Faith and Politics: Keeping It Simple While Complicating the Narratives

This guide aims to help journalists dodge stereotypes and oversimplification to produce more nuanced and accurate reporting on the intersection of politics and religion in American culture — and stories that actually help us understand differences. It identifies four practices that can make for clearer, more accurate reporting, with model stories for each one. They’re all set in the United States, but the insights can apply in other democratic contexts. The guide, developed by Bekah McNeel, Keith Hammonds and Sandi Villarreal, was produced in collaboration with Ken Chitwood, editor of ReligionLink, an archive and database of the secular nonprofit Religion News Foundation.