Get Religion is a "meta" website that covers religious coverage. Here's something the GR folks might find interesting-- mainly thanks to the provocative headline:
Police: Ill. pastor deflected gunshot with Bible
Without even reading the article, you might be led to think two things:
1. The pastor somehow did this intentionally, and
2. The pastor "miraculously" survived the gunman's attack, thanks to his bullet-deflecting Bible.
The headline makes you think a miracle occurred, and many people, especially those who aren't religious, might sense a bit of nudge-nudge-wink-wink mockery on the part of whoever crafted the title (keep in mind that journalists don't always get to title their own articles).
When you take the time to read the article, however, you learn the headline is tastelessly glib, and what actually occurred was heart-wrenching:
A pastor shot and killed during his Sunday sermon deflected the first of the gunman's four rounds with a Bible, sending a confetti-like spray of paper into the air in a horrifying scene that congregants initially thought was a skit, police said.
The gunman strode down the aisle of the sprawling First Baptist Church shortly after 8 a.m. and briefly spoke with The Rev. Fred Winters, then pulled out a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol and began firing until it jammed, Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent said. Churchgoers wrestled the gunman to the ground as he waved a knife, slashing himself and two other people, Trent said.
None of the about 150 congregants seemed to recognize the gunman and investigators do not know details of Winters' conversation with him, but they planned to review an audio recording of the service, Trent said. The service was not videotaped.
"We thought it was part of a drama skit ... when he shot, what you saw was confetti," said congregant Linda Cunningham, whose husband is a minister of adult education at the church. "We just sat there waiting for what comes next, not realizing that he had wounded the pastor."
Winters had stood on an elevated platform to deliver his sermon about finding happiness in the workplace and managed to run halfway down the sanctuary's side aisle before collapsing, Cunningham said.
Two congregants tackled the gunman as he pulled the 4-inch knife, and all three were stabbed, police said. The gunman suffered "a pretty serious wound to the neck" while one congregant had lower back wounds, Trent said.
Were we to confront the editor of this piece about the tastelessness of the article's title, I imagine he'd feign wide-eyed innocence and note that the first bullet was deflected by the pastor's Bible. But given the events described in the article, does "Pastor deflected gunshot with Bible" really sound like an appropriate title for this article? Does the title really capture what the article's about, or does it manufacture a miracle and inject sly mockery in the process-- all for the marketing-related purpose of attracting the reader to the article?
I'm not sure why this particular article incenses me so much, but it does. Let me back up: the article's fine. The title isn't.
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1 comment:
I agree wholeheartedly, although I would probably also change the first sentence if I were to edit this, from "A pastor shot and killed" to "A pastor who was shot and killed." Yeah, the meaning of the sentence becomes clear almost immediately anyway, but in the first split second you get the impression that the pastor was the agent, not the victim.
Normally I would just call that careless writing, but considering the title, I wouldn't be surprised if it were intentional.
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