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As
a journalist who has a deep interest in the area of spirituality,
religion and faith I am committed to bringing a timeless perspective
to current events. It is within this context that I came up with
the idea for my radio documentary "Love the One You Hate."
The war in Iraq was about to begin and CBC Radio One's "The
Current" asked me to produce a story relevant to the outbreak
of war.
I realized that since 9/11 many people in the West were expressing
confusion about the nature of Islam: Was it a religion of peace
or was it a religion of hate and intolerance, as conservative Christians
like Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson claimed?
It occurred to me that just as people, in the largely secularized
West, had expressed confusion over Islam, many would also feel confused
over the religious teachings that informs President George Bush
and Prime Minister Tony Blair -- both self-described devout Christians.
One of the most radical teachings of Jesus is the commandment to
"Love thy Enemy." Given that Bush and Blair were about
to "liberate Iraq" through a major show of military force,
I thought that it might be interesting to explore the meaning of
this radical commandment during a time of war. How did Bush and
Blair justify a war that would kill thousands and still believe
in the commandment to "Love thy enemy"?
The challenge was how to turn this into a story. I decided that
since I was the one who was puzzled over this commandment, that
I should be the principle character, the one who was seeking an
answer to the question: what does it mean to "love thy enemy"
at a time of war?
Once I established the focus of the piece, it was simply a matter
of finding people who would help me on my search for an answer within
the story. Since I wanted to get a range of perspectives I knew
that it would be important to have a "voice" in the piece
from someone who supported the war but believed in the commandment
of "love they enemy." That proved the most challenging
voice to find. I was quite fortunate to have the head chaplain for
the U.S. Army agree to do an interview via phone from the Pentagon.
"Love the One You Hate" proved that a spiritual approach
to events in the news can result in a story that touches people
on a deep level, regardless of their faith or lack of faith. And,
perhaps, this is the greatest challenge for journalists wishing
to explore the spiritual dimension of stories in the news: finding
that universal theme that will resonate with a wide?range of listeners,
viewers and readers. It is also helpful to have supervisors who
realize the public is hungry for more than "just the facts,"
and gives you the freedom to be more reflective, as opposed to reactive
regarding the stories you cover. Fortunately, radio seems to be
a medium that allows for news stories that are more nuanced and
reflective.
Receiving the CAJ Award was a wonderful affirmation that the spiritual
and religious dimension of Canadian lives is important to cover.
And the responses I received from listeners who heard "Love
the One You Hate" was further confirmation that the public
is well served when CBC makes room in its coverage of the news to
include this vital dimension of our lives.
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