The truth has lost its value in recent years. So much so, we live in what is called the post-truth era. Today, truth is variable. There is your truth, my truth, his truth, their truth. There could be as many truths as people.

Although 2016 is commonly agreed to be the year that the post-truth era became the defining feature of global political and media culture, this belief has been creeping into our daily lives for a long time. The term “post-truth” was first coined by playwright Steve Tesich in a 1992 essay for The Nation. Tesich argued that the public had begun to prefer comforting lies over uncomfortable truths. He wrote: “We are rapidly becoming prototypes of a people that totalitarian monsters could only drool about in their dreams. . . We, as a free people, have freely decided that we want to live in some post-truth world.”

In 2004  Ralph Keyes wrote The Post-Truth Era: Dishonesty and Deception in Contemporary Life, a book that explores how truthfulness has eroded in modern society. Keyes argues that we’ve entered an age where lying is not only common but often expected, and where honesty is seen as naïve or even counterproductive.

Keyes observed that:

• from résumé inflation to reality TV, bending the truth has become normalized
• people increasingly value what feels true over what is true
• the internet has made it easier to lie without consequences whether through fake identities, online dating profiles, or misinformation
• ethical standards have shifted, making it harder to distinguish between harmless fibs and harmful deceit.

It wasn’t until 2016 that the term “post-truth” made it to the Oxford Dictionaries because of a sudden 2000% spike in its use. In fact, it was named the Word of the Year in 2016. Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Dictionaries, noted that the rise of social media as a news source and the erosion of trust in “establishment facts” helped the term gain traction.

“Post-truth” practices have been around forever, though. I’ve run into it my whole life. One example. In the mid-70s, when a State Representative took issue with testimony I gave to a House Committee. I explained that my testimony was based on facts that I had uncovered and told him exactly what I found. He replied: “There are facts and there are principles. I believe in principles, and when the facts contradict my principles, the facts must be ignored.”

This is the opposite of truth. There is no way to argue against that kind of twisted thinking.

Facts reflect reality. They are events, observations, and data that can be verified. Patterns of facts show commonalities, regularities, or consistent relationships. Principles emerge (or should emerge) from recognizing these patterns, representing broader truths distilled from specific facts.

Although we have always had to deal with people who viewed truth as optional, for most of history, still most of us valued the truth. Truth was important. Precious. It was so vital Winston Churchill once voiced this famous principle:

“In wartime, the truth is so precious she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”

This principle, put in practice, contributed significantly to the success of Operation Overlord, the invasion of France on June 6, 1944. A massive disinformation operation—a bodyguard of lies—convinced the Germans that the Normandy invasion was a diversion, that the real invasion would be at the Pas de Calais. Because of the convincing disinformation spread about Overlord, the German High Command failed to release the armored reserves that almost certainly would have pushed the Allied invaders back into the sea.

We used to see the truth, we knew how to protect it when necessary, and knew how to advocate for it when it was being ignored or violated. This is not so anymore.

Truth is not even sought. We create our own truth. A woman can become a man. A man can become pregnant and give birth. The George Floyd riots were mostly peaceful. We live in a fascist country. These and other commonly believed falsehoods have become epidemic.

Idiotic!

What is happening today has its roots in the conflict between Plato and the Sophists. The Sophists undermined truth by elevating persuasive rhetoric and opinion above knowledge and moral responsibility. Plato prioritized discovering truth through reason and the examination of opposing ideas. According to Plato, the Sophist’s approach eroded society’s moral fabric since it prioritized cleverness and manipulation over truth and virtue.

Today, we see the ancient conflict between those who believe in objective, verifiable truth and those who embrace personal or subjective “truths,” sometimes even in defiance of evidence.

The line between fact and fiction is being systematically destroyed by modern-day Sophists disguised as progressives, who prioritize emotional synchronicity, group loyalty, and personal belief over accuracy and evidence.

The problem now is that the general public is letting it happen, and our government is institutionalizing sophistry. In my last article, I wrote about how the Illinois Legislature removed mother and father from the Illinois Paternity Act of 2015. Why? And to what end?

What they did was deny reality. “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” The roles of mother and father were created by God, as was the family. The family is the foundation of all society from the beginning. Redefining the foundation of human society is beyond arrogant, and a complete denial of what is true what is good what is beautiful.

Have you heard anyone from a Christian pulpit condemn this? Or call out the legislators who were responsible for pushing through this legislative abomination? I haven’t.

Is the next step renaming Mothers’ Day to Birthing Parent Day, and Father’s Day to Non-birthing Parent Day? Would pastors start speaking up then?

What will it take for our nation’s pastors to start defending the truth again and throw the “post-truth” era back into oblivion where it belongs?

What will it take for you?