Forced Conversion!
The Papal Visit blog of The Washington Times relates a story.
However, therein
lies a hazard for reporters or little or no faith. One reporter — I
will call her "Infidel," as that's the name she selected — wrote me
recently about something she finds troublesome. She was chagrined to
find that in order to acces confidential media information for the
upcoming papal visit, she would have to type "ChristOurHope" on the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' website.
"And it's the username!" she wrote me. "It feels a bit like a forced
conversion. At the very least it's tone deaf. I wonder if the Vatican
believes that only Catholic reporters will be covering his visit? I've
talked to Episcopalians, Catholics, Muslims and plenty of Christians
and pretty much every one of them, reporter or layperson, is absolutely
incredulous."
Typing "ChristOurHope" feels like a forced conversion? Wait till she finds out the password is "RepentNowOrGoToHell."
Also notice her total ignorance in thinking it was the Vatican that set this up instead of realizing that this would be from the USCCB. When you know so little about what your covering exactly how do you cover it? Though this is common ignorance since it seems reporters often confuse the Vatican from pretty much anything.
Known as 
Since "ChristOurHope" could, you know, kind of be a central tenit of our religion, why is she suprised?
Maybe she was scandalized because for the past several months, all she's heard is that Obama's Our Hope.
I called up a few experts at the Vatican about this. Let me paraphrase what they told me:
"They who without their own fault do not know of the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but yet seek God with sincere heart, and try, under the influence of grace, to carry out His will in practice, known to them through the dictate of conscience, can attain eternal salvation."
However, they further noted that reporters who grew up in the United States probably cannot plead ignorance.
Reporters can look forward to damnation, for sure.
The funny thing is, this secular reporter named "infidel" would not have had a problem logging onto a website that asked her to type "Allah or the sword?"
And nice job giving away the username. Classy reporting.
If this woman is unable to tell the difference between typing a simple access code and committing the state of her eternal soul - then she has absolutely no business calling herself a journalist.
I can't help but wonder if she'd have a problem covering her head while interviewing an Islamic Mullah.
I'm more concerned why Episcopalians and plenty of Christians would have a hard time typing "ChristOurHope". Sure, Muslims, I understand. But do Protestants secretly want to type "PillsburyDoughboyOurHope" or something? "LindseyLohanOurHope"? (eek!)
Was the reporter from The Daily Show?
The funny thing about this is that the username was probably created by some poor sysadmin who hadn't slept in days and at most wanted to have a little fun rather than making it "reporterpool08". But, when everything is a Big Conspiracy ... well ... it's a Big Conspiracy. Funny how that works...
I once had to type "Roll Tide" to access some files on an Alabama fan's computer a few years back.
I still feel dirty.
"Forced Conversion"....isn't she confusing Catholicism with Islam?
After all, it is Islam which has a single phrase that constitutes a conversion when spoken out loud.
Isn't "Christ Our Hope" the them of the papal visit? In which case typing "christourhope" kind of MAKES SENSE.
Sheesh.
Gail F
Gail, exactly my thoughts. Is she feeling a forced conversion in reporting the title of the visit in her articles?
and by title I meant theme...it's been a long week.
She needs a new story and throw this old one out. She's a dunce.
"Wait till she finds out the password is "RepentNowOrGoToHell."
pfffffffhhhhhAAAAAAA. or something. That was funny.
Or, it would be if it weren't close to the truth.