Firstly I would ask you to read this short article by Richard Dawkins.
I know it is old but it's something that got my attention.
The whole article is written in a derogatory fashion with quite extremist views. Words and phrases like: force of evil, irrelevance and idiotic jumped out at me when I read it.
I know there will be many who won't agree with me on this. I am not saying the article should not have been written but surely there is a better way of putting across his views without being so condescending?
Why is it when someone who is Catholic speaks in this sort of a passionate way they get labelled as a bible basher or told they are trying to force religion down other people's throats. This man was published. His whole article is based on vicious opinion.(Oh sorry, I forgot, he does use one example. Must be everyone's opinon so.) I mean seriously, he said that the child abuse that went on was nothing compared to being brought up Catholic. I'm sure that those who were abused would have something to say about that.
Just to make a point here, yes I'm Catholic, I'm not offended by this article because this man doesn't believe in God, I'm offended by the fact he felt it neccesary to rip my religion to shreds to make his points credible. I'm aware there are problems in the Catholic Church, there are things I don't agree with. That's what faith is in my opinion. There's more too it than just going to mass on a Sunday. The church has been a place of solace for countless people, a place that should always feel like home to those who want it. There are bad people in every walk of life, but there are good ones too.
My question is, should we as journalists try to make this seem balanced? If so, how? Should he be allowed to have a rant about the fact he doesn't believe in God? Why? Or why not?
Here's his website if you want to have a look. Any opinons?
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You raise a very good point, but I think that people would read this and make up their own mind. When I read it I accepted and disagreed with certain aspects-like Hall's encoding/decoding model. Perhaps we as journo's could write an opinion piece or a piece on the role or a response piece on religion.
ReplyDeleteCertainly there are bad people on every walk of life. I would accept that not all clergy abused children and so on. I am a little sceptic about the role of religion in controlling us and barging into every arena-political, economic, social, etc.
Yet, I do believe that there is some greater meaning to life. Just because I don't practice my faith every Sunday doesn't mean I'm going to hell.
D.K