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To: ebb tide
Don't ignore recent connotative and especially legal shifts in meaning between "proselytism" and "evangelism".

The same can be said of other words which have experienced semantic shift between Church usage and common usage.

"Cult" for instance, has an honorable meaning with in Catholicism; in the words in general, however, it means a deeply erroneous, manipulative and fraudulent sectarian movement.

"Propaganda" is used by the Church to mean simply the dissemination of truths of the Faith ("Propaganda Fide"); in common parlance, it means a program of blatant slant and spin, not in service of the Truth.

I could go on. Ebb tide, for the sake of accuracy we must be knowledgeable about variances in meaning, which may seem over-subtle but which is mass communication (across a variety of audiences) can be decisive and significant.

104 posted on 10/08/2013 3:01:54 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (Love, and let life.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o; livius; vladimir998

You’re ignoring the following dialogue:

Atheist editor to the Pope: “It’s a joke, I tell him. My friends think it is you want to convert me.”

Pope’s response: He smiles again and replies: “Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense”.

It’s Pope Francis, not I, who immediately equates conversion to proselytism. In other words, Pope Francis “evangelization” has no intent to convert anyone to the One, True Faith. Ask the Argentine rabbi who’s been bunking with him in Casa Santa Marta, ask the muslims at Lampedusa.

The pope says, “The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good.” Only a Universalist or an atheist would make such a statement.


136 posted on 10/08/2013 4:40:12 PM PDT by ebb tide
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