Shannon Bream is excited to see that Fox News Sunday isn’t the only show embracing faith and religion in the United States.
“[There’s] a trend that I really started to see, kind of a movement, during Covid. I think people were frightened, and there was a lot of loss, there was a lot of pain and uncertainty,” Bream, 55, exclusively shared with Us Weekly. “I found that people were much more open to faith during that time.”
Before anchoring Fox News Sunday, which celebrates 30 years on Sunday, April 26, Bream was anchoring her own show past 11 p.m. and covering heavy topics like the pandemic.
“We would have doctors on a lot of evenings and researchers to try to help us understand what was happening in real time,” she recalled. “But we started having pastors and religious leaders and people come on just to give comfort to people and to maybe share a verse or share a proverb or a thought from their faith tradition.”
According to Bream, viewers were “so open” to hearing a new perspective and “really looking for something hopeful and reassuring.”
While the pandemic may be over, Bream believes that the hunger for faith and spirituality is just beginning — especially with young people.
“These college campuses — we’ve covered this quite a bit, and I know other networks as well — they’re having thousands of kids show up looking for something to give them hope,” she said. “We’ve seen more and more of this, and the polling shows it too. The younger generations now tend to be the ones who are most interested and committed to faith and going to church. I think everything goes in cycles, but it definitely seems there’s an openness right now.
Bream has been open about her faith and released her latest book, Nothing Is Impossible with God: Eleven Heroes. One God. Endless Lessons in Overcoming, last month.
While she may find herself in the Fox News studios every Sunday morning, Bream makes it a priority to go to church every weekend in the evening and to carve out time for worship every day.
As she tackles hard news and heavy topics like elections, conflicts and war, Bream tries to keep faith at the center of her life.
“It calls on me to treat people with respect and to see them as in the image of God,” she explained. “I think that’s a good place to start with difficult conversations. If you can look across the aisle or across the table at somebody, say, ‘I’m going to hear you out.’”
Bream continued, “I think there’s always something to learn. My faith calls on me to respect people, whether I love their position or I’m adamantly opposed to it.”
As Fox News Sunday celebrates three decades on the air, Bream is hopeful viewers can continue to witness respectful conversations with a variety of Americans, including politicians, teachers, farmers and even astronauts.
“I’ve never had one guest come on and say ‘I won’t come back again’ or ‘I didn’t feel that that was a respectful conversation,’” she said. “That’s my goal.”
Fox News Sunday airs on Fox News. Check your local listings online.
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