Washington Post editors knew exactly what they were doing when they headlined their investigation into the Supreme Court nominee’s religious practices and beliefs, “Amy Coney Barrett served as a ‘handmaid’ in Christian group People of Praise.”
And it got the intended reactions:
Lordy https://t.co/aejKeYewR0
— Ron Fournier (@ron_fournier) October 7, 2020
SCOTUS “HANDMAID”: It’s not about religious beliefs, freedoms, Catholicism, or faith. This is about putting dogma ahead of our laws and constitution, and of a judge who has made up her mind before the attorneys have even spoken. She must withdraw + resign https://t.co/qTzqXua2mU
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) October 7, 2020
“A 2010 People of Praise directory states that Amy Coney Barrett held the title of ‘handmaid,’ a leadership position for women in the community.”
Can’t make this shit up anymore.??♂️ https://t.co/vq4AXrNIkh
— Fernand R. Amandi (@AmandiOnAir) October 7, 2020
The Washington Post pinned a piece about Barrett’s conservative biblical family life on a reference to the book and later television show The Handmaid’s Tale, in which the “handmaids” are actually sex slaves in a theocratic dystopia. The gang on Twitter sure got it.
The article itself was a lot less prejudicial than the headline. Down in the ninth paragraph, it almost explained why the group uses the term “handmaid” for women in leadership positions: “The title of handmaid was adopted by People of Praise in reference to the biblical description of Mary as ‘the handmaid of the Lord,’ according to the group.”
That’s a pretty skimpy explanation, but it’s better than what the rest of the media did. Other stories, following on or preceding the piece, did mention Margaret Atwood’s dystopia but never mentioned the Virgin Mary’s answer to the angel Gabriel: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord.”
Reuters mentioned Atwood’s fiction near the head of the piece and never bothered to mention the word’s real-life biblical significance. Vice summed up the Washington Post’s piece without finding the Mary explanation valuable. Then there was Newsweek’s false assertion that the People of Praise, the religious group to which Barrett belongs, “inspired The Handmaid’s Tale.”
This is all garbage. And every honest person knew it was all garbage. And since the Washington Post was aiming to explain Barrett’s family and spiritual life in this context of #resistance media garbage, you would have thought it would aim for context, not sensationalism. The headline was clearly sensationalism, and the story failed on context.
If her role as a handmaid was important enough to put in the headline, the roots of it deserved more than one “according to the group” sentence.
The 2,500-word story could have given proper context by citing two Gospel passages and two common prayers. In the first chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, the word “handmaid,” the feminine form of a Greek noun often translated as “servant,” appears twice (at least in several common translations).
Verses 26-38 tell the story of an angel telling Mary she will be the mother of the Son of God. Mary responds, according to one translation, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
This supreme act of obedience is an act all Catholics, male and female, are supposed to try and emulate. “I am the handmaid of the Lord,” appears six times in the Catholic catechism.
Many devout Catholics repeat Mary’s words when they pray the Angelus daily at noon.
Later in Luke, Chapter 1, when Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth, Mary again calls herself “a handmaid.” “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.”
The words Mary spoke to her cousin are memorialized in the Magnificat, one of the oldest prayers in Christendom.
These two scenes from the beginning of the Gospel — the Archangel’s Annunciation, and Mary and Elizabeth’s Visitation — are central to Catholic prayer. They are the first two of five “Joyful Mysteries” of the Rosary.
None of this context was provided in the 2,500-word Washington Post article that was, according to the headline, about Barrett’s role as a “handmaid.”
Compare this to how the Washington Post covered Linda Sarsour’s use of the inflammatory word “jihad.” The outlet framed it not as “Sarsour calls for Jihad,” but as a “conservatives pounce” story. Much of the piece was dedicated to providing proper context to the word, pointing out, through multiple quotations and the reporter’s simple claim and without any “according to” qualifier, that the word has an important and nonviolent meaning.
This is the Washington Post’s explanation: “Jihad is a central concept in Islam, and the Arabic word literally translates as ‘struggle’ or ‘striving.’ While the word is indeed used by some to refer to a physical military struggle to defend Islam, most Muslims use it to refer to a personal, spiritual effort to follow God, live out one’s faith and strive to be a better person.”
Great! If only an investigation into the spiritual life of Catholic women could be given the same context.
