Secular Media Not Trustworthy on Religion

Archbishop: New York Times, Newsweek, CNN, MSNBC Not ‘Trustworthy’ on Religion
By Michael W. Chapman

(CNSNews.com) – The news outlets CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, and MSNBC do not “provide trustworthy information about religious faith,” said Philadelphia’s incoming Archbishop, Charles Chaput, at the Catholic World Youth Day ongoing this week in Madrid, Spain.

Chaput, the former Archbishop of Denver, made his remarks in an address on religious freedom to a group of more than 10,000 young pilgrims in Madrid on Wednesday. As initially reported in First Things, Chaput told the audience that, “In the United States, our battles over abortion, family life, same-sex ‘marriage,’ and other sensitive issues have led to ferocious public smears and legal threats not only against Catholics, but also against Mormons, evangelicals, and other religious believers.”

“And with relatively few exceptions,” he said, “the mass media tend to cover these disputed issues with a combination of ignorance, laziness, and bias against traditional Christian belief.”

The Archbishop continued: “We make a very serious mistake if we rely on media like the New York Times, Newsweek, CNN, or MSNBC for reliable news about religion. These news media simply don’t provide trustworthy information about religious faith -- and sometimes they can’t provide it, either because of limited resources or because of their own editorial prejudices.”

“These are secular operations focused on making a profit,” he said. “They have very little sympathy for the Catholic faith, and quite a lot of aggressive skepticism toward any religious community that claims to preach and teach God’s truth.”

Archbishop Chaput noted that the media gave a lot of coverage to the so-called “Arab Spring,” involving civil unrest in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries. “But very little of that coverage has mentioned that the turmoil in Muslim countries has also created a very dangerous situation for Christians and other religious minorities across North Africa and the Middle East,” he said. “In Egypt, angry mobs have attacked Christian churches and monasteries, burning them to the ground and murdering the people inside.”

In addition, he said there has been widespread anti-Christian violence in Iraq, Syria, and Tunisia, but little news coverage of this in the U.S. media, adding that it is illegal to wear a crucifix or own a Bible in Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, said the Archbishop, in Pakistan, “Christians face frequent discrimination, slander, beatings and even murder.”

Archbishop Chaput also warned that it is dangerous for democracy to force religion out of the public square.

“Forcing religious faith out of a nation’s public square and out of a country’s public debates does not serve democracy,” said the Archbishop. “It doesn’t serve real tolerance or pluralism. What it does do is impose a kind of unofficial state atheism. To put it another way, if we ban Christian Churches or other religious communities from taking an active role in our nation’s civic life, we’re really just enforcing a new kind of state-sponsored intolerance -- a religion without God.”

Archbishop Chaput was named by Pope Benedict XVI to head the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, starting on Sept. 8, 2011.

Courage In Faith

Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. Luke 6:22-23

(posted at www.CatholicVote.org)

World Youth Day like 'pure and youthful breeze'

From CatholicCulture.org:

Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Madrid on August 18 to join in the World Youth Day (WYD) observances there, and immediately sent a message to the young participants: “Let nothing and no one take away your peace. Do not be ashamed of the Lord.”

The spirit of WYD is “like a pure and youthful breeze, with refreshing scents,” the Pope said on his arrival. The contact with so many spirited and dedicated young Catholics, he said, brings “confidence in the future of the Church and the world.”

Pope Benedict arrived in Madrid after a short morning flight from Rome. He was greeted at the airport by the apostolic nuncio in Spain, Archbishop Renzo Fratini, and by King Juan Carlos, who remarked that young Spaniards had been waiting for the Pontiff “with open arms.”

In his address at the airport ceremony, the Pope began by thanking King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia for their greeting, then going on to thank all those who had helped to plan the WYD festivities and to host the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have swarmed to Madrid.

These young people, the Pope said, have come to WYD to deepen their faith and learn how to communicate that faith to others. “Many of them,” he said, “have heard the voice of God, perhaps only as a little whisper, which has led them to search for him more diligently and to share with others the experience of the force which he has in their lives.”

The WYD participants, the Pope continued, recognize the challenge that they face in society, including a “prevailing superficiality, consumerism and hedonism, the widespread banalization of sexuality, the lack of solidarity, the corruption.” They are concerned about their societies’ economic future, the threats to world peace, the degradation of the environment. Among their contemporaries they can see the heavy toll taken by alienation, depression, and drug abuse.

There are some young people at WYD, the Pope continued, “who because of their faith in Christ, suffer discrimination which leads to contempt and persecution, open or hidden, which they endure in various regions and countries.” The Pope emphasized that today’s young Catholics are not seeking to impose their views on others by force, but insist on just treatment for their own views. Particularly in secularized societies, he said, they are “living together with other legitimate choices in a spirit of respect while at the same time demanding due respect for one’s own choices.”

At WYD, the Pope said, these young people “have a special opportunity to gather together their aspirations, to share the richness of their cultures and experiences, motivate each other along a journey of faith and life, in which some think they are alone or ignored in their daily existence.” Moreover, he said, they will realize that they are not alone—that many thousands of other young Catholics, who were not able to attend the festivities in Madrid—share their faith and their aspirations.

Firm in the Faith With Mary

Right now the site only goes to their Facebook page, but here's the link anyway: www.firminfaith.org