THE PORTRAYAL OF RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY ON FICTIONAL NETWORK TELEVISION

This study documents the portrayal of religion on fictional prime time network television by determining the frequency and, distribution of religious membership, the range of religious behaviors, and the valenc e (positive or negative), salience (importance), and context (humorous or serious) of the religious behaviors engaged in by speaking charact ers. A sample of 100 episodes was selected for analysis during a five week period of 1990. Findings indicate that the religious side of char acters' lives is not typically presented on television. Across 1462 ch aracters, 5.6% had an identifiable religious affiliation. Religious ac tivity was infrequently presented. When it was portrayed, it was rarel y a central theme in the storyline and it was most often framed as a p ersonal and private activity. This study concludes that the infrequent presentation of religion and spirituality tends to symbolically conve y the message that religion is not very important because it is rarely a factor in the lives of the people on TV or the social setting in wh ich they are portrayed.