Sunday, November 06, 2005

The Church of Rupert Murdock

You basis most of your beliefs on what you see, hear and read. Your religious beliefs come from your parents. Very few people in this world take up a religious belief off their own bat. The vast majority of peoples religions comes from what they were told. In the catholic church you confirm your belief at the age of about 11. What 11 year old has read the books of other religion and has investigated anything. Yet they are expect to confirm that Catholism is what is right for them. If you grow up hearing that Jesus died on the cross or Mohammad is gods greatest prophet or a giant carrot called turnipjaws that lives on the moon made all creation and will send all who eat the blessed carrot to hell you will believe that. This is faith. You can’t prove it but you believe it from what you read, see hear. And for some people they will be ready to kill or die for their religion. Another faith that people nowadays have that is not realised as such is side. Everyone has strong opinions on the war on Iraq. But few have actually experienced it from themselves. They don’t have any proof. They read the newspapers and base their beliefs on what they read. The listen, read and watch what analysts sermonize. This is a faith. The majority read and believe from only one side of the story. Religions have been founded on one side of a story. Jews believe Jesus is not the messiah Christians do. So it divided the peoples into the religions. So too does the media divide into the religions of the left and the right. And for some people they will be ready to kill or die for their religion. Like the main Monotheism religions the churches of the left and the right have there saints and sinners. For the left the saints include JFK and Martin Luther King the sinners include Nixon and John Charles McQuead. For the right the saints include Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Regan and the sinners include Jimmy Carter and George Galloway. They can share fundamental beliefs like the freedom of speech and rights of women. But can differ fundamentally on issue such as social welfare, gay marriage and Iraq. Both sides have their written sources of faith. Fahrenheit 911 and stupid white men become the gospels according to Michael and the Bill O’Reilly talking points become the letters from St Bill to the Americans. Like the bible both can tell the same story in different ways and with different facts. Armed with these people Bible bash one another in collages, in family life and on blogs But who decides what are the tenants of each faith. Why is operation Iraqi Freedom opposed by left who are for freedom in society. Why is the freedom of trade right against free trade to Latin America ?.. People chose papers and news outlets from the ones that reflect their side. To some the BBC is the source to be trusted for analysis and information. On Iraq the left use it as their source to anchor their beliefs. The right mock and ridicule it calling it Al-BBC. For the left the source to mock and ridicule is also the Americans rights main source Fox News. Britain has the right and left in news papers. The Sun and The Daily Mail propping up the right and The Guardian the left. We in Ireland have Fintan O’Toole and Kevin Myres. They become the priests and ministers instructing the people on what to believe. The news you read is tailored to reflect one side. You buy them because they fit with you and as they never change sides you’ll never change sides. There is a school of thought that everyone needs a faith. Whether it is religion, science environment (Great speech by the way) or star trek . People will always cling to something more then themselves (mine is science). Something to give a greater meaning to life. In these days when religion seems to be on the decline especially in people who subscribe to the left people are looking for other faiths to cling to. For many clinging to the left and to a lesser extent the right is the way to fill this void. For others the right is being incorporated into some religions. This is leading people to new faiths that could have names like the church of Rupert Murdock.