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Archbishop Chaput: NY Times, Newsweek, CNN, MSNBC Not ‘Trustworthy’ on Religion

By on August 22, 2011 7:41 am in US News / 5 comments

 

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The news outlets CNN, MSNBC, and the New York Times 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.”

 
 
 
 

5 Comments

  1. bill bannon says:
    August 23, 2011 at 7:09 am

    Someone should have asked the Archbishop as to who protected Catholic boys better from sexual abuse….the NY Times and the Boston Globe whose expose forced the Bishops to meet in Dallas… or the Catholic press. Our leaders never face cross examination of a tough kind

    Reply
  2. Tjdepere says:
    August 22, 2011 at 8:43 pm

    so what is so surprising by this piece of opinion! The only information that is trustworthy is that from Chaput’s mouth or writing. He is a great proponent of censorship with him being the censor.

    Reply
  3. Jim says:
    August 22, 2011 at 6:44 pm

    Of course, the secular news outlets CNN, MSNBC, and the New York Times do not “provide trustworthy information about religious faith.” Articles and information on religion from these sources are produced by those who are members of the dominant, relativistic culture that is indifferent at best, and virulently hostile at worst toward their subject matter. Their agenda to push religion to farthest fringes of the public square is clearly woven throughout anything they produce for consumption by the complaisant masses.

    One would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to see this. You don’t reach the “high ranks” in the media to be able to spew this totally uninformed drivel about religion if you’re objective, and God forbid, amicable toward your subject matter. The media propaganda is written to promote the marginalization, rather than the truth, of all things religious. There are reliable sources of religious news written by intelligent, knowledgeable people, but you won’t find them at your neighborhood newsstand.

    Reply
  4. Charles Bolser says:
    August 22, 2011 at 11:15 am

    At the same time, let us not forget to include the National Catholic Register, Fox News, and the great majority of official diocesesan newspapers. No media can give the total truth about anyone or anything – but it is possible for all media outlets to give some of the truth some of the time – no homily, no teaching is complete and there is always something left unsaid – that is the human condition. Welcome to our world.

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