Two Words Won't Stop the Spiritual Boom

This story first ran on Beliefnet on June 27, 2002.

Having just returned from a promotional tour for my book, "Godtalk: Travels In Spiritual America," I was prepared for the response to the federal court ruling that the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance were unconstitutional. As CNN put the reaction story into heavy rotation, the energy of those arguing--pro and con--didn't surprise me. Especially con: the senators pledging allegiance on the Capitol steps; the irate messages left on the answering machine of the instigator of the lawsuit. I knew from my recent travels that Godtalk is America's most all-absorbing conversation at the moment. No button is hotter.

The irony is that this unofficial national symposium on spirituality owes much of its energy to the very Establishment clause the 9th Circuit based its ruling on-the Constitution's admonishment to keep church and state separate. Our religiosity has been well-documented and often stated: as many as 95 percent of Americans will say they believe in God, In the European nations, with their history of aligning church and state, the figure is closer to 50 percent. The Founding Fathers, versed in Enlightenment principles, might have expected the opposite: that unlinking government and religion would eventually lead to a society entirely disinterested in God. Instead, their hands-off approach has produced a country obsessed with God, its citizens in serious pursuit of spiritual happiness.

This logic tracks pretty clearly with my personal experience. Raised by secular suburban parents in northeastern Pennsylvania during the '50s and '60s, I never saw the inside of a church until I had myself baptized by a Presbyterian minister at age 13. Puberty was the moment I twigged to my own self-starter awakening. I came forward at a screening at my high school of a Billy Graham Crusade film, "The Cross and the Switchblade"; I watched "Mass for Shut-Ins" every week on TV and waited enviously as my friend Bobby disappeared into the chapel for confession on Saturday afternoons. My parents' indifference led to a full-hearted passion for faith. I didn't want to be left out.

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