now traditional rendering of the oratorio gives the Christmas season, should be kept by Protestantism. It appears that we have no alternative other than to surrender to Monsignor Sheen now, for obviously there are radio script writers who will convert us after we are dead. I cannot refrain from observing that it would be interesting to have a Mohammedan write the script for the Handel play next Christmas day. The Attitude of the Press And it is the same in the newspapers. Dr. Donald G. Barnhouse of Revelation instituted a very thorough investigation of the newspapers of representative cities, and found that Protestant religious news received about 35% of the space while the Roman Catholic received 65%, this, despite the fact that Roman Catholics form less than 20% of our population. In this respect, it is only fair to say that our own disunity and lack of organization could be an important factor in these sta tistics. Much more serious .is this accusation, which I now make without apology: The Roman Catholic Church enforces a policy on the newspapers which gives them a place of privilege, and violates the freedom of the press in many instances. We have a case in point right now in the publicity that is being given to a church whose minister is accused of arson. He was given no press immunity. The whole tragic story has been print ed, even though this minister has not yet been tried. It was news, so they printed it, and with appropriate head lines. But did you ever see a headline concerning an indiscretion or a scandal pertaining to a Roman Catholic priest? We read of plenty of that in Roman Catholic history. Has the Catholic church, then, become lily-white in these recent decades? No. Priests on the whole are good men, of course, but they, too, have their percentage of failures and disgraces. I take it that you are wise enough to know that. What kind of double standard is it, then, that our press has—an absolute refusal to print news unfavorable to the Roman Catholic Church but no compunction about printing any scandal concerning Prot estants? Nothing makes a headline more exciting than to add to it the words, “Choir Singer,” or “Sunday School Teacher,” or “Deacon,” or “Baptist Minister.” I f pi quancy is desired in the headlines, then let them add the word “Priest.” One of the admirable qualities of Americans is a sense of fair play. Does this square with your idea of fairness? Did you ever think to do anything about it? Do you take the time to tell these newspapers just what you think of their discrimination? ,Can you imagine such a thing! Discrimination against a majority! Some body has been asleep. Was it you? Recently I talked with an editor about this matter, and his reply was that the newspapers did not feature unfavorably the religious connections of ministers of “regular” Protestant denominations any more than they featured priests. In the first place, that is simply not true; and in the second place, I am just as concerned about the rights of these apparently “irregular” de nominations. How long does the Roman Catholic Church take to learn the lesson that in America we do not speak of religious minorities in that way? I propose that we teach them, however difficult the task! A few years ago the San Francisco News Chronicle was courageous enough to try to break down this news paper double standard. It printed news concerning a priest, which, although it was quite factual, brought on a scheme of coercion by the Roman Catholic Church which ended that adventure in truth. I say to the Roman Catholic Church, “We don’t like your tactics in this matter; they are un-American. They do not have the element of fair play in them.” And I say to non-Catholics, “What does it take to arouse your MAY, 1947
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker