Christians and social media posts

Once again the media jumped to conclusions based on inaccurate information when they began reporting on a group of high school students who supposedly disrespected a native American in Washington DC. The media was quick to attack these Catholic high school kids wearing MAGA caps, but as if often the case, they based their stories on incomplete information. When the longer video clips appeared the story was quite different, It's sad that our major news sources seem to have lost their journalistic integrity and want to report news before they actually investigate if it is true.

As might be expected, many in the entertainment industry jumped on the bandwagon joining in attacking these students. So did some in Congress. Even after the story had been debunked by the facts one recently elected member to the House of Representatives continued to attack these young people. Apparently, facts do not matter to people with an agenda. Such people are infected with an ailment known as confirmation bias. They seek anything that would confirm what they already believe regardless of whether it is true or not.

Unfortunately, in the times in which we live we can expect more of this in the future. As one member of Congress has recently said, moral truth is more important than factual truth. Attack, attack, attack until people believe what you're saying is true.

It is even more unfortunate that Christians are not immune from confirmation bias. I read a lot of social media posts from Christian people that make me shudder. We are as guilty of reporting fake news as anyone. Christians post articles that were long ago proven false giving the critics of Christianity more ammunition to use against the Gospel. We share articles written by others without verifying the truthfulness of the articles because they confirm what we believe. We share articles with profane language in the headline or in the article. Sometimes there is a disclaimer warning of profanity, but usually there is not. Regardless, why share it with such language? I have unfriended more than one person because they constantly were sharing articles with such language. I don't need that on my page.

Not only do we share information that isn't true, we are just as guilty of attacking our opponents as the media does. We vilify those with whom we disagree. We characterize them in an attempt to discredit their views. Rather than debate the issues we portray them as evil people thinking somehow this will win the discussion for our side. This doesn't win arguments; it just makes us look petty and ill-equipped to engage in a serious discussion of the issues.

Many people today view Christians as mean-spirited people who believe they are better than others and have all the answers. From some of the social media posts I read it's not hard to see where they get that idea. It's time to tone down the rhetoric, validate the facts before we post something, and stop attacking those with whom we disagree. If we can't do that then perhaps we should limit our social media to posting pictures of our cats.