Religious Communications Congress 2010 - Embrace Change: Communicating Faith in Today’s World By Judy Lee Trautman, NAIN Communicatons Chair
Overview.. 1 Opening – Music, MultiFaith Comedy, & Mitch Albom.. 2 Plenary Sessions. 3 Thursday – Rev. Otis Moss, III, Rev. Dr. Martin Marty Panel 3 Friday - Rev. Dr. Joan Campbell, Dr. Ingrid Mattson, Dr. Diana Eck. 4 Saturday – Dr. Jeffrey Cole, Global Partners. 5 Workshops. 6 Social Media with a Strategy. 6 Cultural Diversity and Communication — A Panel Presentation. 6 Communication for Peace: How Digital Technologies can Enhance Empathy and Dialogue. 7 Communicating Religion in the Evolving Environment of New Media and Changing Society. 7 Video in a Web 2.0 World. 7 Web Ministry 3.0: A view of emerging tools and applications. 7 Communication Rights and the Millennium Development Goals. 8 Virtual or Real: Faith in the Second Life Community. 8 When Religion Meets New Media. 8 Overview I recently had the wonderful opportunity to attend, as NAIN’s Communication’s Chair, the Religious Communications Congress 2010. The theme was Embrace Change: Communicating Faith in Today’s World. I had several over-arching impressions to this Congress, which started fifty years ago and meets every ten years. The first is that Interfaith has certainly arrived in the consciousness of religious communicators. The congress was originated by mostly Catholics and Baptists. Fifty years hence, the event was decidedly interfaith in both attendance and program content. The opening Banquet entertainment included a multifaith comedy team and author Mitch Albom, whose excellent re-telling of his latest book Have a Little Faith included an interfaith message. Diana Eck was a featured plenary speaker. Daily Faith Expressions included a variety of faith traditions. The Interfaith Youth Core made a presentation at the closing banquet. A second impact of the RCCongress was the amazing speed of media technological change. All organizations, including NAIN and its member organizations, need to give serious consideration to a tech plan. Many of us are operating with twentieth century communication skills. We will be left behind if we do not plan to grow our media skills. This is especially important if we wish to address youth and young adults. But even in communicating with older generations, current forms of media are in the process of disappearing. I think that the ramifications of this speed of change ought to cause the organizers of the RCCongress to re-think their ten-year format. An ever-increasing amount of change now occurs in ten years. Thirdly, while I personally am exhilarated by changing media technology, I do have a concern regarding the divide between the rich and the poor in the world and on this continent. In my geographical context this divide is rapidly increasing. In the Detroit – Toledo area, we would be almost pleased with an unemployment rate of 8.9%. It is more than twice that in many nearby urban areas. It has traditionally been the focus of people of faith to care about the economically disadvantaged. But in a session discussing current trends - the appearance of ‘online church’, mobile phone apps with Biblical and Qur’anic texts, the disappearance of newspapers, email [replaced by texting and Twitter], and even personal computers [replaced by iPads or smart phones] – I raised the question whether anyone was concerned about the fairly affluent demographic addressed by these changes. I was not happy with the answer. The presenter made the point that cell phones are much less expensive in countries other than the US. It was as though we have no problems of poverty on this continent. I would hate to see faith groups get so involved with the developing media that they lose a key message – concern for the disadvantaged. At the very least, we ought to be challenged to find ways to provide media access to all. The Congress meets every ten years. That was probably appropriate when it began fifty years ago. With technology changing as rapidly as it does now, that may need re-visiting. It was obvious to me that one of the big changes was that interfaith consciousness has genuinely arrived. Fifty years ago the communicators were Catholics and some Protestants. Both attendance and programming reflected an acceptance of the reality of religious pluralism. You can read more about speakers, plenary sessions, and workshops here. Opening – Music, MultiFaith Comedy, & Mitch Albom
			The congress opened and closed with sumptuous banquets. MC Larry Hygh, Jr. kept us alert and chanting ‘Embrace Change”. Ken Medema, with his side musicians Chris Heckert and Jorge Lockward, shared faith expressions and musical interludes. Ken listened to presentations and then skillfully improvised a song that reflected the theme.
