In November 1993, the General Board of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA adopted a policy statement (by a vote of 145-0-0) on "Violence in Electronic Media and Films." As a member of the National Council of Churches (NCC), The United Methodist Church affirms that policy statement. While the bulk of the content in this United Methodist resolution comes from the NCC statement, it was substantially revised at points to reflect the purpose and intent of The United Methodist Church.
Foreword
We live in a climate of violence. Violence is everywhere: in city and suburb, in mean streets and quiet lanes, in private conversations and public media. Our society knows violence through abuse and rape, rising crime rates and diminished trust. We acknowledge that the climate of the psychological violence of words, as well as physical violence, breeds fear and rapidly escalating concerns for personal security. This in turn leads to more violence and contributes to societies' tightening cycle of violence.
Violence is simple and brutal, but its roots are complex. We know it to be bred in families where children and spouses are abused and maltreated, where problems are met with force or threat of force. People who are in submissive positions to authority, actual or perceived, including women, racial ethnic persons as well as lesbian, gay and bi-sexual persons, are particularly vulnerable to violence. We know that violence may be related to learning disabilities and chemical dependency. And we know that violence is exacerbated in communities and families living in poverty, and by the prominence given to it in films, television and other media.
Women often are portrayed in the media as being subjected to sexual violation and violence. These sexual situations would appear to create no harmful effects for women when in fact the context of the encounter is a power or authority relationship. The electronic media and film often reinforce this authority/victim relationship depicting it as harmless or neutral.
Violence cannot be reduced to one cause. It is clear, however, that films and television play a role not only in reflecting but also in contributing to a violent and mean world.
Films and television:
Give the only information many of us receive about some aspects of life. Frequently, there are no other comparable sources of information available on human relationships or complex social issues.
Model and prompt emotional responses to the realities of individual and social life. Entertainment that provides a vicarious experience of violence also models a response, often one of anger and retribution.
Over-represent violence, with television sometimes showing as many as 30 violent acts per hour as preferred solutions to disagreements. This increases viewer concern for self-protection and a fear of going out alone. In addition, it enhances the acceptance of utilizing violence as a solution to problems.
Increase an appetite and tolerance for entertainment with a violent content, since the more violence an audience sees, the more violence it will want. This appetite for violence entails an increased callousness to people who may be hurting or in need.
Sexualize violence by rendering it pleasurable and/or by depicting an erotic payoff for the protagonists who initiate the sexual violence.
While films and television are certainly not the only cause of a climate of violence, they bear a considerable share of the responsibility; thus the need for this policy statement.
Our Faith Perspective
According to our biblical faith, every person whom we encounter is precious as one created in the image of God and one for whom Christ died (Rom. 5:8-10).
Every human group--all races, women and men, gay and straight, just and unjust -- accordingly share in this dignity.
The body is essential to the person and is created and redeemed by God (Rom. 8:23). Violence against the body, mind, or spirit is an assault against human dignity. The taking of life violates God's image (Gen. (9:6), and cruelty defies the Creator's intentions (Job 31:13-15). Even a slap against a cheek calls forth a moral response (Matt. 5:39).
Human beings in their separation from God are prone to violence. The Scriptures provide abundant examples. One person or group continually has an advantage over another, and the human gift of freedom provides the temptation to exercise power against others. When violence is the recourse, the innocent often are hurt. In contrast to the impression often given by the media, deeds have consequences. Violence leads to violence in a climate of revenge, but vengeance belongs to God (Rom. 12:19). God's people are called to forgiveness (Matt. 6:12).
Our response to others is one of caring for them as we care for ourselves (Matt. 7:12). Problems are not solved through a self-protective consciousness, but through trust in God (Matt. 5:39-42). They are solved in a context of community, respect, and hearing of one another, and, where necessary, through the provisions of the broader community (Matt. 18:15-20). Any force needed to protect human life must be the minimum required and carried out in this context.
We are to be people of peace (Matt. 5:9). We are people of the story and realize the powerful impact of images. We are about what is true and honorable and just and pure (Phil. 4:8). We are accountable for our words as well as our deeds (Matt. 12:36).
We, therefore, deplore the competing stories of violence from the media that continue to shape our society. Even in doing so, however, we know that sin still infects and affects us all. Too often we ignore our personal and corporate complicity in violence, blaming others. Too often we are weak and uncertain about our part of the solution.
After all, we Christians:
Support the media industries as consumers, thereby helping to form their financial backbone. We are part of the audience that media violence attracts.
Permit and sometimes encourage our children's exposure to media with violent content. When a child is baptized or dedicated, a congregation promises to nurture and care for the child and to bring the child into faith. We certainly must be concerned about the impact that media has on a child.
Participate in the media industries through our investments, and through our vocations as producers and writers. We do not always use our power to work for better programming.
Shirk our duty as citizens to be vigilant in the pursuit of a common good.
