The greater part of the world's troubles are due to questions of grammar.

“The President is obviously a Christian – he prays every day.”

This, boys and girls, is a sparkling example of an inductive fallacy. By his words, Mr. Burton – spokesperson for the White House – assumes that only Christians pray. Therefore, if someone prays, he is a Christian. Which would make Buddhists, Muslims, Satanists, and shamans (among others) Christians – they all pray, don’t they?

I find it hard to believe that a news reporting agency, born of the intent to provide accurate and informed information to the general public, could contradict itself in such a high-profile article.


This gem was recently featured on Yahoo’s front page. The piece begins, “The White House insisted on Thursday that President Barack Obama is a Christian who prays daily.” Which is logical. But then the paper prints Mr. Burton’s ridiculous quote. It would seem that in the rush to have up-to-the-moment news, a well-respected agency missed (or worse, overlooked) this blatant fallacy.

With the explosion of the internet, the standards for printed media have fallen through the proverbial cracks. Please understand, I am one hundred percent behind freedom of speech – I’m not criticizing anyone who posts to the internet (I’m one of them – us – we?). But the companies that lead the nation’s reporting and reading patterns (run by men and women who have degrees from Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Southern California, to begin) should be voluntarily striving for the highest of standards. And not just spelling and grammar – let’s put our brains (and degrees?) to good work and cover all aspects of writing a solid article.

I’m sure Mr. Burton meant to say that the President is a Christian (end thought). He prays every day (end thought).