			“A Rabbi, a Baptist minister and a Muslim lawyer walk into RCCongress...” sounds like the beginning of a joke. It was actually the arrival of the multifaith comedy team of Rabbi Bob Alper; Baptist minister Susan Sparks; and star of the film ‘Allah Made me funny’, Azhar Usman. They each did a standup routine, followed by a joint piece about theology that they could not agree upon.
Then they declared that we should suggest that our religious leaders come together doing an Irish Jig. Their lively demonstration brought the house down. Among other observations, I realized how refreshing it was to be in a group of 400 people laughing heartily for an hour to humor without any foul language or off-color allusions.
		Mitch Albom presented the story of his latest book, ‘Have a Little Faith’. I had already read it, but was enchanted by his retelling of this beautiful dual story about his Rabbi’s request to write his eulogy and Mitch’s encounter with a minister reborn from the depths of addiction into pastoring the homeless of Detroit. He challenged us as interfaith leaders to acknowledge the discomfort we all feel when confronted with someone different. Really the only antidote is to build a friendship, an understanding of the other. That is the essence of interfaith work. Then he closes with the Rabbi’s eloquent affirmation that ‘we are all children of God’.
At several points of the congress there were attempts at live streaming – a message from Tony Blair, and music from some students from Washington, D. C. The technical glitches revealed that this technology is not flawless. It was none-the-less an interesting glimpse into the possibilities of bridging distances with new communication means. Plenary Sessions Thursday – Rev. Otis Moss, III, Rev. Dr. Martin Marty Panel Rev. Otis Moss, III, of Trinity UCC in Chicago gave a spirited presentation about dead ministries and the need to do a re-mix of the message to meet a new generation that is urgently seeking community. We have lost the extended family and the front porch community. We need to build community where we are. He made an interesting comment that dialog is linear, based on right vs. wrong. Why can it not be circular? Rev. Dr. Martin E. Marty, University of Chicago Divinity School, hosted a panel with Barbara Bradley Hagerty, Kevin Eckstrom, and Kenneth Irby. Dr. Marty decried the frequently heard line ‘I am not religious, but I am very spiritual’. He says the question ought to be ‘how can spirituality enliven religion?’ Kevin Eckstrom, Editor, Religion News Service, remarked that the new media provide access to sources and public opinion and define the audience. Devices such as iPad are transformative in how people get the news. There is a lack of the traditional standards, schools, editors, and a lack of credibility with the blurred line between professional and amateur communication. In the pressure to be instantaneous, we lose reflection and analysis. There is a need for trusted gate-keepers, blog aggregates. Religion is still a key issue in what people want to hear more about. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, NPR religion correspondent, commented on the dangers of immediacy. She has to sift through enormous amount of material to find a story. She says that young people do not know how to use alternate sources. They never actually interview. Her best stories are always the result of interviews. Kenneth Irby of the Poynter Institutespoke of advantages to the new media in community building [conveners of ideas], everybody can tell their story, and the sense-making by trusted organizations. He spoke of a fifth estate [the fourth estate traditionally being the press], that is, ‘everyone who has something to say’. He says the challenge is to link values to the present world, to promote accuracy / vetted information, and command technology to tell authentic stories. Friday - Rev. Dr. Joan Campbell, Dr. Ingrid Mattson, Dr. Diana Eck
		Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell Director of the Department of Religion, Chautauqua Institution, was the host of the Plenary. She was the first woman to be Associate Executive Director of the Greater Cleveland Council of Churches; the first woman to be Executive Director of the U.S. office of the World Council of Churches; the first ordained woman to be General Secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA; and the only woman in the clergy procession of over 200 for the enthronement of Desmond Tutu as Archbishop of South Africa.
