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Article: OPTING OUT OF BELIEF : For unserious reasons.
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- May 19, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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You hear people say that it is difficult to be a believer in our society. Though there are many ways in which this is true, we should reexamine the idea. America is, after all, more religious than most nations. Here professed belief and church attendance are taken as an index, and dispiriting as life in the era of Clinton may be, it is easier to be a Christian now than it was under the Emperor Decius. That very ease may be part of the problem, but it is only a part of it. Unease--a profound unease--is also involved.
Belief is influenced by the atmosphere in which it finds itself. However, belief is not something that can be reduced to moral issues, though the ...