Chapter 3 Inoffensive Writing
151
Jesus vs. "Christ"
Mrs. B finds a letter from a member of the journalism faculty at
Emerson College in Boston helpful and thinks you might, too.
Donna Halper explains why she objects to reporters referring to
Jesus as "Jesus Christ" or "Christ" in stories about holiday
celebrations:
"... as a Jewish person, this is a no-brainer for me. I go for the
religiously neutral term, Jesus... `Christ,' of course, was not his
last name. It was his religious title, and to me, calling him by his
religious title is inserting Christian terminology into the story,
since not every listener or viewer is a Christian.
"I think many news people are still writing for an audience that
used to be mainly white and mainly Christian. Trouble is, like it
or not, the US is now about 4% Muslim (and growing), ... about
14% Asian (many of whom are Buddhist), 2-3% Hindu, 3-4%
Jewish, etc.
"Thus, the term `Christ,' while probably comfortable for the
majority of reporters, may no longer reflect the diversity of
today's audience."
Mrs. B encourages you to write and report in a religiously neutral
way that refle cts the diversity of your audience.
