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On January 2, 2010, “Beliefs” ended after 20 years. It was the final column for New York Times religion columnist, Peter Steinfels. As I read his last column, it struck me that religion columnists are rare creatures in the world of newspaper journalism … but here in little old Cranbrook, we have not one, not two, but three, count ‘em three, religion columnists.
That’s quite an amazing thing, when you think about it. Part of the reason is that editors and publishers in smaller communities are more ready to invite guest columnists. It’s a way of getting others involved, and that’s important in smaller centres.
Another part of it is that in a smaller city, people are more likely to step forward to do the things that need to be done. That’s true of people like Citizens of the Year, and all the other volunteers who see a need and step in to meet it. That happens more easily in a small city than in a megalopolis. If I were to approach the publisher of the Vancouver Province with an idea for a weekly religion column, I’m not sure I’d even get into the office.
I love the fact that there are several columnists here. I think the wide variety of opinions and thoughts you see in these pages enriches the broader life of the community. While I often disagree with the other writers, I’m still delighted they have the opportunity to voice their opinions publicly. Such diversity and variety makes us healthier and stronger, as long as we discuss the different opinions in open and respectful ways.
One of the things I particularly appreciated about Steinfels’ columns was the broad range of topics they encompassed. They ranged from W.H. Auden in the wake of the 9/11 bombing, to Haydn’s “Seven Last Words from the Cross”, to the tabloid press which inform us not only that Elvis is still alive, but also that heaven is 28,000 light years from earth according to a Soviet space probe, hell is nine miles below the surface of the earth according to Soviet engineers drilling in Siberia, and that the skeletons of Adam and Eve have been found — in Colorado!
Steinfels also covered anniversaries which the rest of the press missed: the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth in July 1509; the 400th anniversary of Guy Fawkes’ plot to blow up the British Parliament in 1605; the 100th anniversary of Pope Pius X’s condemnation of “Modernism” in 1907.
Steinfels wrote about new studies which were being discussed by scholars, such as the new evidence that Christian blessings of same–sex unions were conducted during the Middle Ages, the scope of witch hunts in early modern Europe, and religious toleration after the Reformation among the grass roots even while anathemas thundered at “official” levels.
His column was a rich tapestry of thoughtful opinion. In his last column, Steinfels identified some of the common threads in this rich tapestry. The world’s great religions, he says, “are complex and multilayered, rich with inner tensions and ambiguities that allow beliefs and practices to evolve over time as faith is tested by new circumstances and insights. The great religions cannot be equated with the diminished and frozen fundamentalisms that they periodically spawn.”
A second common feature is that while all the world’s religions encompass claims about truth and rules of conduct, they cannot be reduced to doctrinal propositions or ethics. Faith is told in non–literalistic stories and rituals, as well as in the more propositional creeds.
Third, “intelligence and critical reasoning are essential to adult approaches to faith.” Steinfels notes that “it is curious that so many otherwise thoughtful people imagine that what they learned about religion by age 13, or perhaps 18, will suffice for the rest of their lives.” Faith is more than chicken soup for the soul. It involves the mind as well as the heart. Theology matters.
I have enjoyed reading Steinfels’ columns online. I will miss his insights. Religion columns are good things.
Even though it’s sometimes tough to come up with subjects, I enjoy writing this weekly column. It stretches me, and I have heard from many of you that there is food to chew on in what I write. May we have many more years together. And thank you Peter Steinfels, for “Beliefs”.
