Evidence for God from Science

Stu wrote: ↑Fri Nov 30, 2018 9:04 amBut if you see it on MSNBC, CNN, the NYT or whatever other left news source you prefer then it is automatically true right?

You're correct that I put more faith in actual news networks than in overtly partisan blogs, but your reasoning is completely wrong. Did you read that list of things I do to check the validity of a story?

Let's taker the NYT as an example. You'll probably tell me that it's an untrustworthy, biased, liberal rag. Here's the thing, though - stories in the NYT cite sources (usually) and try to connect the events being reported to the bigger picture. If the Times reports something I can usually verify their reporting, either immediately or soon, by cross referencing their claims with news from other outlets. Beyond that, if the Times screws the pooch and gets a story totally wrong they'll post a correction. And when they're just doing opinion pieces they clearly identify them as editorials. Real news organizations have journalistic standards. They're not perfect and sometimes they make mistakes, but they do their level best to find and report verified and/or verifiable facts.

My point here is that, no, I don't automatically assume that a source like the Times, the Washington Post, the WSJ, or the Associated Press is accurate and they don't ask me to make that assumption. They make evidence-based claims and cite their sources so that I can go look for myself and form my own conclusions.

By comparison, the hyper-partisan punditry blogs you're often citing here make no effort whatsoever to verify if a story is true. They don't try because they don't care. Their job is to push a narrative, so they seek out incidents that support that narrative. If things don't quite line up they fudge the details, ignore the context, or hide the boring truth behind a wildly sensationalized headline. They don't do news, they do spin.

The difference isn't that one source leans liberal and the other is conservative. The difference is that one source does journalism and the other does punditry. Journalists support their own claims. Pundits don't, so their claims should be viewed with skepticism and independently verified when possible.

100 Christians snatched in overnight raids on underground Chinese church

• Worshippers taken from their homes and off the streets in coordinated crackdown across Chengdu in Sichuan province

• Pastor among those arrested

About 100 worshippers at an unofficial church in southwestern China were snatched from their homes or from the streets in coordinated raids which began on Sunday evening.

Chinese authorities targeted members of the Early Rain Covenant Church across various districts of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, in what appears to be an effort to close down one of the country’s most prominent Protestant house churches.

Members’ personal accounts and cell group discussions on social media channels were blocked at around 9pm on Sunday while the church’s telephone line was also cut. The homes of the church’s leaders, including pastor Wang Yi, were among those raided.

Zhang Guoqing, assistant deacon of the Early Rain Covenant Church, was among two church members who were released on Monday morning after his arrest by Chengdu police in the Sunday night raids.

He is now being watched around the clock by “security personnel” in his home.

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China's rulers want no one and no thing to replace allegiance to them - and thus they see Christianity and any other supplanting allegiance as a threat to be neutralized or co-opted (like the Communist Party-approved churches). We need to pray for these persecuted Chinese Christians!

Yeah it's amazing just how much the government is cracking down on these innocent people. And it's like the world just doesn't care, as long as China keeps trading with them and bringing in the money.