Ecumenical News

Markus Braeuer, Media Advisor to the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), laments the decrease of religious knowledge in popular media in Germany at a speech opening a Christian Media Convention in Swabia, according to the Evangelical Press Service (epd).

Consumers can see an allegedly Catholic priest in a Lutheran gown, characters of professed “evangelistic” faith in recent productions. Religious topics in the media need to be dealt with with more care in the future according to Braeuer. He brought up the examples of displaying a frog nailed to a cross as being called “freedom of artistic expression” while a bomb in the turban of a Muslim prophet in a caricature leads to the author being in need of personal protection.

Also the commitment to religious freedom not only within some countries is according to Braeuer an issue Christian media relations has to commit to. He illustrated his point with the fact of a sabotaged broadcast of a Lutheran church in Istanbul last Sunday, where camera cables were cut skillfully in a hidden spot.

The media convention Braeuer spoke at sponsored by the EKD, the State Church of Wurttemberg and several christian foundations and publishing houses. The keynote was given by the Austrian Catholic religious sociologist Paul Zulehner speaking about causes of violence in young people related authoritarian structures and escape from freedom. The convention ends on Saturday.