[The Wide Shot] Why do I report on religion?

Since I started writing this column in mid-2024, I have always tried but failed to keep my Sundays work-free. 

I was the one who suggested “The Wide Shot” to our managing editor, Miriam Grace Go, during a work-related trip to the Vatican with our CEO, Maria Ressa. I was in Doha transiting to Rome when I sent the column pitch. My first column about meeting Pope Francis was published on May 12, and my Sundays have never been the same since then.

Yes, I know, I have the option of finishing this column on weekdays. But I have to perfect my weekday rhythm, thus the struggle on weekends.

Ah, if you could only see me on Sundays! I have written this column in a car on the way to Tagaytay, in another moving vehicle on the way to Laguna, minutes before a wedding, and in the middle of many family gatherings. Once, I even wrote it while a storm was raging.

“The Wide Shot,” the fruit of much sacrifice, is undoubtedly one of my professional milestones in 2024. 

So as we end the year, I thought of writing about the “why” of it all. 

This Sunday column is a weekly analysis-slash-reflection on religion and public life. It is not a place of worship (although I quote prayers from time to time), but a plaza where we can discuss the intersection of faith and different aspects of society: the climate crisis, the West Philippine Sea, the infamous Boy Dila, and the likes of Rodrigo Duterte and Donald Trump.

I write this because I strongly believe that religion should not be isolated in prayer books, devotionals, or parish newsletters.

Our job, as journalists, is to help people make sense of the world. We cannot do this by focusing only on power and money. 

If we want to truly understand the world, we need to understand the things that matter to people.

And for billions of people, the most important part of their lives is not the government, schools and hospitals, the justice system, or climate change.

It is faith.

So we need to take a step back and see the big picture — “the wide shot,” as it were — and try to understand politics, education, business, and even entertainment through the lenses of different belief systems. 

Religion reporting, to be clear, is not a “more important” form of journalism, because we need perspectives from various disciplines and cannot operate on a mindset of “faith alone.” But I emphasize its importance because it is often a missing piece in the puzzle to understand the world. We cannot ignore religion if we, journalists, are to be true to our calling as “sense-makers.”

The late Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson explains it best in the book Blind Spot: When Journalists Don’t Get Religion, one of the recommended texts in my religion reporting classes. 

Gerson writes: “Good journalism should be concerned with all of life, including our nationality, our professions, the places we live, and the interests that engage us. But journalism is radically incomplete without also covering the creeds about the cosmos in which we live.”

One might ask: But isn’t religion the root of many conflicts?

Tell me about it!

Since I started this column in May, I have received some of the most hateful messages since I entered journalism two decades ago.

One Catholic Facebook page called me “Paterno the Pharisee” for criticizing the dress code at Cebu’s Santo Niño basilica in my October 13 column. Another addressed me “Paterno, you Ateneo-spawned trash.” One reader said “The Wide Shot” should be renamed “Widely Out of Touch.”

The most memorable critique was from a reader who sent me a Facebook message: “I’m honestly just concerned about your soul, brother.” That was after I wrote a September 22 column about the need for Catholics to respect other faiths. “I think there’s a real possibility that you aren’t in a state of grace at the moment,” the reader said, suggesting that I will go to hell.

Yes, religion can make people hateful. 

But religion can also touch heart and soul. 

I was reminded of this when I received an email last December 23, two days before Christmas, from a reader I have never met. 

The reader, Dennis Fernan Estologa, was reacting to my column last December 22 about missing the Simbang Gabi. 

“We are a society obsessed with achievement and success, command and control,” I wrote. “Even we who try to complete the Simbang Gabi can plead guilty.”

“During the Simbang Gabi, for example, we are tempted to focus on achieving all the nine days and succeeding for another year. By fulfilling this tradition, we can then ask God (or ‘command’ God, like a genie) to grant our wishes. We can therefore wield greater control over life that is otherwise unpredictable,” I explained.

In response, Dennis wrote me the following email:

Dennis Fernan Estologa 
Dec 23, 2024, 12:43 PM (6 days ago)
to me

Mr. PATERNO R. ESMAQUEL II
Senior Multimedia Reporter
Rappler Inc., Philippines

Dear Pat:

Season’s greetings!

Thank you for sharing your article with us readers. I felt an immense joy after reading it because I can relate to your experience. I have my own misgivings too.

I missed today’s 8th day of Misa de Gallo. The alarm clock did not sound because my phone had a dead battery. 

As I read through your article, it gave me a true sense of inspiration and hope. 

God bless you and God bless Rappler!!!!  

Cheers,

Dennis Fernan M. Estologa  

I read Dennis’ words again and again: “I felt immense joy,” “I can relate to your experience,” “it gave me a true sense of inspiration and hope.” 

Hope.

It brought a few tears to this weary journalist. 

Three weeks before this, on December 4, I received another unexpected email from Elder Michael Strong of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“I wanted to write and thank you for attending the Temple lighting event last week,” he said, referring to a Christmas activity by the Latter-day Saints last November 29. “I truly enjoyed meeting you.”

Referring to my December 1 column and my video report on the event, Elder Strong said: “Both were outstanding and very well done. I appreciated your personal insights and description of your experience. I am grateful that you enjoyed it. You are a talented journalist and I very much appreciated your work.”

Building these new bridges brought me much fulfillment. 

The emails of Dennis and Elder Strong remind me that religion, while highly divisive, can unite people in a common yearning for friendship and hope. 

My primary role as religion reporter is not to provide this friendship and hope — I am a journalist, not the savior of the world — but to make space for meaningful discourse on the most precious intangibles. 

Who inspires us? What drives our decisions? Why are we on earth? Where are we headed?

I report on religion because it helps us understand humanity at its deepest core. – Rappler.com

The Wide Shot is a Sunday column on religion and public life. If you have suggested topics or feedback, let us know in the faith chat room of the Rappler Communities app.