Catholic News 2

By Carol Zimmermann

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In grappling with the issue of Islamophobia, a Georgetown University research group conducted an examination of conscience of sorts by looking at Catholic perceptions of Islam and how these views may have been influenced by Catholic news outlets and publications.

The results are a mixed bag, showing how Catholics often have negative or limited views about Islam, but also giving catechists, church leaders and Catholic journalists a starting point for the work ahead, according to the study's author, Jordan Denari Duffner.

Duffner, a research fellow at Georgetown University's Bridge Initiative, which studies Islamophobia, presented results of the report, "Danger and Dialogue: American Catholic Opinion and Portrayals of Islam," Sept. 12 at the university.

The report, based on a survey of 1,027 people polled between April 9-15, 2015, is available at http://bridge.georgetown.edu. Some of its key findings show:

-- Nearly half of Catholics can't name any similarities between Catholicism and Islam.

-- When asked about overall impression of Muslims, three in 10 Catholics admit to having unfavorable views.

-- Catholics are less likely than the general American public to know a Muslim personally.

-- Those surveyed who read Catholic publications had more unfavorable views of Muslims than those who didn't. But the study also was quick to point out that the "vast majority of Catholics do not frequently consume Catholic media," according to a 2012 study from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, which also is based at Georgetown.

In its introduction, the report said the study appears at a crucial time since there has been an increase in anti-Muslim political rhetoric, acts of violence and discrimination in this country.

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, Washington's retired archbishop, who spoke at the report's unveiling, said he was not surprised by the findings and said part of the misunderstanding of Islam stems from fear. The cardinal, who has taken part in several interreligious dialogue efforts, said it is important for Catholics to read and study Islam not only to be able to talk about it but to make efforts toward peace and understanding.

"There is so much we can all learn from each other," he said, noting that Christians and Muslims share the same God. He added that a future companion piece to this report might examine how Muslims perceive Christians.

Jesuit Father Drew Christiansen, a scholar at Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, said the most disturbing part of the report was the finding that Catholics are less likely than the general public to know a Muslim personally.

"Personal knowledge makes a big difference," he said. The report also said as much, noting: "Catholics who know a Muslim personally, or have participated in dialogue or community service with Muslims often have very different views about Islam and interfaith dialogue than those who haven't interacted with Muslims."

Conversely, he said a more promising aspect of the report was the section on interreligious dialogue where 47 percent of the respondents said its purpose was to get closer to God.

Father Christiansen said interreligious dialogue occurs far less than it should in Catholic settings. To encourage it, he suggested that dioceses reinstate interreligious affairs offices and seminaries include interreligious training as part of their curriculum.

He was critical of books by Catholic authors, cited in the report, that tend to incite fear or anger in their discussion of Islam, described in the report as "part of the Islamophobia industry."

In its examination of the Catholic media's portrayal of Islam, the report looked at material published by nine online news sources from October 2014 to September 2015 and found nearly 800 references to Muslims or Islam. In major news outlets, it said, half of the time the word "Islamic" was used it was in reference to the Islamic State terrorist group.

The headlines of Catholic articles dealing with Islam had a negative sentiment or conveyed anger, the report said. Catholic Answers and Catholic Culture were listed as having the most negative sentiments in headlines about Islam and only American Catholic had positive headlines related to Islam.

Catholic news outlets, including Catholic News Service, often quoted Pope Francis in stories about Islam. Mentions of the pope's words about Islam, not surprisingly, had the least negative connotations. CNS was listed as the outlet most likely to bring up the topic of Islam and politics.

Between the lines, the report seems to indicate that U.S. Catholics should take their cue from the pope regarding Islam and interreligious efforts. It quotes his apostolic exhortation, "The Joy of the Gospel," which says: "Our relationship with the followers of Islam has taken on great importance, since they are now significantly present in many traditionally Christian countries."

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Follow Zimmermann on Twitter: @carolmaczim.

