No subject is more treacherous than religion. Any religious group—religion, denomination within a religion, sect or congregation—is apt to use particular terminology. Getting the details wrong risks making us look foolish or, worse, offensive.

In Judaism, the Reform branch has sometimes appeared in our pages as reform or even — Lord, spare us — reformed. We don’t always remember to capitalize Orthodox in this context, or in Russian or Greek Orthodox contexts.

The title for an Anglican (Episcopal in this country) bishop is the Rt. Rev. but for a Roman Catholic bishop is the Most Rev. (The Associated Press Stylebook gets us off the hook by allowing Bishop for both.) We have been berated for referring to the outgoing archbishop of Baltimore as Cardinal William Keeler rather than William Cardinal Keeler, though the former style is the modern preference, as detailed in AP style and the Religion Newswriters online stylebook and Catholic News Service stylebook.

You may have seen already the post about the Rev. and the widespread misuse of the title.

Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism and Eastern Orthodoxy are divisions of a religion, Christianity, but are not themselves separate religions.

Some male Episcopal priests prefer to be styled as Father, others as Mr., and we’re supposed to find out the preference.

Nuns use the title Sister, but whether the title is used with the surname or first name varies from one order to the next. We’re supposed to find out that preference, too.

Baltimore is a Roman Catholic archdiocese, but its archbishop is not necessarily a cardinal. It is at the discretion of the pope to elevate an archbishop to the cardinalate.

We also have to learn the local geography. A former colleague takes us to task today for confusion about the name of his congregation, Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church in the city. There is also a Brown Memorial Woodbrook Presbyterian Church, an offshoot of the Park Avenue congregation in Baltimore County. And there is a Brown’s Memorial Church, which is not Presbyterian.

No one need hope more than a journalist that God is merciful as well as just.