Nearly half a century ago, the Second Vatican Council corrected the Roman Catholic Church's historical attitude toward Jews with the document "Nostra Aetate," which exonerated the Jewish people of any collective guilt for the killing of Jesus and affirmed that God's covenant with them had never been abrogated.
A controversy is already starting to brew – which was, of course, the intention – over the image on the cover of the latest edition of Businessweek. It's pegged to a story by Caroline Winter, entitled "Latter-day Lucre: How the Mormon Church Makes Its Billions", a big investigation of the church's finances. The image re-imagines "a pivotal moment" in the Mormon origin story, when John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith – on 15 May 1829, to be precise, though I'm not too sure of the time of day.
Winter's piece details the extraordinary secrecy with which the church conducts its multibillion-dollar corporate dealings – aided, of course, by religious tax perks – and is well worth reading in full.
"Does Controversial Bloomberg BusinessWeek Cover Show Media is Making Romney The 'Other?'", wonders Noah Rothman, in a posting at Mediaite, while commenters at Politico and Business Insider add some "how dare you insult my religion!" outrage.
I understand the commenters' fury, in a way. But it's ridiculous to suggest that an organisation should be exempt from investigation just because it's a religious kind of organisation – a form of special treatment that strikes at the heart of secular society.
Olver Burkeman | Read this article in full on guardian.co.uk
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Nearly half a century ago, the Second Vatican Council corrected the Roman Catholic Church's historical attitude toward Jews with the document "Nostra Aetate," which exonerated the Jewish people of any collective guilt for the killing of Jesus and affirmed that God's covenant with them had never been abrogated.
Media Monitoring
Is Businessweek's Mormon cover art offensive?
13th July 2012
A controversy is already starting to brew – which was, of course, the intention – over the image on the cover of the latest edition of Businessweek. It's pegged to a story by Caroline Winter, entitled "Latter-day Lucre: How the Mormon Church Makes Its Billions", a big investigation of the church's finances. The image re-imagines "a pivotal moment" in the Mormon origin story, when John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith – on 15 May 1829, to be precise, though I'm not too sure of the time of day.
Winter's piece details the extraordinary secrecy with which the church conducts its multibillion-dollar corporate dealings – aided, of course, by religious tax perks – and is well worth reading in full.
"Does Controversial Bloomberg BusinessWeek Cover Show Media is Making Romney The 'Other?'", wonders Noah Rothman, in a posting at Mediaite, while commenters at Politico and Business Insider add some "how dare you insult my religion!" outrage.
I understand the commenters' fury, in a way. But it's ridiculous to suggest that an organisation should be exempt from investigation just because it's a religious kind of organisation – a form of special treatment that strikes at the heart of secular society.
Olver Burkeman | Read this article in full on guardian.co.uk