Faith in the Workplace

In 1989, Peter Jennings pulled Peggy Wehmeyer out of local television in Dallas to join ABC World News Tonight, where she broke ground as the nation's first network religion correspondent. For the next seven-and-a-half years, American viewers followed Peggy's award-winning push for truth into the faith-and-culture issues of U.S. presidents, gay marriage, prisoners, Muslim clerics, Rabbis, abortion, school shootings, academicians, missionaries … and in a particular coup, her hour-long special with the McCaughey parents and their new septuplets.

In 2002, Peggy joined World Vision to help found and host the World Vision Report—a weekend newsmagazine and daily feature show on issues and events affecting the world's poorest people. (WVR currently airs on more than 300 Christian radio stations; all programs are available at WorldVisionRadio.org)

Here, Peggy Wehmeyer talks about religion and the national media, World Vision, and living faith at work.

Your journalism career has moved you from the religion beat in Dallas television news to World News Tonight, and now to "justice and mercy" radio one of the world's largest humanitarian-aid groups. How did you feel about leaving mainstream news and cultural issues for Christian compassion?

This is odd, but I didn't really see myself as leaving a secular job for Christian work. I saw myself as going into the same kind of work. As a journalist, I was still going to do the very best storytelling I could. This time, instead of focusing as I had for 20 years on culture wars such as gay marriage, abortion, and prayer in school, I'm focusing on issues to do with justice and poverty—a whole new realm for me. The kind of religion news the secular media is open to covering is very limiting; this opened new avenues for me.

What kind of stories are you doing now?

Today, I interviewed a senior executive at the World Bank. Another day, I might interview an African journalist who covered starvation by living in an Ethiopian village on a piece of bread a day for five weeks. Or a little schoolboy in Canada who raised thousands of dollars to build wells for poor kids in Africa. I recently interviewed Paul Farmer, the Harvard-educated physician in Haiti.

It's the same work: I'm a journalist trying to tell stories with fairness, accuracy, and creativity. But as a host and managing editor, now I get to do different things, and the credible. This isn't about culture wars any longer; I now have the freedom to write about global issues of poverty and justice—the world is wide open. I can't remember a time when I've learned more about the world.

There must be a big difference in the two work environments.

Well, the main difference between a secular and Christian workplace is that it seems too easy now. I was so used to struggling against the current, advocating and fighting for the voice of people of faith. I'm still surprised, not that the work is easy, at how much fun it is. I think it's partly because there are fewer battles … after 20 years in a secular newsroom, I'm working with people who share my ideals and values.

I'm a strong believer in Christians living and working in the secular world. I didn't ask God to lead me into a "Christian workplace," but He did. And I'm enjoying it. If He takes me back to the mainstream media, I'll go willingly. World Vision isn't just any organization for me. It's a Christian organization that's at the top of the list of the ones I've respected and admired from a distance over the years.

Can you say more about your struggle in mainstream media?

Externally, it was the fight for air time for stories that were fair and balanced about people of faith—to make room for legitimate voices from the world of religion, not just caricatures and stereotypes. I worked to tell stories about the predominant religious voices in our country with respect and dignity, because that's not how it's always been done.

How has it typically been done?

The media tend to make assumptions about the major religious groups in this country. The two largest groups in terms of their impact on culture are conservative Catholics and Evangelical Christians. Together they easily make up 30 to 40 percent of the American population. Those two groups, if you take it out of the mouth of Nicholas Kristoff of the New York Times, are the two most acceptable groups for the East Coast media to despise and marginalize.

How did that attitude affect you?

On my best days, I believed I shouldn't be surprised. I rarely got angry at the individuals or people who I felt were hostile toward traditional Christian beliefs. I was sometimes sad, though, and discouraged at so little understanding or tolerance for different ideological points of view. On my weaker, less heroic days, I felt wounded and discouraged and frustrated about my inability to accomplish all I dreamed to do with this beat, with the religion beat.