[Mrs. Don-o]

Two-minute course in the proper interpretation of religion news:

1.Get deep into your "Hermeneutic of Suspicion" mode.

2. Immediately, if not sooner, put a big ol' set of parentheses, followed by a question mark, around these elements:

• the headline,
• the picture captions, and
• the lede.

That's where the most damaging spin and bias is going to be.

3. Remember that even the best journos are rushing to make a deadline and often get stuff wrong through sheer haste and inadvertence.

4. "Stuff" includes botched translation from the Italian original, omitted key portions of the quote, ignored context, and hashed theology.

5. I actually once read in a newspaper account that the book being read from the church lectern was the "Axe of the Apostles."

6. The deeply-missed Chuck Colson once stressed that we need to be "Salt and Light" (a well-known Jesusy phrase) and was misquoted as saying we need to "assault the light" (!)

7. When nearing total panic or bafflement, get the straight scoop from the wonderful GET RELIGION blog, which specializes in analyzing the MSM spin, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/getreligion/

Now go forth and untangle that spaghetti!

[Mr Rogers]

” “Stuff” includes botched translation from the Italian original”

Then we can expect the Vatican to correct the translation by today?

[sitetest]

Dear Mrs. Don-o,

And, of course, the MSM are greatly aided when a pope speaks in a way that requires referencing the Catechism, or Church teaching in general, to put what he says in the proper context.

One can say all day long that folks should know better than to presume non-Catholic premises for what a pope says, but the pope is trying to speak to someone OTHER THAN THE CHOIR; he is trying to speak to the world, and BY DEFINITION, they are not presuming Catholic premises.

sitetest