There’s been commentary elsewhere about the weird segment on CNN’s Capital Gang that was devoted entirely to the death of Pope John Paul II. But one aspect of the show that has not been mentioned sticks in my personal craw.
Toward the end of the hour-long program, they showed an eight-minute "special report" on douchebag of liberty Robert Novak’s conversion from Judaism to Catholicism. The segment, narrated by Judy Woodruff, begins as follows (scroll about 3/4 of the way down):
It was one day some years ago that this man [Novak], known to many as the Prince of Darkness, walked into one of the oldest churches in Washington and saw the light.
And it ends with Woodruff saying this: "And so it was that the Prince of Darkness embraced the Prince of Peace."
Let me be clear: I have no problem with anyone converting to whatever religion they want, nor do I have any problem with Novak or anyone else finding that Catholicism does a better job meeting his spiritual needs than Judaism did (or vice versa). What I don’t like is CNN describing a Jew accepting the Catholic faith as "seeing the light." Nor do I particularly care for the reference to Jesus as the "Prince of Peace," as if everyone just accepts that characterization of him. If CNN wants to do a little puff piece on their most grotesque commentator’s religious views, I suppose that’s their prerogative (although why they think it’s newsworthy is utterly beyond me). But I wish they could do it without insulting those benighted Americans who have not yet "seen the light" that the great and powerful Novak has seen. I’m not sure the piece is exactly anti-semitic, but it skates pretty close.
I don’t like seeing those euphamisims used by news agencies. However, “seeing the light” is often used to describe a change of opinion regarding religion or philosophy, and “Prince of Peace” may as well be trademarked by the Catholic Church as a reference to Jesus of Nazareth.I agree that the piece sucks, but I certainly don’t think it’s anti-semetic. It’s merely anti-rational, anti-critical, and anti-newsworthy. Mixing metaphorical references (Prince of Darkness) sure didn’t help.Mostly it just pisses me off that CNN continues to rail against this idea that liberal Catholics are “good Catholics” (ask Begala), and that the Catholic Church is allegedly conservative (it isn’t).
The problem with this language is its gross insensitivity to the broad subject of religion. This often happens with the cute, crisp language of TV writing. Its so focused on its subject, it forgets there is a wider context. The results smack of anti-Jewish bias, and CNN deserves any criticism it receives. CNN also needs a fact checker.Novak is still the Prince of Darkness.
Amen FC!
Novak needs a three week intensive course with a good Roman Catholic Jewish/Christian Dialogue prof. His remarks are insensitive, to say the least, and he undercuts the wonderful work in Jewish/Christian relations accomplished by my Roman Catholic mentors in the field. (I’m not Roman Catholic) The Dialogue has an excellent set of basic rules for interfaith, intercultural, or intermarital dialogue. None of them would lead one to the conclusions that changing religions is “seeing the light.”(clicky)