Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Autumn 1995

“Eleven years ago, when I came back to my current job and began to wander around the country again, I was struck by how many Americans, in the midst of such plenty, were hungry for something more than our vaunted consumer society could provide them. And very slowly I began to realize the most obvious fact: that people’s faith and religious beliefs were connected in so many ways to everything that was going on around me.

”Incidentally, though I do think it proper for journalists to keep their distance, I discovered there was a new spark to my own faith. I had been raised in a fairly predictable Anglican communion, where the practice of religion was often, I am sorry to say, as much social behav­ior as it was spiritual. But today I find there is both comfort and challenge in practicing my faith and, though I am a dismal failure on many fronts, in trying to live by it.

“We must stop treating religion as if it were like building model airplanes, just another hobby, not really a fit activity for intelligent adults. The sooner we do, the sooner we will have a greater grasp of our nation. And what journalist could ask for a bigger story?”