What, pray tell, are journalists supposed to do when people report miracles?
This question isn’t as simple as it sounds. For example, here are two statements to compare: (1) Every year, X-number of people are miraculously healed. (2) Every year, X-number of people pray for healing and they say that they have been healed.
Wait, let’s add another: (3) Every year, X-number of people claim they have been healed and doctors report that, in some cases, there is no simple explanation for the changes in their symptoms and health.
OK, that first statement is a statement of faith. The second is a statement of fact, in that it is accurate that these believers said this and that they believe it. This “they believe it” construction is common in news reports about this kind of thing. The third statement, however, involves information from outside sources — a medical journal, perhaps — that in some way support (or at least do not contradict) the faith claim. In other words, this is a belief statement PLUS some additional reporting.
Personally, I appreciate news reports that include this third stage (such as reports about Vatican investigations of healing claims when an intercessor is being considered for designation as a saint).
This brings me to a recent Associated Press report about the annual Holy Fire rite at Jerusalem’s most important ancient Christian sanctuary. Here is the overture (and pay attention to the final statement):
JERUSALEM -- Israel is working with foreign governments and Orthodox Christian leaders in the Holy Land to make sure that one of their most ancient and mysterious rituals — the Holy Fire ceremony — is not extinguished by the coronavirus outbreak, officials said. …
Each year, thousands of worshippers flock to Jerusalem's Old City and pack into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher — built on the site where Christian tradition holds that Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected — for the pre-Easter ceremony.
Top Eastern Orthodox clerics enter the Edicule, the small chamber marking the site of Jesus’ tomb, and exit with candles said to be miraculously lit with “holy fire” as a message to the faithful. Details of the flame’s source are a closely guarded secret.
Note the double statement of authority for the authenticity of this rite and miracle claim. First there is a simple “said to be” structure, which is the safe type (2) form discussed above.
But what comes next, with “are” and the “closely guarded secret” language? This is a statement of fact that — for hundreds and hundreds of years — there is a hoax of some kind that is “guarded” by Orthodox leaders. The nature of this phenomenon has, of course, been debated for years by skeptics.
What interests me is AP’s statement of fact, without attribution, hat someone is guarding a secret.
Church leaders, of course, say that this fire (view this year’s rite much smaller rite, several hours ago, at this Facebook page) appears inside the tomb at the same time every year, as it has for centuries. They claim that this is a miracle linked to the resurrection of Jesus.
It’s interesting to note the size of the flames on these candles and, in videos from previous years, the fact that these large flames seem strange, in that they do not burn people. I’ve talked to people who have attended and they say these flames are not hot and, for several minutes after the rite, they can put their hands into them without being burned.
Something else is going on in the Reuters story about this year’s ceremony (as published at The New York Times). First, here is the lede:
JERUSALEM — The Holy Fire ceremony symbolising Jesus' resurrection was lit in a deserted Jerusalem on Saturday, without the joyful throng of Orthodox Christian pilgrims who normally attend a spectacle that brings the Easter season to a colourful climax.
“Was lit”? Well, who did the lighting? Later, there is this:
Sunbeams that pierce through a skylight in the church's dome are believed by worshippers to ignite a flame deep inside the crypt, a mysterious act considered a Holy Saturday miracle each year before Orthodox Easter Sunday.
Jerusalem's Greek Orthodox Patriarch then lights a candle with the Holy Fire and disperses it to the faithful.
I have read lots of reports about the Holy Fire rite and I have never heard anyone, in America or in Jerusalem, say anything about “sunbeams” somehow causing this phenomenon. Who were the sources for this information?
OK, what if it’s raining outside and the sun isn’t out? Also, we are talking about a solid rock structure, the remains of a tomb. How do the sunbeams get inside that enclosure?
As you would expect, the wording is rather different in Orthodox reports. They tend to stress, for example, that the tomb is sealed after it “has been inspected” and found to be free of materials that could be used to light the flames.
Shortly before the arrival of Patriarch Theophilos, the seal was removed from the door of the edicule, and a large lampada and thirty-three candles were carried into the tomb. Then the Patriarch entered and began to wait. Those present continually prayed for the granting of the Fire until the time of its appearing.
Journalists will want to ask: Who does this inspection of the patriarch and the tomb? That is a logical and appropriate question. Someone might want to ask that in the future. (Click here for Rod Dreher post with info on that. Apparently this is done by an Israeli policeman, who is visible in the video of the rite.)
It would also be good — in terms of journalism — for wire-service reporters to provide attributions for statements of fact denying the miracle, as well as doing on-the-record interviews with those who claim they witnessed and experienced the miracle.
In other words, if journalists are there, they might want to do some detailed reporting.