Religious practices and conversations in American and Israeli prime-time television programming

Abstract

This comparative content analysis examines the extent to which religion finds expression in mainstream TV programming. The appearance of religious practices, the level of fulfillment they bring, and the extent to which they accord with religious law along with the tone of conversation about religion were coded in 154 hours of prime-time network programming from the USA and 112 hours of prime-time programming aired by the major TV stations in Israel. The results indicate a very infrequent presence of religion in the programming in the two countries: once in two hours in Israel and once in three hours in the USA, but while in US programming more than three quarters of the religious practices brought fulfillment to their participants and more than 90% of the practices adhered fully or partly to religious rules, in Israeli shows only one quarter of the practices brought fulfillment and just half of them adhered fully or partly to religious rules. Conversation about religion appeared just as infrequently as practices did, but its tone was mainly positive in both countries.