“The lay media prove to be very ignorant and suspicious of religion. The religious institutions on their part prove to mistrust the media and seem to be unable to understand the basics of journalism and the challenges of the modern information technology”. This was stated yesterday in Lisbon by the Portuguese journalist António Marujo, in his conference at the John Templeton Award, about “Religion and media Misunderstandings and opportunities”. Marujo, a journalist working for the Portuguese capital’s daily paper “Publico”, is the winner of the Templeton Award as the “European religion writer of 2005”, given him by the Conference of European Churches (Cec/Kek) last July. The venue of yesterday’s conference was the “Grémio Literário”, an ancient club in Lisbon that for the occasion was attended by reverend Diamantino Lemos, from the Anglican Church of Portugal, and Luca Negro, in charge of the communication service at Cec/Kek. “For many heads of the Churches went on Marujo the media are just a modern form of pulpit. This is one of the worst misunderstandings. As a journalist he concluded I must certainly write about religious institutions, but for me it is as important to give space to unknown voices, to humble but meaningful experiences of faith”.