		Dr. Ingrid Mattson, Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, Director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program at Hartford Seminary, and ISNA [Islamic Society of North America] President, is one of the most articulate spokespersons for Islam that I have ever heard. In speaking of the post 9/11 backlash for Muslim Americans, she said the ‘times you do not understand can be a preparation for something yet to come’. The Qur’an says ‘you may hate something which may be good for you.’
Many resources for understanding of Islam appeared after 9/11. "God is One: The Way of Islam", published by the National Council of Churches Friendship Press, responded to a surge of interest in what Muslims really believe and how Christians can relate to their Muslim neighbors. The fact that Islam does not have a centralized authority to speak for it has been problematic. Dr. Mattson cited the Amman Declaration and ‘A Common Word Between Us and You’, both endorsed by large groups of Muslim leaders, as models of consensus building.
Dr. Diana Eck, Director of the Harvard Pluralism Project, stated that ‘pluralism requires the building of sturdy relationships’. The encounter of religious differences is only the start of the study of religious pluralism. ‘Pluralism is not just our differences, but our willingness to engage with these differences’. She noted Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at Oxford University, who advocates the study and re-interpretation of Islamic texts. He emphasizes the heterogeneous nature of Western Muslims and emphasizes the necessity for their contribution to Western society.
Other comments in the discussion period · What is the role of psychology in pluralism? · How do we encourage the media to move from inflammatory to celebratory? · There is value in humor. · The dialog roundtable with a case-study approach directs comments on a specific case and away from personal agendas · We need a basic respect of listening. · The wealth factor in proselytizing is oppressive. · We must be a faithful witness to our own faith, while not being a false witness to the other. · All people of faith need to unite against hostile atheism/secularism. Saturday – Dr. Jeffrey Cole, Global Partners
		Dr. Jeffrey Cole, Director of the Center for the Digital Future, USC Annenberg School for Communication, presented ‘Surveying the Digital Future’. His World Internet Project has studied the evolution of the Internet, as was not done to the evolution of television. Film, music, and print media will survive, but as drastically smaller entities. Since 1940 we have gone from $4.3 billion in movie tickets to $1.4 billion. Tower Music and Virgin Mega Stores are closing or closed. We are moving from CD purchase to stealing or individual paid downloads.
Ten years ago he received a lot of criticism for predicting the demise of the newspaper in fifteen to thirty years. He says he was wrong – he was optimistic. Newspapers are down to last 3-5 years. Most magazines are down to 2 years, except for women’s magazines which engage more than visual senses. Weekend newspapers may survive. News will be accessed on iPad-like devises. Television [video] is the exception and will explode and also escape the home to mobile devices. YouTube is as much TV as Fox is. Social networking is the ‘real deal’. The largest percentage of Facebook users are in their 60’s and 70’s. Comments on the 12-24 year-olds: · Never read newspapers, some magazines · Do not use land phone or watch · Trust unknown peers more than experts · As of 2005 willing to pay for content · Little interest in source, but in aggregate · Community at center of Internet experience · Think they are unaffected by ads/brands, but are · Everything will move to mobile · TV dominates less than any previous generation · Want to move content from platform to platform without restrictions · Want to be heard – user generation Use IM [text], think emails is for parents 7.4 billion people use mobile phones. The US is a third-world country for mobile technology. [I heard this in several workshops as well.] Twitter is important. [I heard several people grudgingly admit this.] The first reports of the attacks on Mumbai were from Twitter, beating TV news by nearly a half hour. Bad film used to make a good box office the first weekend, before reviews cam out. Now the Twitter reviews tank bad film before Saturday. Dr. Randy Naylor and Dennis Smith presented a session entitled ‘Tao Meets Tech: Emerging Global Trends in Religious Communication’. This panel included mini-presentations from a selection of the Global Partners Grant recipients. There were fourteen recipients - Mijail Orlandovich Tornes Chmirenko, Santiago, Cuba; Kpalla