In my first year of secondary school, 52 years ago, with the madness of war in south-east Asia playing itself out, and the Cold War continuing to be very cold, I learned in English that "the first casualty of war is truth". I think the larger topic within the English curriculum was "Propaganda."
In 2025 this acute and accurate phrase seems as pertinent to discernment when reading the news as ever.
No one doubts that Gaza has been mostly destroyed, that a lot of people have lost their lives, many more injured, and there have been shortfalls of basic facilities to meet needs - damaged hospitals, interruptions to supplies of food and the like. But what is true and what are lies (or fudges) about precise numbers, about whether there has been famine, about whether Hamas or other gangs have stolen emergency supply lorries and subsequently sold goods at inflated prices, about whether the undestroyed parts of Gaza have flourishing food markets and restaurants (I have seen photos ... but photos can be doctored, produced from the past as though present reality, etc), about whether (say) journalists have been working for Hamas (so Israel claims in justification of killing them), hospitals have been used as military commands, schools have hidden entrances to tunnels (again, so Israel has claimed) ... there is a long list. My point here is not to take any one side re truth-telling/false-narrative-spreading in this (horrible) war and this consequential war on truth, but to observe that there are reasons to think that the adage I first came across as a thirteen year old continues to hold true.
This also seems to be the case in a very recent bit of news. The older news is that terrible, deadly conflict has been going on in Nigeria between (putting it evenly, even if that itself is not a true reflection of the conflict) Christians and Muslims, especially in rural areas. The recent news is that President Trump has offered assistance to the Nigerian government to bring an end to what he describes as "persecution of Christians." Clearly a number of concerned Christians in the West, presumably particularly in the USA itself, have found the ear of the President and he has listened. My interest has then been in seeing some news articles which have taken up the challenge of explanation: what is really going on, are Christians being persecuted by marauding Muslim forces (beyond control of the Nigerian government), or is there another explanation, a socio-economic one between different groups seen from an economy perspective (which happen to be Christian and Muslim respectively)? Now I don't know enough to give any kind of precise rebuttal to such articles, but reports of terrible atrocities against Nigerian Christians have been made for years now, if not in mainstream media, then in Christian media. Where does the truth lie? Is it possible that the truth (Christians are being killed and their buildings destroyed by Muslim forces such as Boko Haram) is becoming a casualty of this particular war, aided and abetted by some elements in Western media?
It is also the case that the truth of any situation can be challenging for any of us, whether we are in a a non-military conflict or a family argument or ... church life. What actually happened? Who provoked whom? Who said what? All too many inter-personal conflicts, in the church and outside the church, in my experience (and no doubt in yours) involve "she said/he said" versions of whatever it was that actually happened. Few of us have the time to engage in detailed enquiries to determine what was actually said and who, if anyone, was at fault. But there are other situations where it is important that we determine the truth of what happened - well-being of hearts and minds, appointments, employment are at stake, depending on what actually happened between two people or two factions. In the Anglican world, recent years have highlighted around the globe, and here in these islands, both that we are in a new world of transparency (things cannot and should not be "swept under the carpet") and that we are in a new world of public accountability: locally, this has been pressed on us by the recent Royal Commission on Abuse.
Within Christian contexts we may usefully recall texts such as 1 John 1:7, "If we walk in the light as [God] himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."; and Ephesians 4:1-3, " ... lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love ... maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
But, if many conflicts most of us will experience in our lifetimes are helped by attitudes such as "patience", we should not lose sight of the crisis in Nigeria: the longer it takes to secure peace, the more people will be hurt, maimed and killed. We should be impatient for a resolution there and, of course, to what is continuing conflict in Gaza, despite the ceasefire, and what is terrifying for Palestians in the West Bank.
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