Religious Truth(s)

But each new year brings a whole new batch of scandals.  The underlying problem is never solved.  And this problem is obvious: people rely on corrupt individuals to act as mediators with non-existent supernatural forces.  And it is the fundamental nature of religious institutions to demand absolute faith and complete credulity when it comes to matters of belief.  The independent thinker is, by definition, a heretic.  And, of course, all heretics deserve to be stoned to death (where permitted by law) or at least the full vitriolic hatred of the True Believer.

            The national news media regularly try to show religion in a positive light.  Except in covering those cases that are so notorious that they can't be white-washed, the news media tries of play down corruption of these religious institutions.  Their motivations are both greed and fear.  Recently, when a newspaper in Nigeria suggested that Prophet Mohammed might (if he lived today) take a beauty queen as a wife, the local Moslems went on a rampage, attacked the newspaper office, and started a riot in which over four hundred people were killed.  This crime is, however, only a minor footnote to many thousands of other crimes of Islam, from the murder of non-believers to the systematic oppression of women.

            But the press knows which side of the bread is buttered.  Local televisions stations make millions of dollars from broadcasting religious programming.  People who are religious, in a conventional sense, are probably also easily manipulated by advertising.  The media can't afford to alienate their best customers.  For most of these people, religious "Truth" takes priority over factual "truth."