Every faith spawns its fables and myths. The trick is to puncture them | Simon Jenkins

A tale of 12th-century monks peddling sanctity for cash holds a lesson for today’s fearful Christians

The truth is out and in the headlines. Back in 1184 the monks of Glastonbury fabricated an edifice of myth about their monastery’s past for pecuniary gain. No, Christ did not come with his uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, to “walk on England’s green and pleasant land”. No, Joseph never brought the holy grail to the Somerset Levels. No, the churchyard thornbush was not his staff, let alone the crown...