Sunday, September 13, 2015

Judeo-Christian Values: In many Western countries there's anemphasis on a ...

Judeo-Christian Values: In many Western countries there's anemphasis on a ...: In many Western countries there's an emphasis on a Christian individuality. Most Westerners based their beliefs on Greek philosophy an...
In many Western countries there's an emphasis on a Christian individuality. Most Westerners based their beliefs on Greek philosophy and Judeo-Christianity. In the Holy Bible much is centered on spiritual personalities and their vertical relationship with God. A few of these righteous ones were Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Noah in the Old Testament, John, the Baptist, Mary, Mother of God, and the twelve disciples (later apostles) in the New Testament.

Today many Christians' horizontal relationships may be rather flawed. Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962), an American politician and the longest serving First Lady of the United States from 1935 to 1945 observed that “we are afraid to care too much, for fear that the other person does not care at all.” Still Jesus Christ reminds us to love our neighbor as ourself. In the Scriptures such caring – the love of our neighbor, ought to be the pilot in a Christian's walk. Jesus just knew the results of such love will be positive.

Meaning of Life and News

An Italian Dominican friar and Catholic priest Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274) was concerned about the true meaning of life and mankind's relationship with God. Much of his focus was on prayer and divine truth. Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180 AD), a Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD believed, “Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is well within yourself, in your way of thinking.” Our priests, good friends, members and caring friends continue to hold out hope for individuals when they advise us to look within ourselves in order to find the true meaning of life.

Some stories in the media provide basically the same ideas as we endeavor to rise to our full potential in this our secular world. Much about American minds explored by French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville expressed these experiences of our democracy in the 1800s.

Most Western journalists endeavor to report the news objectively. This came into being through the results of two schools of thought: a) the rationalists who believe that knowledge could occur with experience; and b) the empiricists who subscribe to the basis of their knowledge on observation borrowed from the natural and physical sciences. Through a “dialectic approach” journalists present both sides of a story leaving readers to draw their own conclusions.

However, editorialists are free to express their own opinions with analysis by arguing for a particular point of view. Such writers are mainly drawn from the ranks of seasoned journalists who have had years of professional experience. Most are specialists and are well-respected for their incisive reflections about the communities in which they live. Journalists generally consider such assignments to be pearls in the world of journalism.

Michael Pollan (b. 1956), an American author and professor of journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism thought, “I think perfect objectivity is an unrealistic goal; fairness, however, is not.” Pollan has to be alluding to the fact that journalists' senses regardless of how developed they are, will still lack perfection. Fairness however will come to mean that although our senses are undeveloped, it's better for journalists to aspire to being fair in reporting the news.

Love of Freedom

In the media that the love of freedom is held up and promoted as the epitome of living successfully in Western democracies. Currently, there are debates concerning how individuals can explore the limits of freedom. Scriptures tell us of total freedom believers will find in Christ. Such freedom is the truest and best of all freedoms for there are no absolutes. There will always be limitations which will have to be tempered with our personal responsibilities. Freedom therefore has to be viewed in cultural settings. In times of war and terrorists' acts, America's 1st Amendment which attests to this sort of American democratic freedom is sorely tested:

Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.

U.S. Const. Amend. 1 (1791)

This vital amendment is only abridged when national security interests are under attack. While reporting questions will always arise concerning how will journalist address such concerns? What effects will this law have on the tourism industry and Americans' perceptions of foreigners of other countries?


Wilson Mizner (1876 – 1933), an American playwright and entrepreneur thought that “to profit from good advice requires more wisdom than to give it.” Although the American 1st Amendment is law and much more than mere advice, it has proved itself to be most profitable not only to the American government, but also to all patriotic Americans throughout history.