Enhancing Media Representation of Faith and Spirituality

From traditional outlets like TV, news, and radio to digital platforms such as social media and streaming services, media shapes societal norms, influences public opinion, and fuels trends, which has a profound impact on today’s cultural landscape.

But does the media understand the breadth and depth of the religious and spiritual landscape of its audiences?

A 2025 study from the Pew Research Center found that over 70% of the world identifies with a religion.

Yet 61% of people worldwide say the media’s approach to religion perpetuates faith-based stereotypes rather than dispelling stereotypes, according to the Global Faith and Entertainment Study conducted by HarrisX in collaboration with the Faith and Media Initiative. In addition, 43% of people believe the media’s current approach to faith storytelling creates unease and anxiety.

Out of the four personal identity issues people describe as most important to them — faith, race, gender, and sexual orientation — faith is consistently rated as the most stereotyped, ignored, or inaccurately portrayed in today’s media landscape.

If 100% of the human family deserves dignity and respect for their belief systems, what should the future of media look like regarding issues of faith and spirituality?

The Coalition for Faith and Media connects a global network of media executives, content creators, faith leaders, and academics to ensure the accurate and balanced representation of all faiths in news and entertainment.

Through awareness-building events, training, resources, and cutting-edge research — including surveys of 10,000 people across 11 countries — this coalition is helping to equip media executives and storytellers not only to include faith and spiritual identities but also to portray them accurately and with dignity.

What’s at stake is often a matter of life and death.

Religious stereotypes fuel bullying, violence, genocide, and war.

When faith and spirituality are overlooked or misrepresented in culture, we prevent the entire society from accessing the insightful wisdom in our ancient traditions.

This wisdom promotes compassion, love, responsibility, and forgiveness. Accurate representation and inclusion of our faith and spiritual identities, not ignoring them, is a necessary condition on the path toward shared flourishing.

“This isn’t about creating more religiously themed movies or more news articles about people of faith doing acts of charity,” says Brooke Zaugg, Executive Director of the Faith and Media Initiative. “This is about honoring diversity by respecting people’s faith and spiritual identities. The Coalition for Faith and Media is about storytelling that creates empathy, truth, and understanding by bringing the media and faith communities together to ensure an accurate and fair portrayal of the deepest parts of people’s lives.”