Sandra Amas Egbaran – all she is saying, is give priests a chance.
Who has not read that all over the world, bar a few exceptions, organised religion is in decline?
But where have we read it? In newspapers, most of whose journalists work according to a tradition that values objectivity and hard facts – whilst ignoring the hard fact that however much they try to deny it, most of the planet (63% according to a recent WIN Gallup International survey) is still religious.
But instead of embracing that, journalists exercise a sort of secular tyranny over the media, in which the existence of religion is usually only admitted to if it is in the context of some outrage such as 9/11 or the murder of Lee Rigby. Within this set of conventions, the only pictures we are allowed of devout Syrian families are of them crowding to get into Europe.
This diminished take on the world also neglects the fact that common to all religions are values that also link all religious people to the rest of humanity.
But instead of reporting this truth in a way that brings people closer together, journalists both under-report and misrepresent religion in a way that drives people apart.
This power of theirs also stops some people from ever finding out about religion, and drives others away from it. So no wonder it is in decline!
To help redress this situation, over the next few weeks Rising East is going to give religion a chance.
Next week I will begin a series entitled Religion Without Borders by listening to what a priest has to say about Christianity.