Robert Pen

Robert Pen

Divyadaan: Salesian Institute of Philosophy, Nashik

Paper Title: “Understanding the Role of Religion in a Media-Centric Society.”
Abstract
There have been large scale studies on the topic ‘Impact of media’. But very few have focused on the area of religion. Usage of media is a part of the humdrum of our lives. It is one thing to understand the effects of media, but understanding the foundational change brought about by media is a totally different topic. Religion in general has been at the foundations of any society or social structure. Over the years both mass media and religion have intertwined with each other. Hence, this research is to analyze the change brought about in religion due to the influence of mass media and what can religion do to enter into a creative dialogue with the mass media. To this effect, the first part deals mainly in answering the foundational question of media having affected religion and presents a comparative report of the effect of media. We cannot just stop here and hence we move on to recognize the challenges that religion has to face from the media world in the second part. It discusses issues and makes a few comments for reflection over the pervasiveness of media. The third part of the paper is the most important of all the three parts. It presents the role of religion in the possible and necessary reform of media which by nature is value-neutral. It is not a remedy-provision, but rather a step towards being more media conscious and participative, which leads to the final conclusion of this paper.
Robert Pen, sdb, from Divyadaan: Salesian Institute of Philosophy, Nashik holds a doctorate in Philosophy of Communication from Salesian Pontifical University, Rome.  Some of his important publications are Critical Understanding of Social Communication: Communication for Pastoral Leadership - book 2 (2010) andCommunication for Communion: Communication as Mutual Self-Mediation in Context (2012).