“I don’t follow the news, it’s too depressing” is a sentence I’ve heard many times from many people. I kind of sympathize. It can be painful. It can be boring. It can be bewildering. But I think that engaging with it is a fundamental part of being a modern, responsible human-being.

Let me explain. A few years ago, Alain de Botton published a book called “The News: A User’s Manual.” I never got round to reading it, except for the blurb, which contained a fascinating comparison by the philosopher: “The news occupies the same dominant position in modern society as religion once did.” In the book, at least I think this is the case, de Botton goes on to examine the structure of news stories and explore how they manipulate our minds. I will soon read the book.

But, anyhow, the idea of news-as-religion struck me as one worth taking very seriously. This is because one of the biggest problems facing the Western world right now, according to numerous writers, is its lack of religious belief. Without religious belief, the argument goes, civilizations tend to crumble. Their people – and therefore the governments, communities and institutions that they set up – no longer have anything to believe in, and therefore no longer have anything to defend.

What if the news was to be our substitute for religion? For a start, it would involve our critical faculties, forcing us all to contemplate complicated practical and moral questions. But most importantly the Religion of News would be one predicated on the worthwhile nature of speaking aloud the world’s problems and then attempting to find solutions.

These are very preliminary thoughts on the matter. But I think that the idea of a Religion of News deserves serious exploration.