Malaysiakini columnist Eric Loo’s The case for reporting religion fairly is an excellent piece and a required reading for any honest journalist.

However, I have a quibble over his last paragraph where he writes, ‘the goal of religion reporting is not to evangelise or preach, but to contextualise and explain the issues – for example abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, death penalty, terrorism – that are framed and driven by religious beliefs and spiritual values’.

In particular my disagreement is in the inclusion of ‘terrorism’ as being framed and driven by religious beliefs and spiritual values. This seems to suggest that religion and spiritual values motivates one to a reign of terror over the innocent – what, in the parlance of the morally bankrupt, is called to cause collateral damage.

Were the Mumbai murders, the IRA and Zionist atrocities driven by religion? I do not think so as there are various reasons and motives that propel terrorists and religion is far from being one of them.

Leaving this aside, I wish to turn to Loo’s important point of journalists reporting on religion with care and how the hatchet job on the fatwa on yoga - Bouquets, brickbats for yoga fatwa – measures up to this.

The piece was based on an unofficial SMS poll of 15 respondents. I leave it to the experts to comment on how scientific and correct such a poll could be. But I have my doubts on how accurately it reflects the overall Muslim perception of the fatwa .

The report starts with a dubious poll and then is peppered liberally with generalities such as the many critics, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, pointing out that the National Fatwa Council, by pouring cold water on meditation (did the fatwa say anything about meditation?), raised searching questions about its credibility.

And then we have the consensus is that the fatwa is likely to be observed more often in the breach. How authoritative!

We also have the report saying that the council in its deliberations ‘begrudgingly’ agreed that the asana was Islamic, but does it say how it was concluded that it was done ‘begrudgingly’?

To begrudge is to express an emotion. Now when did anyone speak to the members of the fatwa council for one to conclude so or was it just the projecting of a coloured view of them?

It would be a relief if we could have journalists writing on religion with some amount of care but first and foremost though, I do hope they write with integrity.