THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 1997 TAG: 9702210093
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Issues of Faith
SOURCE: Betsy Wright
LENGTH: 77 lines
TODAY, THE PILOT kicks off its new Religion Page, a section dedicated to the issues that stir our souls. All I can say is, ``It's about time!''
For too long this paper, and most others around the country, have treated the religion beat like an outcast. It's as if folks in the media don't quite know what to do with the God stuff. My column, for example, has floated around The Daily Break for years, appearing on the back sheet, Page 3 or next to the comics.
Finally, this column gets a real home. It will run here weekly, alongside all sorts of articles concerning religion and ethics. We've seen the light: Americans really do care about religion.
Each week, almost half of all Americans - that's about 130 million people - attend some kind of worship service. Eighty-six percent say they believe in God or a Supreme Being. The same number believe in heaven, while 77 percent believe in hell. G.K.Chesterton was right when he said the United States is ``a nation with the soul of a church.''
Why is this so? I believe it is due to our country's stand on religious freedom. When Thomas Jefferson and James Madison erected the high wall of separation between the church and state, they did all Americans - past, present and future - a tremendous favor.
I've believed this for years, but it took my son's friend Bjorn to really drive home the point.
Bjorn, a native of Norway, was a foreign exchange student here last year. He and my son, Luke, became best buddies. They surfed and lifted weights together. They hung out and flirted with girls together. Mostly, however, they liked to talk. Bjorn, like Luke, is a deep thinker and the two were constantly debating some issue or another.
Bjorn knew I wrote a religion column. That fact fascinated him.
``We don't have anything like such a column in our country,'' he told me one day, ``but then Americans are so much more excited about religion than Norwegians.''
``Why's that, Bjorn?'' I asked.
``I think it's because you do not have a state church.''
He went on to explain that in Norway, most everyone belongs to the state church. He's a member. But he's seldom found in the pew.
``I was baptized there and then we went maybe a few Christmases and maybe one or two Easters,'' he said.
He said such behavior is normal in Norway. In fact, one of the things that surprised him most about Americans was our religious zeal. He was fascinated by the active youth groups, and the teen-agers who carried Bibles to school and talked openly about their faith.
``I think,'' said Bjorn, ``that when you aren't given a choice about your faith, you take it for granted. You don't have to think about it. Here, everyone is free. The government doesn't tell you what to believe and so everyone has to make up their own mind. And there's so much to choose from. You really have to think about your religion and so I think this makes Americans more passionate about their religion.''
I've often thought about what Bjorn said, most often when some religious group grouses about the separation-of-church-and-state thing. Yeah, it occasionally causes problems, but it's still the best thing that ever happened to the American faithful.
Will I get letters about this? No doubt. That's because Americans do love their religion.
And, thankfully, that's a point not missed by the head honchos of this newspaper. MEMO: Every other week, Betsy Mathews Wright publishes responses to her
opinion column. Send responses to Issues of Faith, The Virginian-Pilot,
921 N. Battlefield Blvd., Chesapeake, Va. 23320; call 446-2273; FAX
(804) 436-2798; or send computer message via bmw(AT)infi.net. Deadline
is Tuesday prior to publication. Must include name, city and phone
number.
FAITH DISCUSSION GROUP
The next Faith Discussion Group will meet Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m., at
Ohef Sholom Temple, 530 Raleigh Ave., Norfolk. For directions, call
625-4295. The topic will be ``Our Image of God: what it is and how it is
formed.''