God and newspapers

Two studies came out this week: One stated that fewer people than ever are reading newspapers. The other study found that fewer people believe in God.

Is there a link between the two? Of course not.

Let’s just chalk it up to interesting timing.
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Four or five years ago I wrote a weekly community column for the Daily Herald, the third largest newspaper in Illinois behind the Tribune and the Sun-Times.

It was a part-time gig (more like a hobby because I kept my real job) that paid next to nothing but I loved it – telling stories about people and events in my town.

The motto at the Daily Herald is “To fear God, tell the truth, and make money.”

The saying is a throwback of course, to the late 1800’s when the newspaper was launched.

But I wonder why they haven’t ditched the god slogan to join the rest of the “godless” media here in modern times.
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If anything, you’d think there would be an inverse relationship between the two studies.

The more you read about how bad things are in the world today, the less likely you’ll believe in the quaint little concept that there’s a God out there somewhere managing things for us.

And the more you believe in God, the less likely you’ll want to read what gets spewed out by the so-called “liberal media” every day.
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I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe in studies.

People have a tendency to give the answers that they think others want to hear. They say what they think is the politically/socially correct answer.

And I suspect that even most of us heathens have trouble saying out loud that we’re not sure there’s a God.
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The fact is, fewer people are reading printed newspapers because we’re getting our news for free via the Internet. Well, mostly free. I pay a subscription for the New York Times on-line.

To me it’s not so much about the cost aspect of it as convenience. Plus, my hands don’t get dirty from the ink of printed newspapers.

And you know what they say about cleanliness. Well, maybe not so much in my case.
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That’s IT!

I figured it out. There is a connection between the two studies.

We’re becoming a godless, non-newspaper reading country because everyone is surfing porn.

Now that would be an interesting study.
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I am listening to: Some babbling bitch on the train
I am reading: The Chicago Sun-Times, baby
I am: A godless heathen who reads newspapers on-line