"I think you can be cynical about religion on occasion, and certainly skeptical about the degree to which some people use religion to manipulate other people"
About this Quote
A network anchor admitting he can be “cynical about religion” is less a confession than a careful staking of ground: Jennings is carving out the narrow lane where a mainstream journalist can question faith without being cast as anti-faith. The phrase “on occasion” is doing diplomatic work, tempering the charge. So is “I think you can” - a permission structure, not a manifesto. He’s modeling a posture for the audience: skepticism as civic hygiene, not contempt.
The real target isn’t belief; it’s power. Jennings pivots quickly from religion itself to “the degree to which some people use religion to manipulate other people,” a classic newsroom distinction between private conviction and public exploitation. That word “degree” signals restraint and reporting-minded calibration: he’s not alleging that religion is manipulation, but that manipulation can hide inside religious language, and it’s measurable, investigable, worth challenging.
Context matters because Jennings worked in an era when American television news sold trust by sounding neutral, even when neutrality was impossible. In the late 20th century, religion was also becoming more explicitly political on broadcast screens - from televangelist scandals to the rising influence of the Religious Right. Jennings’s line reads like an anchor’s quietly sharpened tool: an argument for scrutiny that won’t alienate believers, paired with a warning about charisma, authority, and moral certainty being weaponized. The subtext is simple and bracing: faith may be sacred to many, but it doesn’t get a hall pass from accountability.
The real target isn’t belief; it’s power. Jennings pivots quickly from religion itself to “the degree to which some people use religion to manipulate other people,” a classic newsroom distinction between private conviction and public exploitation. That word “degree” signals restraint and reporting-minded calibration: he’s not alleging that religion is manipulation, but that manipulation can hide inside religious language, and it’s measurable, investigable, worth challenging.
Context matters because Jennings worked in an era when American television news sold trust by sounding neutral, even when neutrality was impossible. In the late 20th century, religion was also becoming more explicitly political on broadcast screens - from televangelist scandals to the rising influence of the Religious Right. Jennings’s line reads like an anchor’s quietly sharpened tool: an argument for scrutiny that won’t alienate believers, paired with a warning about charisma, authority, and moral certainty being weaponized. The subtext is simple and bracing: faith may be sacred to many, but it doesn’t get a hall pass from accountability.
Quote Details
| Topic | Faith |
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