A great victory for the devil
It is the most secure unwritten rule in American life: you don’t talk about religion in “polite” conversation. Whether it be at work, at home or out in public, we are allowed to talk about just about any topic from sports to the weather to the kids, as long as it doesn’t touch religion. This avoidance of religion extends to popular culture as well. For example, look at this list of TIME magazine’s “50 Best Websites“, grouped by category. Can you see what category is missing? That’s right: religion. “Shopping and Travel” gets its own category (after all, consumerism does consume us these days), but religion has no place at the table.
You can also see this in popular TV and movies. I remember a scene from a popular TV show a few years back when a main character was about to die in a plane wreck. He knew he was to die in just a few minutes, but in the show he made no religious statements nor took any religious actions. Contrast that with reality: when 9/11 occurred, there was story after story of people praying in the face of death, asking God to be with them and their families.
Man is fundamentally a religious species: we are homo religiosus. Every culture that has ever existed has been religious and people naturally are pulled towards religion of some sort. So making religion the one topic that is not to be discussed is absurd; it is like banning discussions of the weather, for religion surrounds us as surely as the seasons do.
And by refusing to talk about religion, we are handing the devil a great victory. One of the greatest challenges for evangelization today is our reticence to talk about religion. Good-natured people who want to share their faith hesitate because they know they are breaking the great unwritten rule of our society and so they fear ridicule and ostracization. Yet Christ himself commanded his followers to evangelize all corners of the earth, and as I have mentioned before, evangelization is not just our actions, but requires words as well. The American reticence to speak of religion is a major barrier to that work, but as Catholics we need to learn to speak up about our Faith, even at the risk of breaking social conventions.
American reticence? I live in Canada. People here complain that Americans are impolite because they push Jesus so much. Some of them do but the fact is people here have a much lower tolerance of it than they do in the US.
In fairness, Mr. Sammons, the restriction extends to politics as well (at least as long as the company is polite
).
Isn’t it peculiar how Randy makes your point for you? He mentions that Canadians are not as tolerant as Americans. What is there to be tolerant of, didn’t Jesus say to proclaim the Good News to the whole world? If we are doing the work of God for him, how is that irritating, unless you are fighting for the other team…hmmm…Just a question, not an accusation!
The Canadians I know (having been been one of for over 60 years) don’t complain that Americans push Jesus too much any more than they complain that Americans push anything too much. I truly admire my American friends who proudly proclaim themselves to be followers of Jesus – we here in the Great White North can learn something from them. It’s really a matter of communication style than anything else, and Canadians tend to be more reserved. Except when it comes to hockey, of course.
Floating, drifting, mumbling, dreaming…into the great lukewarmness. The wide gate beckons.
Though interetingly, Catholicism’s presence in the culture tends to subvert the “no talking about religion” rule. Spend time in the company of Catholics and you’ll hear references dropped to doing this or that “after Mass,” or this or that at Saint Such-and-Such’s, not to mention kids wearing t-shirts saying “Sacred Heart CYO” or “2003 Catholic League Champs” or just “St. Joseph’s Prep” or whatever. All the things that aren’t consciously recognized by Catholics as being public displays of religion, even though they really are. My grandmother will shake her head at my talking too much about religion (depending on what frame of mind the thread of the conversation has put her in), right after having mentioned off-handedly that she was praying to St. Jude for so-and-so.
People misunderstand me. I was not referring to Christians. In Canada a very low percentage go to church. I work in the oil patch here in Calgary and many people travel to the US frequently, mostly to Texas. I have heard many of them joke about how often they were asked if they have accepted Jesus as their personal lord and savior. We don’t get that here. Evangelicals are a much smaller percentage of the population.
So I think the point is true that Western nations don’t like God talk. Muslims in particular find it strange. But I would say the US is the western nation where the problem is the least severe. In Canada and almost all of Europe the problem is worse.
I did use the word tolerant on purpose because I do think those who worship tolerance are the first to complain when somebody shares their faith.
I began wearing a large crucifix hung from my neck on a stout washable cord a couple of years ago. I’ve grown so used to wearing it all the time, to bed and even the shower, and even to doctor appointments that I have to be reminded to take it off for certain tests results. Yet it is amazing how many people avert their eyes from it.
And Babies love it. They handle it and give it what I call baby-kisses. My adopted grandchildren have begun t ask questions and the oldest one reacts in sympathy now to “Jesus with the ouchies”. People who see me repeatedly have become glad to see the crucifix still there, and I notice more and more of these people unashamed to wear crosses.
I must be one of the most impolite guys I know! And also in this coversation: The reason we are all here is that God loved us so much he created us and the universe. And if I am impolite, God Bless You!
BBC news media, today, put out a bulletin on the plight of the Chilean Miners. Apparently, psychologists and counsellors of all kinds are amassing in order to advise these miners how to cope with stress and isolation while waiting to be rescued. They are to be sent anti-depressants in case they are unable to cope.
This is the sad state of our liberal media. No mention that these men might – just might – have a deeper and confirmed sense of the transient nature of this world – knowledge of any deeper truth. The very idea!
Please pray not only for the miners but also for all those ‘bien pensants’ who have only themselves to believe in.
The ‘Memorare’.
Your title is very eye-catching..typical journalistic type of headline..do you think Jesus would like it?
Dede,
Yes, Jesus would like it. Also, just because something is ‘journalistic’ doesn’t mean it is bad. For example, journalists are known to like coffee.
Mrs. Henderson, thank you for a palpably encouraging testimonial. I suspect you will have made a few readers here less ashamed to wear a Crucifix, which represents the preemminent act of love in all of human history. How can one rationally ignore it?
I’m a Canadian too.
We could all be better about proclaiming Jesus, but I don’t think Canadians are all that bad at it. Perhaps it depends where you live.
Where I live, and have lived, we have manger scenes at Christmas, people say Merry Christmas. There are ‘real’ Christmas carols over the PA systems of some major chain stores. Good Friday is a holiday for almost everyone. Easter Monday is a holiday for many.
My children, in public school at the time, had “priest” suggested as a possibility of what one might do when as a grown-up.
And our notoriously ‘liberal’ (or just plain cracked) national radio station mentioned that the Chilean miners had set up a prayer area in their area of confinement.
We have a long way to go, but there are glimmers of light.