Matomklawe, Togo, Africa; Rolando Perez, Peru, Latin America (studying in Bolder, Colorado, USA); Reuben Twinomujuni, Uganda, Africa; Innocent Ebere Uwah, Nigeria, Africa (studying in Dublin, Ireland); Bassem Maher, Alexandria, Eqypt; Wang Rong-Wei, Shanghai, China; Catherine Ouma, Kenya, Africa; Sheila Mulinya, Nairobi, Kenya, Africa; Obah Rosaline Akweba, Mankon, Cameroon, Africa; Andres Daniel Lopez Rodriguez, Montevideo, Uruguay; Aline Gehm Koller, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Erick Marcel Gonzalez, Havana, Cuba; and Marcela Gabioud, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Workshops Social Media with a Strategy Michael Hoffman, CEO, See3 Communications, argued that using social media to market your organization requires a strong strategy. It is the age of the consumer-producer. It is important to build relationships, tell stories, listen, and be transparent and accountable. Set goals regarding who you are trying to reach, what tools, staff and resources are needed, and how to measure success. A way to manage Twitter is the Tweet Deck which allows you to parse tweets and other social networking updates into columns for quick browsing. http://www.tweetdeck.com/ A Facebook [Fan] Page is a way to represent your organization. You can do paid advertising or at least experiment with the process to learn demographics of interested parties. You collect Fans [Now viewers indicate that they ‘like’ the page. Become a Fan [‘like’] the NAIN Facebook Fan Page. I very quickly acquired over fifty fans. YouTube is the 4^th largest website. Twenty hours of video are uploaded per minute. YouTube search is the 2^nd largest search [after Google]. There are YouTube nonprofit channels, which are free. [The MultiFaith Council of NW Ohio has one and it is useful.] Various resources: Ustream http://www.ustream.tv/ and Livestream http://www.livestream.com/ are free live video streaming sites. Tangle™ http://www.tangle.com/ is a Christian social media community. Ning allows you to set up a more or less private social media platform. We tried one for NAIN, but it has not been used much. Its advantage is relative privacy and targeted users. But that is part of the disadvantage, also. Facebook allows strangers of similar interests to find you. Cultural Diversity and Communication — A Panel Presentation A diverse panel discussed the importance of cultural diversity and communication. The UN General Assembly has proclaimed 2010 the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures. Nick Stuart of Odyssey Networks commented on some new TV trends. Link TV is a non-commercial American satellite television network providing "diverse perspectives on world and national issues." Current TV features "pods," or short programs, some of are user-created. Odyssey Networks, the nation’s largest non-profit coalition of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith groups [and now Hindu and Sikh], is dedicated to promoting dialogue between faith traditions, peace and social justice. In a separate event, a reception hosted by Odyssey Networks, they announced their intention to host 18 mobile TV channels. This correlates with the concept that television is escaping the home. Communication for Peace: How Digital Technologies can Enhance Empathy and Dialogue Carole St. Laurent talked about ways that digital communication tools can contribute to peace building by enhancing our ability to empathize with each other more deeply, map conflict areas, or refocus dialogues around facts. Concrete case studies will ground this exploration in modern technical tools that can contribute to peace building, such as multimedia storytelling, Ushahidi open source conflict mapping software http://www.ushahidi.com/, and Web 2.0 [interactive, user-centered, collaborative] web applications. Communicating Religion in the Evolving Environment of New Media and Changing Society Basilio G. Monteiro gave a fairly academic presentation focused on the evolving technologized society and the shifting understanding of religion. He stressed using language that reflects a more urban culture and the need for new metaphors. He commented on the difference between the corporate model [focused on selling and measurable outcomes] and the theological model which shared ideas with an audience. We need to be aware of who we are writing/speaking to. Video in a Web 2.0 World Tim Frakes, an award winning videographer, video producer, script writer and editor, presented practical considerations about how to produce good video. He spoke about scripted vs. documented styles. Scripted videos follow a set script. To create a documented style video, you gather clips and then edit them into a