Mission Statement and Goals

The Religion and Media Interest Group (RMIG) is dedicated to the study of how religion as a social and cultural phenomenon broadens understanding of mass communication. It is an organization of scholars and media professionals that promotes discussion of media and religion from social science, historical, and other scholarly perspectives. RMIG encourages research of a full range of religious traditions (i.e., Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Eastern religious philosophies, and new/alternative religious movements).

RMIG's goals are to create forums, publications, discussions, and other activities that:

(1) Enhance theoretical development in the study of the media-religion interface and mass communication is general,
(2) Encourage high methodological standards in the study of media and religion
(3) Build bridges of understanding between scholars and professionals whose involvement in media touches on religion, and (4) Promote the study of media and religion within the context of the overall mission of AEJMC which emphasizes scholarship, teaching, and professional freedom and responsibility.

Perhaps the most important goal is to assist scholars from a wide range of institutions and disciplines in achieving their research and teaching goals as related to media and religion. To do so, RMIG encourages its members to address the following research issues, which have been understudied to this point in the field of mass communication:

• Content Issues. Learn more about how religion is depicted in mass media genres. • Audience Issues. Study the behavior and media use of religious audiences. • Cultural Issues. Examine the media-religion interface in larger cultural contexts. • Technological Perspectives. Investigate how media encourage or alter various types of religious worship and formation of religious identity. • Political Issues. Learn more about how religious organizations participate in policy-related discourse about media. • Institutional Issues. Research what denominational structures teach their members about media use.