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Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore sharply criticized comments made by Martin Castro, chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, that the phrases "religious liberty" and "religious freedom" were "code words" used to discriminate.

"Statements painting those who support religious freedom with the broad brush of bigotry are reckless and reveal a profound disregard for the religious foundations of his own work," said Archbishop Lori of Castro in a Sept. 13 statement.

Archbishop Lori, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, said the notion that people of faith are "comparable to fringe segregationists from the civil rights era" is a "shocking suggestion."

Castro made the statements as part of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' 306-page report, "Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles With Civil Liberties." Originally scheduled for issuance in 2013, its release was delayed until Sept. 8 -- and even then, two on the seven-member commission dissented from its findings.

In his statement, Castro said, "The phrases 'religious liberty' and 'religious freedom' will stand for nothing except hypocrisy so long as they remain code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, Christian supremacy or any form of intolerance."

Elsewhere in his statement, Castro said, "Religious liberty was never intended to give one religion dominion over other religions, or a veto power over the civil rights and civil liberties of others. However, today, as in the past, religion is being used as both a weapon and a shield by those seeking to deny others equality."

It was those two statements with which Archbishop Lori took greatest issue in his own statement, which never mentioned Castro by name.

"People of faith have often been the ones to carry the full promise of America to the most forgotten peripheries when other segments of society judged it too costly. Men and women of faith were many in number during the most powerful marches of the civil rights era," he said.

"Our record is not perfect. We could have always done more," Archbishop Lori added. But "the idea of equality, which the (civil right commission) chairman treats as a kind of talisman, is incomprehensible apart from the very faith that he seeks to cut off from mainstream society."

Archbishop Lori said, "The vast majority of those who speak up for religious liberty are merely asking for the freedom to serve others as our faith asks of us. We ask that the work of our institutions be carried out by people who believe in our mission and respect a Christian witness.

"This is no different," he continued, "from a tobacco control organization not wishing to hire an advocate for smoking or a civil rights organization not wanting to hire someone with a history of racism or an animal rights group wishing to hire only vegetarians."

"Today, Catholic priests, religious and laity can be found walking the neighborhood streets of our most struggling communities in places abandoned by a 'throwaway culture,'" Archbishop Lori.

In a rebuttal to Castro in the "Peaceful Coexistence" report, Commissioner Peter Kirsanow noted that prominent religious leaders were "in the forefront of the civil rights movement." He also said he found it "especially puzzling" that the commissioner singled out Christianity.

"At first I thought he surely meant to identify for opprobrium religions in addition to Christianity," wrote Kirsanow. "But, as it happens, his venom is directed against American Christians past and present. ... In criticizing Christianity in regard to Islam and slavery, the chairman fails to recognize that Islam's ties to slavery are at least as deep as those of Christianity."

One of the five recommendations the commission made to President Barack Obama said that "overly broad religious exemptions unduly burden nondiscrimination laws and policies. Federal and state courts, lawmakers, and policymakers at every level must tailor religious exceptions to civil liberties and civil rights protections as narrowly as applicable law requires."

The other four recommendations dealt with tailoring and clarification of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, two of them to ensure that they "do not unduly burden civil liberties and civil rights protections against status-based discrimination."

Commissioner Gail Heriot dissented from Castro's statement and the report itself saying that RFRA sets a "very tough standard, tougher than many would have liked. But it is the course Congress has taken."

RFRA prohibits the federal government from substantially restricting a person's religious freedom, except when it can demonstrate "a compelling government interest" and that the government's action is "the least restrictive means" of furthering that interest.

"Under it, federal laws and other actions -- including anti-discrimination laws -- are to be interpreted to bend over backward to protect religious liberty, not lean in the direction of minimizing the scope of religious liberty exemptions," Heriot said.

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Editor's Note: The full U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report can be found at http://tinyurl.com/jj768rl.