An Issue of Urgency
Media violence has not abated. Movie rentals and cable television have made explicit violence more available; CD-ROM technology promises to make violence interactive. Network television, over the years, has supplied a steady diet of violence; 70 percent of prime-time programs use violence, with an average of 16 violent acts (including two murders) in each evening's prime-time programming.
We affirm our adherence to the principles of an open forum of ideas and the guarantees of the First Amendment to free speech, press and religion. As objectionable as we find media violence, we do not believe government censorship is a viable or appropriate solution.
We strongly object, however, to what we see as the misuse of the First Amendment, by commercial interests, as a cover for a quest for profit. Free speech and a free press have their places within a context of social responsibility and a concern for the common good. We hold media industries accountable for what they produce and distribute, and challenge them to act as good citizens in society.
We commit ourselves to work through government and with industry to find ways to respect free expression while abhorring and selectively limiting media violence, the moral equivalent of a harmful substance. We commit ourselves also to support families and churches in their aspirations and strategies for more appropriate media choices.
A Call to Action
In order to be supportive of churches and families and in our dealings with government and industry,
We call for media that clearly:
Create community and value and develop cultures.
Help to remove people and society from the cycle of violence that we understand to have been broken definitively by the cross of Christ.
Respect human dignity and seek to involve people in participatory communication processes that enhance human dignity.
We call for a nationwide approach to media literacy, involving four interrelated components:
Critical viewing--learning to discern the meanings of media messages.
Critical analysis--determining the cultural, social, political and economic influences on a media message.
Creative production skills--producing films and programs that create community, value cultures and respect human dignity.
Preparation for "citizenship in a media culture"--understanding how the media work in society; taking personal and public action to challenge government and industry.
Our Challenge to the Churches
Our requests of churches are made in light of their role in resisting hate and witnessing to the Prince of Peace.
We call upon churches to:
Provide leadership through congregations, as centers of media literacy.
Promote specific electronic media and film programs for pastors and people that teach moral and ethical values which enhance life.
Provide assistance to parents of children and youth about how families may utilize television more creatively.
Prepare leadership, through media literacy programs in seminaries and universities, and through other means; and to develop and promote media literacy resources.
Urge the integration of media awareness and literacy programs as critical components of peace, justice and advocacy agendas.
Organize their efforts for continuity and wider impact, working ecumenically where ever possible.
Our Challenge to Families
As the primary social unit of our culture, we ask families to:
Monitor family viewing habits of television, film and video games.
Discuss programs, films and media experience in relationship to their faith.
Participate directly in the media world through conversations with the church, government and media industries. It helps to let these groups know what is valued and what needs to be changed among the media options.
Protect children from seeing films expressly intended for adults.
Our Challenge to Government
As citizens, we are responsible for our governments. Historically federal and local governments help maintain order and community standards, including personal safety. However, our requests for government leadership do not diminish our commitment to the First Amendment. Keeping this balance in mind,
We call upon our federal government to:
Lead in the development of media standards, through an open, representative and accessible process.
Develop not only regulations but also incentives for producers in order to encourage media choices that build community and enhance human dignity.
Review its mandated task of regulating airwaves which we hold in common. Vigilant supervision, through the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and through other means, would entail a closer scrutiny of media violence than has been the case.
We call upon our municipal governments to:
Review and discuss media violence, especially when making contracts with the cable television industry.
Our Challenge to the Media Industries
Our requests of media industries are that they re-examine their roles as "corporate citizens." Our expectations are that they will act in a more socially responsible manner. This corporate citizenship has global dimensions because of the extensive products our media export to the rest of the world.
We strongly urge the media industries to contribute to the development of media standards by which we all can live. This includes the film, television, cable television and video games industries.
We will support these industries in such efforts, through:
Ongoing dialogue with media management and professional media practitioners.
Bringing together those who manage the media and the consumers who receive their products.
Reinforcing a voluntary approach for protecting children from adult material, through the film industry rating board for the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). We urge the members of the MPAA to reverse the trend toward the increasingly violent images that now appear in films rated suitable for children. We call upon the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) to enforce more diligently the rating system at the box office to prevent children from exposure to R-rated films intended strictly for adults. We also call for similar standards from the industry producing videotapes.
Publicizing advertisers of specific programs that depict significant values of the religious community.
Encouraging investors, media management, and practicing media professionals to acknowledge their responsibility for ameliorating the climate of violence and for developing alternatives to gratuitous violence.
Specifically, we urge that churches, holding shares in corporations with media assets, ask those corporations to:
*Adopt public and verifiable community interest standards.
*Participate in open discussions on the development of and us of media technology and their implications for our common interests.
*Provide programming that promotes peaceful alternative resolutions of conflict.
*Provide increased programming from international sources to enhance our understanding of our neighbors in the global community.
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
Petition Text: 21381-IC-NonDis-O
1996 United Methodist General Conference