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Are pastors and preists actually qualified?
March 11, 2014 at 11:37 am
Its this annoying thing that I have noticed with news stations, that whenever there is a big story they will have a live discussion about it with the news anchor, an expert on the relevant subject, and then for some reason, a pastor or priest or something like that. Why is that? Why bring in a priest? What possible expertise can a priest offer unless the subject is actually on religion? Of course if the priest happens to be an expert on the non religious subject, that's fine, but why introduce him as a priest. Why not Mr/Mrs bla bla who has a degree in bla bla.
I remember when the whole Travon Martin George Zimmerman thing was going on. And I was watching this news show and they were talking about it and they had brought in a social worker and some priest. The priest was thick as shit and I couldn't for the life of me work out why the hell he was there. What possible relevance could his particular branch of Christianity be. Or is it because he was Christian that they brought him in, they act as though Christians have the monopoly on morality. Or maybe it was because the priest was black? I don't know.
'The more I learn about people the more I like my dog'- Mark Twain
'You can have all the faith you want in spirits, and the afterlife, and heaven and hell, but when it comes to this world, don't be an idiot. Cause you can tell me you put your faith in God to put you through the day, but when it comes time to cross the road, I know you look both ways.' - Dr House
“Young earth creationism is essentially the position that all of modern science, 90% of living scientists and 98% of living biologists, all major university biology departments, every major science journal, the American Academy of Sciences, and every major science organization in the world, are all wrong regarding the origins and development of life….but one particular tribe of uneducated, bronze aged, goat herders got it exactly right.” - Chuck Easttom
"If my good friend Doctor Gasparri speaks badly of my mother, he can expect to get punched.....You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. There is a limit." - Pope Francis on freedom of speech
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RE: Are pastors and preists actually qualified?
March 11, 2014 at 11:40 am
The best example was when Germany was discussing an exit strategy for nuclear power, the TV panel had some politicians, an industry guy, a philosopher, and bishops from the national catholic and protestant churches. Needless to say, they were useless.
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RE: Are pastors and preists actually qualified?
March 11, 2014 at 11:45 am
They're perfect for 24 hour news. Lots of speculation and opinion, with no need for evidence.
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RE: Are pastors and preists actually qualified?
March 11, 2014 at 11:50 am
They are totally unqualified for much of anything.
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RE: Are pastors and preists actually qualified?
March 11, 2014 at 11:53 am
I guess it depends on their other qualifications. Why they do it is a no-brainer though. To appeal to religious people. Most of the news isn't real news anyway. Turn that shit off.
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RE: Are pastors and preists actually qualified?
March 11, 2014 at 11:59 am
(This post was last modified: March 11, 2014 at 12:09 pm by *Deidre*.)
A lot of Christians who are non Catholics feel Catholics aren't "real" Christians, so it's anyone's guess. Cheaper than paying a Fundie televangelist to appear on the show, would be my guess. 
(March 11, 2014 at 11:40 am)Alex K Wrote: The best example was when Germany was discussing an exit strategy for nuclear power, the TV panel had some politicians, an industry guy, a philosopher, and bishops from the national catholic and protestant churches. Needless to say, they were useless.
Yes, let's bring in people in leadership roles who hadn't a clue (or knew but covered it up) that children were being sexually abused on a global wide scale by some of their clergy (peers?) to give their moral opinion on something secular. Makes perfect sense to me. :/
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RE: Are pastors and preists actually qualified?
March 11, 2014 at 12:08 pm
That sad thing is that barely any one bats an eyelash at this now. Imagine if the news was reporting on a black hole that is getting dangerously close to our solar system. Imagine if instead of discussing this with some one like Stephen Hawkin, Neil de-grasse Tyson, or Lawrence Krauss, they got some kind of medical doctor to appear on the show. People would be like: WTF is going on?
That is the reaction the public should have when religious officials are brought in when they clearly are not relevant to the topic at hand.
'The more I learn about people the more I like my dog'- Mark Twain
'You can have all the faith you want in spirits, and the afterlife, and heaven and hell, but when it comes to this world, don't be an idiot. Cause you can tell me you put your faith in God to put you through the day, but when it comes time to cross the road, I know you look both ways.' - Dr House
“Young earth creationism is essentially the position that all of modern science, 90% of living scientists and 98% of living biologists, all major university biology departments, every major science journal, the American Academy of Sciences, and every major science organization in the world, are all wrong regarding the origins and development of life….but one particular tribe of uneducated, bronze aged, goat herders got it exactly right.” - Chuck Easttom
"If my good friend Doctor Gasparri speaks badly of my mother, he can expect to get punched.....You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. There is a limit." - Pope Francis on freedom of speech
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RE: Are pastors and preists actually qualified?
March 11, 2014 at 12:14 pm
Considering that "Creationism" and "Intelligent Design" are concepts that are trying to be pushed into the public educational system in the US by Christian groups (because teaching mainstream science isn't enough for them) ...your idea there, isn't that far off maybe. :/
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RE: Are pastors and preists actually qualified?
March 11, 2014 at 12:44 pm
(March 11, 2014 at 11:37 am)Bad Wolf Wrote: Why is that? Why bring in a priest? What possible expertise can a priest offer unless the subject is actually on religion? It depends on the story being covered and the community it is being pitched to. That, and the fact that many people simply accept that the people being interviewed are experts, whether or not they really are. I'm less concerned with them bringing on a religious figure since I generally know what to expect from them (or do we expect some brand-new insight from the guy whose guidebook is 2,000 years old?). I would be more concerned with Mr. John Doe, Chief of Engineering at J. Doe Associates, who might be the only employee of J. Doe Associates and thinks that having a degree from DeVry makes him an expert.
For all practical purposes, the way that news shows use "experts" is more about building a narrative than it is about helping us understand anything about the story.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
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RE: Are pastors and preists actually qualified?
March 11, 2014 at 12:48 pm
I think it has to do with pandering to the majority of Christians in this country. But yeah, unless it's a story dealing with religion, there's no need to have a religion huckster on the show.
Christian apologetics is the art of rolling a dog turd in sugar and selling it as a donut.
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