I won’t say that it is easy, but you can bring your concerns about the biggest offenders to the major TV networks: ABC (500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521), CBS (51 W. 52nd St., New York, NY 10019), NBC (30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020), and FOX (PO Box 900, Beverly Hills, CA 90213).

A Jesuit priest, a Jewish rabbi, and a Lutheran pastor began Morality in Media in 1962 in New York City in response to the possession of hardcore pornography by grade school children. Father Morton Hill, SJ (d. 1985) was its first president; Patrick Trueman currently heads that group, which concentrates its energies on combating pornography, but also addresses other media-related issues.

Its website (moralityinmedia.org) has been targeted by pornography groups and was shut down for a few days last October. They can be contacted at 1100 G St. NW, Suite 1050, Washington, DC 20005 or via grassroots@pornharms.com.

Muslims in the United States and around the world frequently experience the use of “Allah” and “Muhammad” in disrespectful contexts.

Unfortunately, our society tends to view religion as an entrenched obstacle to human liberation and progress rather than its most reliable ally. Belittling God in the public square is hardly a step forward for people made in God’s image and likeness. How likely are we to respect people if we fail to respect the God who created them?

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work,” we read in 2 Timothy 3:16–17.

Because all Scripture is inspired by God and is part of God’s selfrevelation, we need to read it as a whole and within the faith community to which it is addressed.

One biblical book may develop another section as, for example, the Book of Job moves beyond the theology found in the Book of Proverbs. Because the Bible is a collection of books, recognizing the diversity of literary genres there is also important.

The New Testament’s little-known Letter to Philemon is a better guide to St. Paul’s views on slavery than are his short references to slaves in other letters. In the early 19th century, some US Christians cited those references to support their belief that human bondage was the inevitable result of sin. Genuine religion can be twisted for nonreligious purposes, but the whole of Scripture will be needed to sort this out—for Catholics, with the assistance of the Church’s teaching authority.

It is literally true, for example, that God has created all things, that the Son of God became human in Jesus with no loss of his divinity, and that each person is created in the divine image and intended to share life with God.

Just as Mary, the mother of Jesus, pondered and prayed over the events of her life (Lk 2:19, 51), so we need to be open to God’s revelation given through the Scriptures.

Yes, it would be good if more Catholics responded “Amen” when the distributor announces “The Body of Christ” or “The Blood of Christ”— as the liturgy directs. Yes, almost all of us could show more reverence when we receive Communion.

Even so, most Catholics believe that Jesus is uniquely present in the Eucharist. They may not be able to explain that presence as well as St. Thomas Aquinas did. We know by faith that Jesus’ words of consecration change the reality of ordinary bread and wine into the reality of his Body and Blood.

The Church believed in the Real Presence for almost 1,200 years before it approved the term “transubstantiation” to describe what happens in the Eucharist. Our faith is in Christ, not in human words about Christ and his sacraments. Our words can nurture faith but can never substitute for it.