Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Our Heroine Does Not Think That Word Means What You Think It Means

One last thing before sleep. GetReligion scratches one of my itches, the, how shall I put this? "non-careful" use of the word, "devout," to describe believers of any and all stripes, but most frequently (of course) Catholics.
Here we go again, with another post in our ongoing series about why mainstream journalists need to retire the word “devout” or, at the very least, be extremely careful when using this vague and almost meaningless adjective. This time around, we are dealing with a story about the often blurred line — in some cultures, like Haiti — between voodo and culturalized Catholicism.
Read the whole thing and note please that a (foot!) tattoo of Our Lady of Guadalupe does not a "devout" Catholic make. I'm not sure how to define a devout Catholic, but I know a foot tattoo is not it.

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