the stories were U.S.-focused. That’s typical of most years. In 2018, all of the top 10 stories were U.S.-centric.
RNA’s mission is to “equip journalists throughout the world with the tools and resources they need to cover religion with balance, accuracy and insight.” Its vision includes “a global community of journalists who elevate religious literacy in the news media.” Those are excellent mission and vision statements.
Of the 7.6 billion people on Earth, 2.4 billion identify as Christian, 1.9 billion as Muslim, 1.2 billion as Hindu and more than 500 million as Buddhist. Those are just the largest four religions. We can quickly see that the 310 million in America do not necessarily constitute the epicenter or signifier for all religion in the world. If anything, religion in America is a unique outlier.
Meanwhile, that’s why at least two international nonprofits are focusing on networking and training on religion reporting for international journalists. One of those organizations is The Media Project, a nonprofit for which I serve as executive director. TMP offers five international training programs each year for journalists in most continents in the world, including at the annual European Journalism Institute in Prague, which is currently taking applications for participants. We host regular online events and communications with our more than 2,500 journalist members. TMP publishes the award-winning ReligionUnplugged.com, which features many stories from international journalists. We also appreciate the work of the International Association of Religion Journalists, which is led by and for international journalists and has hosted international conferences.
And since Bobby asked for what religion reporters think could be big stories in 2022, here is my list of six stories to watch internationally:
1. The Orthodox Church — the Russian Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church(es) and other parts of Eastern Orthodox faith are caught amid military and geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine. And the broader reactions from the largely Roman Catholic and Protestant-oriented countries in Europe are also part of this geopolitical story.
2. Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — Is he a force toward slow emergence of religious freedom, women’s rights and modernity in the most important Sunni Islam country? Or he is a monster who continues to torture friends and family, assassinate journalists and secretly continue his country’s historic support and funding of terrorism and radical Islam via Wahhabi networks? So far, he has blasted the Wahhabi establishment as out of date and based on faulty interpretation of Islamic scriptures.
3. Religious nationalism around the world — From the BJP Hindu nationalism in Narendra Modi’s India to Christian nationalism in Victor Orban’s Hungary to latent Christian nationalism of the zombie Trump GOP, will this year be a year in which religious nationalism moves ahead, moves back or stays the same?
4. China — As a big country with more than a billion souls, many of them persecuted for their Christian, Muslim or other faiths, will China lose face on the world stage because of its secular Communist party oppression of religion? Will the world see any change in how China treats the Uyghur Muslim community the nation has been persecuting? What happens in China with religion affects global religion because of sheer numbers.
5. Religious genocide in Africa — Countries like Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia and others in Africa are trying to counter religiously motivated violence, strife and war. We are seeing crimes against humanity in these regions, and the world needs to know this isn’t just about land, politics and ethnicity. It’s often also about religion, belief and community identity.
6. Afghanistan — Oh yeah. Our country pulled out of there last year, and the Taliban moved into control. A massive human rights problem is boiling over for the foreseeable future (e.g. parents selling daughters into marriages or slavery so they can buy food). The Taliban is driven by religion as we know, harming religious minorities and hindering diversity of belief within Islam. Though the U.S. military moved out, the press can’t ignore this story.
Paul Glader is executive editor of ReligionUnplugged.com and a professor of journalism at The King’s College NYC. He has reported from dozens of countries for outlets ranging from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Der Spiegel Online and others. He’s on Twitter @PaulGlader