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To explain part of the reason and method by which people knowingly tell falsehoods an excerpt by Charles Templeton, lifelong friend and colleague of evangelical preacher Billy Graham, is useful. To read the full excerpt click here. For those who don’t know, both Graham and Templeton started their careers as creationists, believing whole heartedly that the world was created in six days. In later life, they came to question this. After a long discussion about evolution Templeton invited Graham to join him and study at Oxford University. Graham refused because Oxford was not a ‘biblical college’. Ultimately, they parted ways. Years later they came back together. Templeton had lifted all restrictions to his intellectual thought and Graham had continued to preach genesis indefatigably. Templeton’s excerpt appears to reveal that deep down Graham knew he was preaching the antithesis to demonstrable fact. Continuing to read between the lines it seems Graham wasn’t operating on his own belief but was in fact operating on the belief of his flock. He was believed. And that was enough. Some of the support for the conviction a person feels when they lie is 'being believed'. When I was lucky enough to have a personal public relations officer, they always said, “Don’t believe your own press.” A similar concept. And good advice.
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