…and no one will get hurt by your ignorance. I kind of wish someone had said that to a reporter for the Toronto Star before he unleashed it on the world in a story on Catholic schools in Canada. Evidently there are some parents who, for various reasons, are thinking of taking their children out of said schools. Among them are parents of the Coptic (Egyptian) Orthodox faith. The reporter, Murray Whyte, wanted to make the point that there aren’t that many differences between Catholics and Orthodox, and let loose this howler:
Though most in the Coptic Orthodox community send their children to Catholic school, they are not Catholic themselves. The differences are slight — they use the same liturgies, though Orthodox Christians differ from Roman Catholics in their belief that the Pope is a human being, not a divine figure — which has meant Coptic Orthodox children most often are sent to Catholic school. [Emphasis added.]
I sometimes think it would be better if newspapers simply acted as if religion of any kind didn’t exist. Better to be ignored than misrepresented in ways that anyone who has access to a public library could fact check.
(Via Five Feet of Fury.)
August 8, 2011 at 6:39 pm
That’s one for the Get Religion blog. Good grief.
August 8, 2011 at 8:53 pm
Holy Monophysites Batman!! Not only is there a big difference between the Roman Church and the Eastern Orthodox, there is a huge difference between the Coptic Church and the other Orthodox. The nature of the Pope is the least of the differences. My church meets in the Chapel of a Coptic Church and they have a lot in common with us (Anglican) but we are not “almost the same.” They are “less eastern” sometimes than say the Greeks of Russians. The icons are more like portraits of the Saints rather than being as highly stylized like most “eastern orthodox icons.”
I agree with others, maybe the newspapers should just pretend that they don’t know what they are talking about and ask somebody!!
August 8, 2011 at 10:27 pm
So, is the Toronto Star like “The Onion”. Only then would this make sense. This is almost too hard to believe.
August 9, 2011 at 7:14 am
No, it is a major mainstream daily newspaper.
August 9, 2011 at 11:19 am
You mean the Pope is a human being? Apparently the Gnostics must have gotten a hold of him and made him only appear human.
August 10, 2011 at 9:25 am
Good grief is right.
But I have to acknowledge that it is difficult for people unfamiliar with Christian history to get the distinctions.
Like many people, this reporter is not looking for the substantive differences, but the surface – appearance differences.