When I tell people I’m double majoring in journalism and religious studies, I’m almost always asked how I plan to get a job that uses both of those degrees.
For a lot of people, the two fields exist in entirely separate spheres — journalism in a sphere of secularism, politics and questioning and religious studies in a sphere of spirituality, firm beliefs and isolation from the rest of the world. But in reality, neither of these boxes that people put the fields in even begin to encapsulate them.
In fact, the two overlap much more than people would expect and studying religion can provide increased understanding of subjects that journalists report on. Understanding religion and how it affects culture, identity, society, politics and history is vital to understanding the communities and issues that are the subjects of news stories.
There’s a scene in the 2021 film “Shiva, Baby” that makes me laugh just thinking about it because of the way it so poignantly describes Gen Z twenty-somethings but also because of the way I relate to the protagonist’s struggle. She graduated college with a gender studies degree and everyone keeps asking her how she plans to have a career as a feminist.
“[Feminism] is not my career!” she yells at one point. “It’s a lens!”
As easy as it feels to laugh at, it also feels very true for me when I try to tell people that religious studies is a lens I can apply to whatever job I work in in the media industry. It’s something that’s hard to describe though when people ask if I’ll choose the pastor route or the journalist route.
More and more in recent years, people have begun to recognize the effects that religion can have on culture and politics, particularly in the south. Telling the stories of cult survivors requires more than an interest in the increasingly popular and glamorized true crime genre — it requires being educated enough on new religious movements and the power that leaders can have to write with empathy for the victims and to take them seriously. Reporting on legislators that call for a spiritual awakening to solve gun violence requires an understanding of the history of religion and the effects it can have.
We don’t even have to publish an issue dedicated to religion to see the how religion influences stories on campus and in our community. Even though it’s not blatantly mentioned in the stories you read every day, understanding religion means understanding that our sources’ identities are sometimes shaped by belief systems we might not be familiar with or are shaped by the belief systems of those around them. It means taking our sources’ and peers’ ideas seriously, whether those ideas are about politics, Tennessee football or spirituality.
While religion is embedded in journalism and in the stories we tell, this religion issue aims to dynamically explore religion’s impacts on campus and in the community. Even though it might seem like religion is in its own box, isolated from the rest of the world and occasionally uncomfortable to talk about, it’s all around us.
I’m grateful that UT’s journalism and religious studies departments have helped me to see that and that my professors in religious studies have challenged the way I think, read and write to ultimately help me grow as a journalist.
Still from the 2021 film "Shiva, Baby" in which a college student has to explain to friends and family how she plans to use her gender studies degree.
