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September 10, 2006
Blurring Religious Groups
When discussing Islamic groups, American writers know how to make distinctions between Shiites and Sunnis.
Yet, for some strange reason, American writers often fail to make distinctions between Christian religious groups.
For example, OpinionJournal recently published a commentary in which its author lumps all Presbyterians into the same group (Link).
In her commentary titled "Anything Goes" (Sub-titled: "The Presbyterian Church gets into the 9/11 conspiracy theory business."), Heather Wilhelm writes, "Now, however--five years after 9/11--the publishing arm of the Presbyterian Church has decided to heat up the brimstone a notch, releasing its very own 9/11 conspiracy theory . . . "
Folks, there is no such thing as The Presbyterian Church.
For the record, there are several Christian denominations that have Presbyterian in their names.
Five of them are the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church in America, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA) .
It is the last one that Wilhelm is writing about. It is the last one that constantly generates controversy.
Yet, Wilhelm implies that all Presbyterians belong to this last group.
To imply such a thing is to imply something that is false.
Sadly, such a mistake is often an indicator of a lack of religious education on the part of the writer.
So, before commenting about a church group, please do your homework first. Church groups are not all alike.
Of course, if you are a member of a church group, then you should already know that.
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Posted by Dodo David at September 10, 2006 11:00 AM
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Comments
It's also an indication of a lack of a journalism education on th epart of the writer. THe handbook all journalists are trained to use from their first day of class is the AP Stylebook. In the manual, it makes the exact same point David does, and warns:
"be careful to specify the denomination being written about."
Someone's not been using their manual. This is a mistake they shouldn't be allowed to get away twice.
Posted by: paul at September 10, 2006 03:34 PM
Who says any of these people is a trained journalist in the first place!? I will grant you that my degree dates back to 1963 BUT I will also opine quite loudly that what is passing for journalism these days was not taught at the School of Journalism where I matriculated!
Posted by: Gayle Miller at September 12, 2006 04:28 PM