story, using faster edit points. He showed a flip video as an inexpensive way to produce video that is perfect for YouTube. His advice was Don’t use zoom; walk in close Use clips that are a variety of wide, medium, and tight [close] shots Shoot humans at eye level, three feet away for interviews Move; don’t stand in corner of room He mentioned several video software tools –Final cut Pro, imovie, Windows Movie Maker, and Pinnacle. He advised not to use all of the fancy transitions – cut and dissolve only. He also mentioned Jason Ohler’s book on digital storytelling, and online tutorials, such as http://www.lynda.com/ and Atomic Learning. Web Ministry 3.0: A view of emerging tools and applications Matt Carlisle, Founder of Big Heart Design, explored new trends. He says that the push down communication does not work anymore. In web socialization, everyone is a participant. The question is how do you engage people in their real lives? http://www.lifechurch.tv/ is an Internet Church. “To reach people that no one is reaching, you have to do things that no one is doing.” 45,000 attended online Easter service. It now has attendance on 13 campuses in 6 states. Twestival™ (or Twitter Festival) is the largest global grassroots social media fundraising. [It has raised over $1.2 million within 14 months for 137 nonprofits.] Those who are flexible, willing to collaborate, and step outside of the silo mode will find success. You will be forced to be nimble, so you can act quickly. Decision by committee won’t work. The individual is charged to make disciples. They now have the tools to create and foster new communities. How will organized religions react? Communication Rights and the Millennium Development Goals This is one of the few workshops that dealt with traditional messages and missions of peoples of faith. Most were about the means and technology of communication. Philip Lee, Deputy Director of Programs, World Association for Christian Communication, says that mass media have to serve the public, not governments or owners, and must uphold the democratic principles of truthful, balanced and contextualized reporting. He adds that communication lies at the heart of change. Living together in peace, advancing sustainable development, harnessing today’s technologies for good, and living one’s faith all demand communication that creates community, strengthens participation, increases freedoms, develops cultures, and is a voice for justice. He feels that communication is a right. He cites as an example of injustice the lack of rights in Canada for indigenous people. During climate change negotiations they were left out. He feels that there is slow progress in realizing of the Millennium Development Goals. Virtual or Real: Faith in the Second Life Community David Louder, Campus Pastor, Western Michigan University, showed examples of ways that faith communities are employing Second Life (SL) to share and communicate faith. Vassar allows students direct access, without avatars, to online role-playing. Some of the depictions of actual places, such as the Sistine Chapel and the Hajj are extremely realistic and offer opportunities to those who cannot go to the actual site. The American Cancer Society got donations through SL. While several plenary speakers were quite negative about SL, there are respected organizations that have a Second Life presence. When Religion Meets New Media Heidi Campbell, Assistant Professor of Communication, Texas A&M University, advised using new media technology to supplement and support, rather than substitute for other means of communication. She says that community equals relationships and calls media a social institution. She has written a book on how different Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities engage with new media. She suggests studying the ‘religious-social shaping of technology’ by considering four areas – religious tradition and history, contemporary community values and priorities, negotiation and innovating technology in light of the community, and communal discourses applied to justify use. Unique motivations include Christian e-vangelism, Modern Islamic discourses on computers, and the rise of the Jewish Kosher cell phone. She commented that equipment upgrade can be expensive. She recommends experimenting with Wordpress blog, which is free, though a pro version is available. http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/ offers daily downloadable prayers for mp3 players and has been very popular. It has a Facebook page with 1,642 people who ‘like’ it. Should texting be banned during sacred moments? [And I thought banning texting while driving was a no-brainer! What are we coming to? Showing my age, no doubt!]