Questionable ABC News Report

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

Below is a message that I sent to ABC News regarding a news piece that

appeared Monday on World News Tonight. In it, the reporter, Dan

Harris, attempted to report on the effects that the recent tsunami

disaster is having on people's faith. While his reports on Islam

and Christianity were fair and sympathetic, he decided to lump Hinduism

and Buddhism together and create a stereotyped and derogatory image of

both religions. It was especially full of inaccuracies about

Hinduism, which I comment upon below. Please feel free to also

contact ABC News and register your complaints at: netaudr (AT) abc (DOT) com.

Thanks and take care.

Om Shanti,

Dr. Frank Gaetano Morales

-

Tue, 11 Jan 2005 00:15:35 -0600

NETAUDR (AT) abc (DOT) com

"Dr. Frank Gaetano Morales"

<fmorales (AT) dharmacentral (DOT) com>

WORLD NEWS TONIGHT

Dear News Director,

 

On Monday evening, January 10, 2005, ABC News presented a piece on World

News Tonight by Mr. Dan Harris purporting to discuss the question of

religious faith in the face of the tragic tsunami in South Asia that has

recently taken over 165,000 lives.

 

While I am sure that ABC News had the best of intentions in reporting on

the nature of religious faith in the wake of this tragic event, as an

academician in the field of Philosophy of Religion and Hindu Studies, as

well as a practicing Hindu, I was highly dismayed by how Mr. Harris chose

to portray the theological teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism.

 

As Mr. Harris correctly reports, the four faiths that were most affected

by the tsunami were Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism. In

reporting on the religious response to the tsumani, however, Mr. Harris

makes the mistake of unthinkingly lumping Hinduism and Buddhism into the

same category, and reporting upon these two distinct faiths as if they

were one. Islam and Christianity, on the other hand, were given the

due respect of being reported upon independently.

 

Though certainly originating in the same geographic area, Hinduism and

Buddhism are radically different religions, with very different

philosophies, concepts of the Absolute, and approaches to the question of

human suffering – a fact that almost any scholar of South Asian religion,

or even a common follower of either religion, could have easily

confirmed.

 

While respected religious leaders who actually represent their respective

communities are quoted in explaining the Islamic and Christian

perspectives, a professor (Dr. Robert Thurman) is used as the

“spokesperson” of both Hinduism and Buddhism. Thus actual religious

leaders representing these two important world religions were denied the

opportunity of explaining their respective faiths from an insider

perspective.

 

Mr. Harris makes several assertions about the beliefs of Hinduism and

Buddhism that simply are not factual and that are highly prejudiced in

nature. First, Mr. Harris makes the unfounded proclamation that

neither religion believes in the concept of one almighty God. While

this is arguably true of Buddhism (which is atheistic by

self-definition), Hinduism is recognized as a religion that is predicated

on the belief in one, omnicompetent divine Being – i.e., God.

 

Further, Mr. Harris makes the stereotypically derogatory and untrue

statement that the concept of karma is based upon a type of “cold

logic.” To say that this is a simplistic and uninformed description

of a highly complex philosophical concept would be putting it quite

lightly.

 

Rather than presenting inaccurate and prejudiced caricatures of Hindu and

Buddhist religious principles, Mr. Harris would have done his audience a

much better service had he actually spoken to authentic Hindu and

Buddhist leaders, and done his research into these two ancient and

venerable religions a bit better. Hindus and Buddhists, after all,

watch the evening news too. Thank you for your time and your

consideration of this letter.

 

Best Regards,

 

Dr. Frank Gaetano Morales, Ph.D.