wfn.org | Spain: Religious language is incomprehensible for layman

["Christian B. Schäffler" <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

January 2, 2000
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

Spain: Religious language is incomprehensible for layman, 
said journalist

Toledo, Spain.         During an event attended by journalists 
who specialize in religious themes, sponsored by the Spanish 
Justice Ministry, Jose Manuel Vidal, editor of the daily El 
Mundo, affirmed the religious language is incomprehensible 
for the layman.

According to the news agency ALC, Vidal said that when 
journalists question religious leaders about current-day 
themes, they often find very vague and diffuse responses. 

The journalist said that communication media have rules "that 
must be accepted." Moreover, one must accept that the media 
tends to be superficial, un-reflexive and conditioned by "what 
sells." 

The meeting was aimed at gathering the opinion of specialized 
journalists from mass communication media. Jose Martinez de 
Velasco, of the EFE agency, underlined that the confessions 
must understand that there is freedom but this does not mean 
that everything that is received will be published and
that the different confessions should tune into the interests 
and questions of society and not vice-versa. 

Ignacio Fernandez, of Europa Press, Faustino Catalina, of 
COPE, and Alfonso Ojea, of Cadena Ser, emphasized an 
affirmation made by Mariano Blasquez, executive secretary of 
the Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain 
(FEREDE), in the sense that the Agreement between the 
Spanish State and the Vatican establishes a juridical regime 
that is different for Catholics and non-Catholics. 

This fact, they said, facilitates an informative culture that 
priorizes Catholic information, said the Evangelical agency 
Gabipres. Catalina concluded there is still a need to "regulate" 
religious information with non-Catholic confessions. 

Vidal recognized that there is a lack of reflection and religious 
culture in the different media, and in certain journalistic circles 
there is an "anti-religious" complex that is confused with 
"progressivism".