Buddhism offers the “Noble Eight-Fold Path” as a way that all should follow. Among these Eight Paths is that of “Right Speech.” One who follows that Path is to abstain from lying.
Christian theologian Thomas Aquinas teaches that “it is natural for human beings to love their neighbor and the truth.” It follows that those who speak lies and sell falsehoods are committing sins against nature. We are not loving our neighbor if we are trafficking in lies.
Aquinas also teaches that truth is a way to justice and lies are a way to injustice. To pursue justice one needs to operate from truth.
Yet in our time, the most watched news cable station in America, now on trial in a 1.6 billion dollar lawsuit, is showing itself to be an institution dedicated to lying and offering a mega platform to those who spread lies. All who hold truth-telling in esteem, whether Buddhists, Christians, Jews or others who identify the divine with Truth, or anyone who recognizes the importance of truth for sustaining a society or democracy, ought to be concerned.
This week we learned* that when a Fox fact-checking correspondent questioned the veracity of Trump’s claims about winning the 2020 election, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, wrote on December 2, 2020, “This has to stop now, this is bad for business…The audience is furious.” Scott complained that the company was losing subscriptions because of the fact-checking. Fox News viewers rebelled when the network accurately called the election for Biden. And Fox panicked.
One producer noted how putting Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell on the air was great for ratings, no matter how many lies they fabricated. “Any day with Rudy and Sidney is guaranteed gold!….To keep this alive we really need Rudy or Sidney.”
Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Fox, called Trump’s election lies that incited the events of January 6 “pretty much a crime…inevitable it blew up on Jan 6th.” Trump’s “insisting on the election being stolen and convincing 25% of Americans was a huge disservice to the country,” he wrote Scott on January 20, 2021. Yet his network spread these lies—and this disservice—non-stop.
It would seem that not only is “Fox News” an affront to the Path of “Right Speech” and Love of Neighbor and Truth, it is also an affront to the Path of “Right Livelihood” and “Good Work.”
*https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/29/media/fox-news-dominion-messages/index.html
See Matthew Fox, Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality, p. 99.
And Fox, The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times, pp. 101-112.
And Fox, The Reinvention of Work.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s teaching video, click HERE.
Banner Image: Buddha Teaching the Group of Five. Wikimedia Commons. Sermon on the Mount, painting by Harold Copping. Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you agree with Aquinas that it is “natural for human beings to love their neighbor and the truth.” What follows from that? And with the Buddha that “Right Speech” and “Right Livelihood” are integral to a fully human existence?
Recommended Reading
Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox renders Thomas Aquinas accessible by interviewing him and thus descholasticizing him. He also translated many of his works such as Biblical commentaries never before in English (or Italian or German of French). He gives Aquinas a forum so that he can be heard in our own time. He presents Thomas Aquinas entirely in his own words, but in a form designed to allow late 20th-century minds and hearts to hear him in a fresh way.
“The teaching of Aquinas comes through will a fullness and an insight that has never been present in English before and [with] a vital message for the world today.” ~ Fr. Bede Griffiths (Afterword).
Foreword by Rupert Sheldrake
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
A stunning spiritual handbook drawn from the substantive teachings of Aquinas’ mystical/prophetic genius, offering a sublime roadmap for spirituality and action.
Foreword by Ilia Delio.
“What a wonderful book! Only Matt Fox could bring to life the wisdom and brilliance of Aquinas with so much creativity. The Tao of Thomas Aquinas is a masterpiece.”
–Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time
Thomas Aquinas said, “To live well is to work well,” and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony–a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic “soul work.”
“Fox approaches the level of poetry in describing the reciprocity that must be present between one’s inner and outer work…[A]n important road map to social change.” ~~ National Catholic Reporter
7 thoughts on “Buddhism, Christianity and Fox News War on Truth”
When we look into the hand of what ‘the World’ offers we can see that some can either exuberantly lie and fall into riches or tell the truth and be subject to scorn and distain. When we look into the hand of God, we only see truth and must freely accept whatever acceptance or rejection it provides as a testimony to ourselves and a revelation of the heart state of others. Our heart state then determines our need for ‘the Physician’. — BB.
Yes!!!
On our eternal spiritual journeys of our eternal soils with humanity on earth and in the spiritual realms with All spiritual beings, we must remain aware/conscious of our Living Creator Source Eternally Present within, through, among Us —- Immanent and Transcendent— within our Loving Diverse Evolving Oneness:
LOVE(Compassion/Healing/Justice)~LIGHT(Wisdom/Truth/Transformation)~LIFE(Creativity/Joy/Beauty)….
– Amen
This is my last day of moderating the Daily Meditation’s comment page. And I have been with you, enjoying your comments, and adding my own for nearly three years. I even feel that I’ve gotten to know a number of you, who use this as a kind of daily spiritual journal. I hope that my comments have been helpful, and I know the person who will be taking my place, and I’m sure that she will do a wonderful job. I am grateful to our whole DM team, but especially Phila and Matthew, with whom I worked most closely. In my own life I have written at length on creation spirituality, and have tried to live by its principles—and it is my hope that you will to.
Rev. Dr. Richard Reich-Kuykendall
I hope you will continue to comment. Your insights are always interesting and valuable. I’m wishing you the very best for the future.
Thank you, Richard, for your leadership and your always enlightening comments on this page. I will miss you and pray that your path takes you in ways that deepen your experience of the holy.
Under the previous president, it seems to me that Fox became a state run media source, existing solely to promulgate the most egregious propaganda while reaping enormous financial benefits. It is no different from Tass, the old Soviet “newspaper” in intent and content. Propping up the ex-president and his lies and creating chaos is, tragically, immensely profitable. Without any journalistic or other integrity, Fox appeals to the very lowest of human desires. Truth, love, and justice go together and are concepts unknown there. All we can do is live out these values in our own daily lives and speak truth to power whenever and however we can.
Mayumi Oda, a visionary, artist, activist and Zen practioner; speaks of the Heart Sutra… as truth being the freedom from suffering. The Heart Sutra is, “Gone, gone, gone beyond… to the other shore… awakening fulfilled, oh great joy.”
Oda, realized what this truth was… that there is no life, that there is no death… that there is only this moment of pure truth… which is a continuation of Divine Love and the Spirit of Oneness. Whatever truth that comes from this sacred space of the heart… is coming from something much vaster than oneself, for it eminates from the Heart of the Divine… in Her many manifestations of love, compassion, wisdom, creativity and a deep reverence for all that which Her Mothering Heart contains… which she freely gives to all.
The sacred iconic images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary… mirror this same nature of the Heart Sutra of the Buddha… the unified heart of the Divine vision of one eternal truth… continously unfolding, evolving, emerging and converging; in this moment, through all that exists.
We are all invited to be and live this Divine vision of this One eternal Truth, moment by moment.
Jeanette, As I read your comment today, I was with you, but waiting for you to bring something together in terms of deep ecumenism. And you did when you said: “The sacred iconic images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary… mirror this same nature of the Heart Sutra of the Buddha…” Thank you !