Fake News and Fake in the Pews

So much spurious information is afloat on the seas of social media these days, that it’s sometimes hard to know who and what to believe. 

We’re only 34 days past 2018. Looking back, the major themes, conversations and issues of 2018 were (in no particular order) immigration, the #MeToo movement, possible Russian interference in the 2016 election and — fake news.

“Fake news!”

The concept has been around for a while. Homiletics did a piece about it more than 13 years ago for the Mark 1:1-8 text (“Fake News,” December 4, 2005)! That material began with a discussion of Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show,” and what he and Stephen Colbert were doing as they assessed the news of the day.

Still, fake news seems to be on everyone’s mind today in a way that it hasn’t in the past. The idea of fake news refers to published information intentionally designed to mislead. Fake news has many names: “propaganda,” “misinformation,” “yellow journalism,” “libel” and even “lies.”

Here are some examples:

• White...