God and man at Marshall Park
Dear in-the-tank liberal communist dictator-coddling pro-Sharia mainstream media:
We note with interest this advance in reporting on the supernatural and its interactions with major political pseudo-events:
About 200 Muslims gathered for a traditional Jumah prayer Friday afternoon in Marshall Park, kicking off a week of religious events in Charlotte tied to the Democratic National Convention.
The beginning of the Muslim event has been peaceful, even though some critics complained it was inappropriate in the days before the convention. Early attendance was far short of the thousands that had been predicted.
This welcome application of the "balancing" norm of professional journalism will be a great help as you shape your reporting on the upcoming Democratic convention. Let's see if it could apply to some of your current religion reporting, shall we?
Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s decision to give the closing prayer for the Democratic convention in Charlotte next week eases, if ever so slightly, months of tensions between the church, the party and the Obama administration over such issues as contraception and abortion.
Dolan’s choice to close both conventions sends a subliminal message that God, at least for now, remains “an undecided.” His appearance at the Republican National Convention began peacefully.
It could even apply to the swill you pick up from the wires!
In May 1970, President Richard Nixon was one of 75,000 people gathered to hear evangelist Billy Graham preach in Knoxville, Tenn. The beginning of the Christian event was peaceful. When they passed the collection plate, Nixon realized he didn’t have any money. So he borrowed some cash from a friend.
And, of course, it's really convenient to have a benchmark for the point in the story -- the sixth graf looks good -- at which the devil's counsel gets his (or her) say:
“We’re glad that (the Muslims) are here,” said the Rev. Phillip “Flip” Benham of Concord-based Operation Save America, an anti-abortion group. “If the devil is going to throw a party, it’s imperative that the church of Jesus Christ show up.”
Taken together, there's a lot of standard-setting here for press coverage of religion. Apparently, we should assume that public events involving followers of the major Abrahamic faiths entail violence; otherwise, on the dog-bites-man principle, it wouldn't be news that they begin without it. We should never fail to point out somewhere before the jump that inter- and intrafaith rivals disagree with the people we're covering -- not just on whether it's better to serve diluted wine or fizzy grape juice with godflesh, but on whether Our Subscribers are actually allies of the Lord or of His/Her eternal foe who's offering you a beer over there by the barbecue grill.
Granted, the coverage of Cardinal Dolan's upcoming visit does provide a little context about the local bishop at grafs 7 and 8:
Bishop Peter Jugis wrote it. The issues he cites come from the church’s guide to “Faithful Citizenship.”
They also are the three in which the Catholic hierarchy is most closely aligned with the GOP. Jugis, according to voting records, is a registered Republican.
... but pointing out that he's a Republican* isn't quite the same as calling him Satan's little party planner, is it?
I'm actually not looking forward to a sidebar next week pointing out that Cardinal Dolan probably didn't leave any pipe bombs in Mooresville on his way to the convention. That'd be a pretty stupid standard to set for day-to-day coverage of public affairs. I might suggest that the press -- specifically, the mainstream liberal heathen press that's always on the brink of selling America out to Stalin, Ahmadinejad and Soros -- work a little harder on the standards it employs when it covers those funny-looking people who go to church on Friday. Odd, they might be presumed to apply to the rest of the week as well.
* Not a "verbal republican," which is rather a different matter.
We note with interest this advance in reporting on the supernatural and its interactions with major political pseudo-events:
About 200 Muslims gathered for a traditional Jumah prayer Friday afternoon in Marshall Park, kicking off a week of religious events in Charlotte tied to the Democratic National Convention.
The beginning of the Muslim event has been peaceful, even though some critics complained it was inappropriate in the days before the convention. Early attendance was far short of the thousands that had been predicted.
This welcome application of the "balancing" norm of professional journalism will be a great help as you shape your reporting on the upcoming Democratic convention. Let's see if it could apply to some of your current religion reporting, shall we?
Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s decision to give the closing prayer for the Democratic convention in Charlotte next week eases, if ever so slightly, months of tensions between the church, the party and the Obama administration over such issues as contraception and abortion.
Dolan’s choice to close both conventions sends a subliminal message that God, at least for now, remains “an undecided.” His appearance at the Republican National Convention began peacefully.
It could even apply to the swill you pick up from the wires!
In May 1970, President Richard Nixon was one of 75,000 people gathered to hear evangelist Billy Graham preach in Knoxville, Tenn. The beginning of the Christian event was peaceful. When they passed the collection plate, Nixon realized he didn’t have any money. So he borrowed some cash from a friend.
And, of course, it's really convenient to have a benchmark for the point in the story -- the sixth graf looks good -- at which the devil's counsel gets his (or her) say:
“We’re glad that (the Muslims) are here,” said the Rev. Phillip “Flip” Benham of Concord-based Operation Save America, an anti-abortion group. “If the devil is going to throw a party, it’s imperative that the church of Jesus Christ show up.”
Taken together, there's a lot of standard-setting here for press coverage of religion. Apparently, we should assume that public events involving followers of the major Abrahamic faiths entail violence; otherwise, on the dog-bites-man principle, it wouldn't be news that they begin without it. We should never fail to point out somewhere before the jump that inter- and intrafaith rivals disagree with the people we're covering -- not just on whether it's better to serve diluted wine or fizzy grape juice with godflesh, but on whether Our Subscribers are actually allies of the Lord or of His/Her eternal foe who's offering you a beer over there by the barbecue grill.
Granted, the coverage of Cardinal Dolan's upcoming visit does provide a little context about the local bishop at grafs 7 and 8:
Bishop Peter Jugis wrote it. The issues he cites come from the church’s guide to “Faithful Citizenship.”
They also are the three in which the Catholic hierarchy is most closely aligned with the GOP. Jugis, according to voting records, is a registered Republican.
... but pointing out that he's a Republican* isn't quite the same as calling him Satan's little party planner, is it?
I'm actually not looking forward to a sidebar next week pointing out that Cardinal Dolan probably didn't leave any pipe bombs in Mooresville on his way to the convention. That'd be a pretty stupid standard to set for day-to-day coverage of public affairs. I might suggest that the press -- specifically, the mainstream liberal heathen press that's always on the brink of selling America out to Stalin, Ahmadinejad and Soros -- work a little harder on the standards it employs when it covers those funny-looking people who go to church on Friday. Odd, they might be presumed to apply to the rest of the week as well.
* Not a "verbal republican," which is rather a different matter.
posted by fev at 9:02 PM
2 Comments:
very good post
Let’s face it: Cardinal Dolan is a Prince of the Church who wants to be King-maker.
But as the good Cardinal parades under the spotlights of the political conventions,
I’d like to humbly remind him that there is room for only ONE real super-star in his religion.
And that is the one who started it.
For as the Cardinal addressed and blessed the Republicans and their billionaire buddies,
as he smiled upon those who would destroy Social Security & voucher Medicare to death,
and as he struted on the stage with those who readily admit they “don’t care about the very poor”
......it would have been good for Cardinal Dolan to stop, to remember, and to take to heart the words of his boss, who once said “Whatsoever you do for the least of these - you do for me”.
Unless perhaps, ...just perhaps, the Cardinal is working for someone else these days? Just asking.
Our Founding Fathers wisely realized that politics, secular power, and religion do not mix.
That they bring out the worst in each other , and that ultimately they would destroy each other,
and us in the process A pastor should stick to his pulpit, not political conventions. Period.
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