The New York Times likes to say its has a ‘great’ reputation, but the reality is farther from the truth than the Mexico border. It doesn’t have a great reputation in many parts of America.
This is the fact I found as I spoke to people in America. I was visiting as part of a research trip and managed to encounter those who had things they wanted to say about their own culture.
I find Americans are adept at making complaints. They have a reasonable attitude and like to settle matters into the issue. Any dispute is not with God, guns, or gold in the slightest.
Seeing the truth
The matter of religion is not settled there. It’s an ongoing narrative that’s the mainstay of popular debate. In fact, more than politics, it remains an unresolved mystery for the new republic.
I found that everyone I spoke to wanted to move the topic of conversation to churchgoing and what it means to be religious. It’s the type of interest that exceeds Trump or even abortion.
The insights I gathered centred on what religion can do fundamentally for people, underneath initiatives like a New Deal. There’s a question over the strength it provides for society.
Hardline attitude
The contrast is in a popular press. It’s in frequent headlines that belittle a state and its people. It’s in columns that often decry organised religion as a disease for everyone else.
The conclusions are stark. They state that at least in a popular sense church going isn’t welcome. It implies having a private practice is a problem. It says worship is anathema.
The sentiments are poisonous. They read like comments made over a drink, not in academia. The sort of beliefs that come about by bitterness, and not by a sense of enlightenment.
Freedom of press
As I read The Times over there, I found a distaste for what it meant. I knew others were less sure about it. It was obvious they wanted to know more. It was clear finding out was tricky.
The freedom felt by a team of writers to collaborate over a damning story about a Pastor’s iniquity was not shared. It contrasted with a lack of it felt by those taking in all its points.
My conclusion is America finds religion to be a private matter because it’s still an open controversy. Yet the discussions are seen as lively rather than as a bleak outlook for society.
