Religion is not outside the political domain
He complains that there are only two religious correspondents employed full-time by the Irish media. He complains that as a result a political correspondent was inappropriately employed to report on the appointment of a bishop by the Sunday Tribune.
It does seem a little rich for him to implicitly argue that the appointment of a senior member of the Catholic hierarchy is completely outside the domain of the political.
More than half of his commentary columns in this paper deal either with deeply Church-related matters, or with ethical issues particularly close to the heart of the Catholic Church.
Has he ever considered that his efforts to enlighten us on religious matters might contribute to the impression among news and current affairs editors all over the country that there are already more than enough religious affairs specialists?
If more religious correspondents were around, it is possible he might to find that such contributions as his (and David Quinn’s, Breda O’Brien’s and Mary Kenny’s) would be squeezed out in the battle for column inches by more professional, objective and balanced contributions on matters of religious belief, non-belief and ethics.
Jaime Hyland,
Heinrich-Mann-Str 26,
13156 Berlin,
Germany.
