{"id":108379,"date":"2013-07-22T09:41:08","date_gmt":"2013-07-22T13:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?p=108379"},"modified":"2013-07-22T10:03:14","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T14:03:14","slug":"nyt-struggles-to-distinguish-voltaire-spider-man-and-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2013\/07\/nyt-struggles-to-distinguish-voltaire-spider-man-and-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"NYT struggles to distinguish Voltaire, Spider-Man and Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says<\/a>:<\/p>\n

But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let\u2019s face it, folks, Luke 12:48 is not an uncommon verse<\/a>. <\/p>\n

President Barack Obama himself has cited it as inspirational. But it is, apparently, unknown to some folks who work as editors in elite desks in the bookish corners of the New York Times<\/em> newsroom. <\/p>\n

How do we know this?<\/p>\n

An op-ed headlined \u201cWhy Men Need Women<\/a>\u201d argues that women encourage the men in their lives toward greater generosity. It includes this passage, concerning Bill Gates of the Microsoft empire:<\/p>\n

Mr. Gates has reflected that two female family members \u2014 his mother, Mary, and his wife, Melinda \u2014 were major catalysts for his philanthropic surge. Mary \u201cnever stopped pressing me to do more for others,\u201d Mr. Gates said in a Harvard commencement speech. The turning point came in 1993, shortly before he and Melinda married. At a wedding event, Mary read a letter aloud that she had written to Melinda about marriage. Her concluding message was reminiscent of the Voltaire (or Spiderman) mantra that great power implies great responsibility: \u201cFrom those to whom much is given, much is expected.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ah, yes, this is a great quote from Spider-Man! <\/p>\n

Or maybe Voltaire! They both predate Jesus Christ, right? Then again, it wasn\u2019t even Spidey who riffed on the Gospel to produce that famous quote \u2014 it was his saintly Uncle Ben, right?<\/p>\n

Thanks to GetReligionista Sarah Pulliam Bailey (and others) for sending in this latest funny biblical mis-step by the Times<\/em> team. In all seriousness, the basic ignorance of Scriptures at the New York Times<\/em> recently is getting worrisome, both on the op-ed pages and in the news pages.<\/p>\n

Perhaps they should do some targeted hiring of an individual or two with a humanities degree or something. Maybe even someone who has been to Vacation Bible School.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says: But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more. Let\u2019s face it, folks, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":605,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,12,1],"tags":[1309,525,326,2006,2004],"class_list":["post-108379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-godbeat","category-journalism","category-religion","category-uncategorized","tag-jesus-christ","tag-media-bias","tag-new-york-times","tag-spider-man","tag-voltaire"],"yoast_head":"\nNYT struggles to distinguish Voltaire, Spider-Man and Jesus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says: But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. 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