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Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

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Rome, Italy, Sep 13, 2016 / 12:02 am (CNA).- If you have ever wondered what it would be like to have been there when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, or to have stood next to the Blessed Virgin Mary at the foot of the cross, then a new feature-film length virtual reality of the life of Christ may give you the chance.  

“Jesus VR – The Story of Christ,” is a 90-minute long visual and auditory experience – a lot like watching a movie – except that the viewer feels like he or she is there, including being able to look 360 degrees around and 180 degrees up and down.

The film's tag line: “Closer than you've ever been.”

Mostly developed for video games so far, Virtual Reality (VR) is a relatively new computer technology which (usually) uses software-generated images and sounds to give the user the experience of feeling like he or she is actually “inside” the game.

What makes Jesus VR the first media of its kind, is that it uses interactive live-action film to portray the story of Jesus – from his birth in Bethlehem to his Ascension, stated Paul Lauer, president of Motive Entertainment, which is working on the marketing and distribution of the movie.

In a traditional movie-watching experience, the film's editors control what part of a scene the viewer sees at any moment, but in Jesus VR, “you become the editor,” Lauer told CNA.

Motive Entertainment, which aims to connect the faith community and Hollywood, and has worked on films such as the latest adaptation of Ben-Hur (2016) and The Passion of the Christ (2004), was really excited to work on the project, Lauer said, particularly because “it wasn't just another movie.”

Ever since The Passion was made, there has been a “Renaissance of faith-based movies,” Lauer explained. He hopes this will be a tool for evangelization, and is marketing the new media toward churches, youth groups and more.

“Jesus VR is a new medium to convey the message,” Lauer said. The message being the Gospel. According to Lauer, Jesus VR utilizes what is “cutting edge technology” to go “where the young people are.”

Demo-ed at the Venice Film Festival Aug. 31-Sept. 10, 2016, Jesus VR was filmed in Matera, Italy, a location frequently used for Biblically-themed films because of its likeness to Jerusalem.

The technology doesn't require as much fancy equipment as one might imagine. In fact, you only really need two things, Lauer said: a smartphone and the special goggles the viewer wears. The goggles come in several different models and with different price tags, some costing more than $100.

They knew this would be cost-prohibitive for many, especially church and youth groups, which is why Motive Entertainment also developed a mass market version made out of cardboard, which can even be personalized with the name of the church.

To view Jesus VR, you pay to download it to your smartphone and then either play the audio through headphones or a speaker. There is an option to watch it all in one sitting or, if desired, to select by scene.

The project has strong credits, including director David Hansen and executive producer Enzo Sisti, a native of Rome, Italy, who was executive producer of The Passion of the Christ.

This wouldn't be appropriate to use at a Catholic Mass, of course, Lauer noted, but for other Christian churches which do sometimes use screens at their services and during their preaching, Lauer sees Jesus VR as something that “should aid the pastor,” not replace them.

The media is very detailed, aiming to be true to how it really would have been, Lauer said. At the Sermon on the Mount for example, “there was still normal life... kids hungry and crying – real life was happening.”

In a scene which depicts Jesus telling the parable of the Good Samaritan, there are details which you'll only see if you look around or behind you, such as some people watching nearby who end up walking away.

Because we're so busy, it can be easy to “miss Jesus manifesting in our lives,” Lauer said. They've worked even these little details into the film because it “makes for great reflection, for great teaching.”

Jesus VR is scheduled to be released in time for Christmas on the main virtual reality platforms, including Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear, Oculurs Rift, Playstation VR and HTC Vive.

“What's most exciting for me is we're taking a message of antiquity that's being delivered in the most modern technology,” Lauer said. “It's a message of yesterday, today – but actually, it's a message of today too.”

For Lauer, Jesus Virtual Reality is another way of living out St. Pope John Paul II's call for the “New Evangelization.” As Lauer pointed out, “It can't get more new than Virtual Reality.”

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