By Mike Leno

As we hurtle headlong into an election year, the candidates’ usual exchange of pleasantries will provide some entertainment value if not actual information. But as overzealous and under informed Internet gossips join the fray, be assured that (pardon the grammar) things will get worse before they get even worser. If my inbox is any indication, the intellectual junk food dished out through ubiquitous e-mail forwards promises to provide a menu of empty calories, a few spicy tidbits and a lot of gas.

One message I saw recently proclaimed with great certainty that Barack Obama had taken the oath of office with his hand placed on the Koran. It also said that one could verify this at Snopes.com. Not surprisingly, Snopes.com debunked the entire story. Another forward cited statements from the website of Obama’s church, describing it as a racist church that is disloyal to the United States. It also suggested that Obama may engage in covert Muslim worship. A quick check of the website revealed these allegations to be blatant misrepresentations of the facts motivated by fear and ignorance.

We can learn several lessons from these and other examples of misinformation. First, the Internet is a strange and wonderful place where the reader must beware. I am convinced that there is an entire subculture of cyber-space-cases who invent idiotic stories just to see how many times people will forward them. Many of the forwards I check out on Snopes.com, for example, have been around for a number of years. They take on a life of their own thanks to those of us who can’t resist hitting the forward button. Second, politics is a dirty game, especially when it comes to truth. And third, the combination of religion and politics gives even more opportunity for people to share the depths of their ignorance.

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”  —Luke 2:14.

Peace on earth, good will toward men. Is that what happened when Jesus was born? When the Magi from the East traveled all the way to Jerusalem, they logically expected the leaders to know something about the birth of their messiah-king. They expected some sort of celebration, some indication of happiness in the country that was about to have a deliverer. If that is what they were expecting they were very disappointed.

Hearing of the inquiring Magi, Herod the Great scrambled. He immediately called the leading scholars together and inquired about the prophecies to which the magi were referring. The scholars went to their scrolls and came up with a prophecy. Bethlehem would not be least in the kingdom. And they found a curious reference to a ruler coming out of that little town. And so with Herod’s faked enthusiasm and blessing for their search, the magi went off to Bethlehem.

Herod eagerly awaited their return. And when he realized that they were not returning he went into one of those rages for which he was famous. Peace on earth good will toward men. That was not coming from Herod; certainly not in response to the birth of the Christ Child. He sent out a decree that all male children two years and under in Bethlehem would be killed.

That Herod would do such a thing did not come as a surprise. Herod was known for his atrocities. In order to protect his throne he executed two of his own sons. When his wife’s young brother became too popular as high priest, he arranged his death. His wife, understandably, was not very fond of her husband after that so Herod eventually had her executed also. And just five days before his own death, Herod had his son Antipater who was to succeed him, executed. Caesar is supposed to have said, “It’s better to be Herod’s pig than his son.” Peace on earth was not going to happen any time soon.