A Good Friday

If the surveys reported in mainstream media have any basis in truth, my lack of involvement in organized religion is shared by a majority of Americans, i.e. I'm on the bell curve, again. How did I (you) get here?

Still, surveys aside, at a recent One Day University lecture, Tufts professor Sol Gittelman remarked "...if you live within an hour of an ocean, you know nothing about what goes on in America vis-a-vis religion..." Even before hearing Gittelman, the impact being a lifelong NJ resident has had on my religious skepticism was something I'd considered. I have also always suspected being an undergraduate in the turbulent late 60's cemented an already festering doubt as I became a young adult. And now? I'm guessing a late-in-life epiphany is probably not in the cards, especially with only one immediate family member who is at all devout.

However, two days from now, my family will gather as we have on most Easter Sundays for as long as I can recall. If recent history is any indication, there will be no mention of the holiday and what it signifies. Though raised Catholic (no shortage of guilt there), somehow I've avoided feeling guilty about Easter Sunday being stripped of its religious significance; I like hanging out with my family. Does this make me a blasphemer? How about you? And Good Friday? Yes it was.