Another Misleading Headline – Fox News Edition

It isn’t just the liberal/left leaning media that gins up controversy through misleading headlines; Fox News does it also (albeit less often it seems). Take this one from yesterday.

Islamic group gets go-ahead to cut crosses off NY church

Given the known propensities of the media, before I started steaming I thought I would actually see what the issue was. Turns out it was the right decision; another case of much ado about nothing.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. –  A city board on Thursday gave a Muslim group the go-ahead to remove six crosses from the roof and spires of a century-old former Catholic church so the now-vacant Gothic structure can be used as a mosque.

….

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse closed the church in 2010 and merged the parish with that of St. John the Baptist because of a declining congregation as population shifted from the city to suburbs. The North Side Learning Center, a nonprofit group that provides literacy programs for immigrants, bought the church and its school and rectory for $150,000 in December.

Couple of points to address here.

First the church isn’t the building; it’s the people. The church can meet anywhere; in a home, in a stadium, in a field or empty lot. Christians don’t worship a building as the spiritual dwelling place of the Lord on Earth. That spot is in the hearts and minds of the Christian.

Second, even if an argument could be made about the building being the church; it stopped being one 4 years ago. It’s a vacant building.

Lastly, it’s their property to do with as they want. If the Catholic church had wanted the crosses to remain, then they shouldn’t have sold the building. But since they did, the non-profit group has the right to remove any element of the building.

Fox News — shame on you for a very misleading headline.