A few weeks ago I saw the Da Vinci Code on the big screen. The central premise of the story is that because Man writes history we cannot always take it as Gospel -- in this case literally. The media blitz surrounding the movie, and previously Dan Brown's novel, claimed it would shake the very foundation of our beliefs. In a way they were right. I didn't so much lose faith in God, so much as in Man and his ability to capture the elusive truth. The Ten Commandments may have come from God Himself, but the moment a man transcribed them they became subject to human error, human emotions and human reliability.

Whether we're considering ancient religious texts, history books, magazine articles, television documentaries or the evening news, all are written by men and women with emotions, beliefs, motivations, objectives and unique perspectives. Modern day historians pour over reams of ancient text, trying to find truth. Each document provides a brief glimpse of an incomplete truth -- a piece of the puzzle. The goal is to arrange these pieces in such a way as to present a concise and accurate account of what transpired. The problem is the pieces of the puzzle are flawed from the start, and time makes a mockery of truth. Although names and places may be historical fact, often the historian has to rely on massive supposition to fill in the gaps.

The Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II reigned during the Exodus of the Jews from bondage in Egypt. This is historical fact. Whether one believes that Moses parted the Red Sea or not doesn't matter. The fact remains the Jews left Egypt and a major source of slave labor was lost for the kingdom. The Exodus was recorded in historical documents from the period -- but not in Egypt. Ramses II built great cities, temples and engineering projects of tremendous scale. The history of Ramses can be found carved into the walls of his temples, even to this day. Nowhere, however, did he record the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt---and why would he? It was a humiliating failure for a man so great. Why record your failures on your greatest achievements? The rulers of the ancient world were human beings. They covered up their failures and magnified their victories. They also contributed a large portion to what we know as history.

Things that seem obvious when witnessing historical events become skewed and distorted over time. Libraries, bookstores, and the Internet are full of documents that prove and disprove everything. Usually kook fringe perspectives fall onto the ash heap of history, but in today's electronic age, these documents will be out there forever and may very well be regarded as the "new discovery" that sheds light on historic events. It's easy to believe a newly discovered text from the past contains truth, however, we should not assume all historical documents were written objectively or contain any truth at all.

The problem is not limited to ancient texts. I have the privilege of teaching high school students for a few hours a week and I ask every class the same question: Do you believe Man has been to the Moon? In every class two or three students believe the Apollo moon landings were faked, even though hundreds of thousands of people were employed in the design, manufacture and flights of these spacecraft, even though the Russians tracked us on long range radar, even though Apollo 13 was nearly lost and had the entire world's attention for four days in 1970. The moon landings were a mere thirty-five years ago.

Some believe TWA 800 was shot down by a US Navy missile launched from a guided missile frigate, even though a missile launch would be hard to conceal on a ship with several hundred crew members, none of which ever came forward to say, "Oh, yeah. We launched a missile that night." Books have been written detailing this theory, with no tangible evidence to support it.

Recent polls indicate that 36% of Americans believe the US Government played a role of some kind in the September 11th attacks, defying all common sense. One must look at the motivations of those making these claims. Undoubtedly, their "truth" has given them fifteen minutes of fame, profitable book deals and political clout.

In the world of politics it doesn't so much matter whether the words are true, but whether they can be believed. Politicians are masters of warping truths to suit their ambitions. One has but to listen to the political discourse in this country to realize politicians deal in emotion, rather than truth. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have conditioned the American public to vote with their hearts rather than their minds, for what we want to hear, rather than what really is. This becomes obvious during political debates. Quite often the two candidates spout "facts" that contradict each other -- facts that are verifiable if anyone bothered. We rate the candidates on how convincing they sound and how passionate they present their cases. We have become so used to this form of political discourse it rarely occurs to us that one of them is lying and he or she knows it.

The modern media should receive equal scrutiny. Words are weapons and today wars are won or lost in newsprint. Objective journalism seems to be a thing of the past, although in reality it may have never existed at all. News sources around the globe have been caught recently falsifying documents and doctoring photos. When they are not telling out and out lies, they fall back on the time-honored lie of omission -- something Mark Twain referred to as cowardly and unsatisfying. Tomorrow our children will call these lies history.

So where does this leave us? If we cannot trust recorded history, newspapers, politicians or television news, what can we trust? As elusive as the truth may seem, it rarely defies common sense. The citizen of a free nation have to read everything possible, listen to the politicians and pundits, decide who's ambitions and motivations are being served and why, then decide for him or herself what to believe.The good news is that we are a free society, free to believe what we will. However, there is a word for the ability to see the elusive truth through the murk. It's called wisdom. Usually it comes with age and experience, but for those wearing blinders it never comes. The good news is those people rarely learn from history, so whether its right or wrong doesn't make a difference.