I'd find it really interesting to see what it is to which you refer, in this context. At least we know a good proportion of what is in the newspaper is fiction. While works of fiction can, and frequently do, present great truths, that's not the role of a newspaper.



It's probably true, what Craig says in his post, namely that the truth lies "in there somewhere." However, it seems that both sides of the argument seek support for their respective positions and care more for that than the truth.

When I was a boy, newly immigrated from Europe, living in Oklahoma, churches were about reaffirming and spreading belief in spirituality. It promoted a sense of community, self-reliance, and willingness to do for others. Today, it seems that churches are more concerned about building a large enough church so their pastors can have their 10-foot stuffed bears standing in the office with them while they boast about how big a boat they have ... here in a land=locked state with nary a large enough lake to float them. It seems as though the "religious right" (based, for some inane reason, in Colorado Springs) has descended into a contest centered on who can have the biggest scandal.

I used to like going to church, back when I was young, and married to an humble preacher's daughter. We used to go to bible studies and read from the scriptures in their original Aramaic, and Greek texts, hoping to discern meaning potentially lost in translation. Ministers, then, were educated men, literate, and logical. Today's famous televangelists barely speak English, and, it's often clear, haven't even read the scriptures to which they freely refer and which they interpret to promote whatever their current agenda is. We shouldn't listen to them, though, and we shouldn't ignore them. We should fear them. They want to be the American Taliban.

RE