Media and religion

This area is meant to examine religion in the context of media. There are several levels on which the issue will be discussed. The first topic is The Metamorphosis of the Image of Buddhism in the Central Europe. The research will be focused on the metamorphosis of the image of Buddhism in the Czech and Slovak Republic and Hungary in various fields, i.e. on media (printed, radio and TV broadcasting, internet), on fine art (visuals, movies etc.) and academia. The latter will analyse changes in the academic picture of the religion on the background of establishing the academic Buddhology in the region. The research will bring an outline of Buddhist studies in Czechoslovakia from the beginning of the 20th century to the year 1989. The aim of the research is to present the development of Czech and Slovak Buddhist studies in its historical and political context with a special focus on changes in the representation of Buddhism after Communist takeover in 1948. The contribution will analyze works of such scholars as Rudolf Masa, Otakar Pertold and Vincenc Lesny in comparison with major trends in European Buddhist studies of those times. Special attention will be paid to the differentiated attitudes towards Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. In the last part of the contribution will be focused on the changes of the image of Buddhism in Czech and Slovak academic writing after 1948. Significant shift of view enforced by the political regime may be traced in the works of such scholar as Pavel Poucha. The paper will focus on critical reflection of the influence of political and ideological background on the academic representation of Buddhism.

The second topic is Religion on Internet (Possibilities of Research, Prospects and Promises). The study of religion in cyberspace requires taking note of some special topics. Two issues are main - the formation of personal identity and the formation of communities in the context of cyberspace. Some sociologists (for example Dawson; Slevin) argue that Internet has ushered in new opportunities for experimentation in how identity and community are experienced. The initial task has been document what these new opportunities might be and if a significant number of people are actually choosing to act on these opportunities. The existing data show that Internet is not revolutionizing or displacing conventional conceptions of identity or community, but is probably facilitating or augmenting changes that are already underway in our society. These changes are related to process of radical modernity, which is itself identified with the increased medialization of culture. It is possible to focus on following problems concerning shapes of religion on the Internet in the context of these changes.

The third topic is Muslim Identity(ies) and Media-Image of Islam in Central Europe. Indigenous Muslim communities in Hungary and the Czech Republic are marginal, let alone in Slovakia. They consist of several hundred members each at best (they often claim more), including many - former and actual - wives of foreign Muslims. Financing is the major issue for these communities which were (re-)organized at the beginning of the post-socialist period. Little help can be expected from the governments of their countries although the Municipality of Budapest contributed to the Muslim prayer-house inaugurated in 1997 in that city. Most of the support came from Arab organizations, the Iranian embassies and Milli Gorus of Koln. The case of the Brno mosque opened in 1998 was similar. The Czech Muslims are led by Professor Mohamed Ali (Premysl) Silhavy of Trebic and Jiri Pelikan of Prague while Zoltan Bolek has been the Head of the Hungarian Community since 1996. Building a mosque is not on the agenda in Slovakia although Nidal Saleh of Dunajska Luzna, near Bratislava, or Muhammad Safwan Hasna in Bratislava raised this issue several times. One of the main isues of those communities is the question of identity, the self- and the media image of Muslim individuals and the community as well.

The fourth topic is Religion and Values in the Mediatised World. The religious communities are partly subjects and partly actors of the mediatised social communication. The religious communities – fifteen years after the political turn – are still considering the legal guarantees of the freedom of speech and the plurality of press to be among the factors hard to handle and interpret, and they are feeling only semi-prepared for it. The discourse analysis of religion, value, and church related images appearing in the media is an important tool to understand the undergoing processes in the societies in transition.