Rare Acknowledgement

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0509010011sep01,1,3804344.column?coll=chi-opinionfront-hed

Misusing God's name
Published September 1, 2005

Dear Mr. Wycliff:Is there any editorial policy regarding the printing of the complete words that are known to be offensive to the religious beliefs of a portion of your readership? As you probably know, the misuse of God's name is, first, in violation of His holy law and, furthermore, to the Christian, it is hurtful to see the name of our beloved Lord and Savior taken so casually. Seeing His name in print as it was taken in vain by somebody was no less shocking than it would have been to see an "f-" or "n-" word fully quoted.
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That was Rev. Christopher Farina, associate pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church on the Northwest Side, commenting in a Friday e-mail about the Tribune's decision to print the name of Jesus Christ, uttered as an expletive by Michael Brenner, one of the principal characters in the newspaper's story about the hoax perpetrated against the Southern Illinois University student newspaper, The Daily Egyptian.

No, Pastor Farina, there is no policy of exactly the sort you ask about. We have no policy that explicitly forbids the use of "Jesus Christ" as an epithet. And we have no provision for substituting a formulation such a "J---- C-----."

However--isn't there always a "however"?--there is a policy that probably should have been applied in this instance that would have kept the profane use of "Jesus Christ" out of that story and the newspaper. Under "obscenities, profanities, vulgarities," the Tribune stylebook reads in part: "Avoid ethnic slurs and guard against unwitting insults to large groups of people.""

Jesus Christ!" may be the quintessential current example of such an unwitting insult. In much of America it's hard to get through a workday without hearing it used in this profane way. People who would instantly recoil from a profane use of "Elohim" or "Allah" as insulting to Jews or Muslims think nothing of exclaiming in disgust, outrage, surprise or whatever: "Jesus Christ!"

Seldom, however, are editors confronted with a decision whether to print the words, since most people are more guarded and careful in their speech when they know they are speaking for publication. Brenner, however, was not.

Arguably, leaving out the epithet and simply quoting the rest of his sentence--"that is completely not true"--would have made for a slightly less emphatic quotation. But the loss of emphasis would have been a small price to pay to avoid a gratuitous insult to Pastor Farina and the many who share his beliefs.