The NYT article on the rising generation of theologically conservative Catholics that Ryan pointed out has a hilarious section:

They are theologically conservative, but not conservative across the board when it comes to political issues, she said.

“They are more involved in traditional conservative religious practices, but they’re very receptive to social justice messages about serving the poor,” she said.

First, “social justice” is a trendy new term that is anachronistic if you’re going to talk about traditional religious practices, (Hayek even argues that it is both empty of substantive content and pernicious). When Jesus urged serving the poor was it a “social justice” message?! Secondly, are they saying that “serving the poor” would not be a component of “traditional conservative religious practices”? Have they ever heard of orphanages? Alms for the poor? Karl Marx didn’t invent serving the poor, guys!

Though the aliens at the NYT fumble in funny ways like this when dealing with religious communities, I must give credit where credit is due. Overall, they do a fine job reporting in this article on a trend that I am sure they are not at all happy with.

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