Do Atheists deserve space in newspapers’ religion pages?

Simon Nuwagaba is happy with Daily Monitor for its “clearly noticeable effort to give your readers a sense of balanced coverage…” He has one on concern though, “…which [he] finds to be the same problem with all the media in the country: coverage on religion.” 

He says reading newspapers in the country every day, one would be forgiven for thinking that all the people in Uganda are believers in one or other of the main religions. “Because all the papers give a lot of space to religious opinions and views yet give too little or nothing at all to alternative views like atheism and the African traditional spiritualist views.”

“By doing so, the media is unwittingly contributing to the generalised bias and bigotry against these minority viewpoints. There is no column space in the papers dedicated strictly to these alternative viewpoints. We the atheist community in Uganda, small as we may be assumed to be, ‘feel unfairly covered or not covered at all’. It is almost as if we do not exist or our view of the world does not matter.”

Very strong words here, no doubt shared by another self-confessed atheist in Kampala, athletics trainer Kevin O’Connor, who has in the past written to me about the same and tried to pitch of an atheist corner in Sunday Monitor (why Sunday that is a Christian worship day?). Anyhow, I did refer to the NMG Editorial Policy Guidelines to guide my response to this complaint. There are four specific provisions in the NMG Editorial Guidelines that touch on this matter. They are as below:

“While recognising the fact that as individuals, journalists would ordinarily have their own political views and/or political party affiliations or religious affiliations, journalists working for the Group are expected to subordinate their individual political or religious views and to remain apolitical and neutral on religious matters in the course of discharging their official duties so as not to allow their political or religious affiliations or views to influence their editorial judgment.”

The other is: “The Group’s outlets stand for racial, ethnic, religious and communal harmony and political/party tolerance as well as other forms of pluralism:  They aim to help audiences of all races, faiths and nations to see events in perspective, and to understand their interrelationships.

Then: “The media should avoid presenting acts of violence, armed robberies, banditry and terrorist activities in a manner that glorifies such anti-social conduct.  Also, newspapers should not allow their columns to be used for writings which have a tendency to encourage or glorify social evils, warlike activities, ethnic, racial or religious hostilities.”

And finally: “News, views or comments relating to ethnic or religious disputes/clashes/interstate conflicts should be published after proper verification of facts and presented with due caution, balance and restraint in a manner which is conducive to the creation of an atmosphere congenial to national harmony, reconciliation, amity and peace…. Equally so, content with the potential to exacerbate communal animosity or national conflict should be avoided.

It is clear from the above provisions that atheists are entitled to their place in the sun, so to speak. But what is religion and what is atheism?

Religion is defined as “the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods” or “a particular system of faith and worship”. Atheism on the other hand “… is a denial of God or of the gods, and if religion is defined in terms of belief in spiritual beings, then atheism is the rejection of all religious belief… Atheism is not a belief system nor is it a religion…. Atheism is not a disbelief in gods or a denial of gods; it is a lack of belief in gods.” From the above definitions, it is clear that publishing atheist views in space specifically designated for religious content would be out of place, would create religious disharmony and stoke conflict. The editors are therefore right to decide that “no religion” is not “religious content”! It belongs in other section of the paper. However, atheist, like any other group should find space whenever issues under public discussion require this perspective. That is a factor of news events and editorial judgment. Their lack of belief in God/gods must also be protected by media should they come under attack from religious extremists. It is their right not to believe!

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