"An Argument in Defense of the Serial Comma"

[womzilla]

From Friendly Atheist:

There's an article by Jay Lindsay of the Associated Press called "Evangelists target spiritually cold New England" making the rounds. . . . Here's a direct quotation from the piece.

They say a reason for the region's hollowed-out faith is a pervasive theology that departs from traditional Biblical interpretation on issues such as the divinity of Jesus, the exclusivity of Christianity as a path to salvation and homosexuality.

Reader Jon points out:

I'm pretty sure there are other paths to homosexuality besides Christianity.

This post quotes Associated Press content. Suck it, AP.

Comments

[avram]

All the best examples of why serial commas are necessary seem to involve religion, don't they?

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the giggle.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

cranky_editors needs to see this.

[redbird]

The nit-picker a few miles south of you would like to note that grammatically, the absence of an "and" after "Jesus" requires the meaning intended by the writer, despite the absence of the serial comma. Unless you want to argue that either "Jesus" or "the divinity of Jesus" can be defined as "the exclusivity of Christianity as a path to salvation and homosexuality." (It doesn't parallel "to my parents, Ayn Rand and God" because after "my parents," it's reasonable to interpret two names as being those of the person's parents.)