My latest newspaper column: religious diversity at home

Our local paper has been filled with hateful attacks on our Muslim neighbors in recent weeks, often backed by very inaccurate assumptions about the beliefs of the local, majority-Catholic population. This is exacerbated by the fact that almost 10% of our community are refugees from Somalia who have arrived in the last five years or so, a very visible symbol of the changing demographics of central Minnesota. I wrote this column in part to provoke a discussion about the assumptions the presumed majority are making about themselves and the people they seem to believe are all like them.

Times Writers Group: Many
know little of others' faiths

St. Cloud (MN) Times• April 7, 2010

by Derek Larson

Religion plays a large and important role in
American society, as the news and opinion pages of
this newspaper have demonstrated in recent weeks.
That role is changing though, and trends suggest
the assumptions many make about their neighbors'
religious beliefs are increasingly inaccurate.

The best information available on American
religious practices today comes from the Pew Forum
on Religion and Public Life. Among its most recent
surveys, one can find many fascinating statistics:

26 percent of Americans are identified as
evangelical protestants, 23 percent Catholic, and 18
percent mainline protestants.

16 percent – the next largest group – are the
"unaffiliated" which includes atheists and agnostics.

Jews (1.7 percent), Buddhists (0.7 percent), Muslims
(0.6 percent) and Hindus (0.4 percent) are among
the largest of the non-Christian groups.

44 percent of adults have left the religion in which
they were raised, either for another or none at all.

Fully 25 percent of young adults (ages 18-29) are
unaffiliated with any religion.

71 percent of all unaffiliated Americans are under
age 50.

While 31 percent of Americans today were raised
Catholic, only 24 percent remain so.

37 percent of married couples are of different
religious faiths.

There are also major variations between states:

At the extremes of the poll, 91 percent of
Mississippians believe in God while only 54 percent
of those in Vermont/New Hampshire report the
same.

Arkansas is only 5 percent Catholic; New Jersey is
42 percent Catholic.

Alaska and Oregon are among the least religious
states, each with 27 percent unaffiliated with any
religion.

Alabama and Mississippi are among the most
religious, with only 8 percent unaffiliated.

Minnesota ranks 29th for "belief in God" and 35th
for frequency of prayer, well below national
averages.

Political and social views also vary within and
across denominations:

33 percent of all Catholics reported they were
Republican or "lean Republican."

48 percent of all Catholics reported they were
Democratic or "lean Democratic."


Mormons reported the highest incidence of
Republican affinity at 65 percent.

Members of "historically Black churches" reported

the highest incidence of Democratic affinity at 78
percent.

Catholics were the most likely of the major groups
to believe that "homosexuality should be accepted
by society" at 58 percent; Mormons were least likely
to accept this statement at 24 percent.

62 percent of members of mainline protestant
churches felt that "abortion should be legal in all or
most cases;" among Catholics 42 percent felt the
same as did 27 percent of Mormons.

It is overwhelmingly clear from the data that the
religious lives of Americans are more complex than
many assume, and the traditional stereotypes about
beliefs, practices and their consequences are often
not supported by the data.

We know comparatively little about the specific
religious beliefs of Americans before the late 20th
century when private polling organizations began to
ask personal questions of individuals, in part
because the federal government only formally
collected data from religious groups between about
1850-1946.

What is obvious from any glance at the existing
data, however, is that the American religious
landscape has always been much more diverse than
many assume today. A total of 186 different
denominations were counted in the 1906 Census of
Religious Bodies, for example, and even then they
ranged from Adventists to the Vedanta Society,
Baha'i to the Society for Ethical Culture.

Taken as a whole, these data suggest that those who
react to growing religious diversity with fear are
missing the fact that the United States has always
been diverse. The lack of a state religion and the
religious freedoms enshrined in our founding
documents and legal culture ensure it will remain
so. Rather than fear those who are different, it might
be more sensible to talk with them and seek out
common ground.

If that's too much to ask, then those who rely so
often on handy stereotypes might at least take the
time to learn how much diversity there is within the
ranks of their own faiths.

-Dr. DRL

My latest newspaper column: on governors and taxes

From the St. Cloud (MN) Times:

February 3, 2010

Times Writers Group: Pick a governor, not an extremist

Tuesday's caucuses were the first step in bringing real leadership back to the governor's office in St. Paul. Regardless of who wins either party's endorsement, there's hope that the eventual victor will not have drunk Tim Pawlenty's particular brand of anti-tax Kool-Aid along the way.

If that's the case, Minnesota may yet recover some of the ground lost to the governor's refusal to even consider raising taxes as part of the response to budget crises in recent years.

Monday's news brought a stark example of the end result of this sort of unwavering anti-tax ideology in the case of Colorado Springs. In that city of almost 400,000 people, thousands of street lights will soon be shut off, police officers and firefighters will be sent packing, and citizens will be asked to BYOM (bring-your-own-mower) to city parks. The city's police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. Other "non-essential" city services will cease later this spring, including things like evening and weekend bus service.

How did "The Springs," home to the U.S. Air Force Academy and the second largest city in Colorado, get to this point? Has the "Evangelical Vatican," known for its high concentration of conservation Christian organizations, somehow fallen from divine favor? Did the Department of Defense suddenly decide to shutter Fort Carson, NORAD, and Peterson Air Force Base? Did the US Olympic Training Center move to Mexico in search of warmer winters?

Sadly, the people of Colorado Springs did this to themselves via a so-called "taxpayers bill of rights" or TABOR law that placed strict limits on taxes and left local government unable to respond to the recession by doing anything other than slashing services.

The Colorado Springs TABOR law is particularly shortsighted because it restricts public spending to the level of the previous year's budget, plus a small allowance for population growth and inflation. That may be sufficient in good times, but when times are tough — say in a recession — budgets constrict as tax revenues fall. The worst comes afterward, of course, when the law prevents tax increases to restore budgets to their prerecession levels without a vote.

In a notoriously anti-tax community like Colorado Springs the net result is decaying infrastructure, declining public services and ultimately failed government. It's obviously a terrible way to manage the community's future, but residents brought this upon themselves, in part by buying what that anti-tax peddlers were selling ("we'll run the city like a business!") without much thought to the consequences.

By contrast, voters in Oregon endorsed two ballot measures last month that raised taxes on individuals earning more than $150,000, boosted corporate tax rates and increased the minimum tax on business for the first time since 1931. While there's a certain populist appeal to a tax increase that only hits 3 percent of the population, everyone will bear the weight of the increased business and corporate taxes as they are passed on to consumers.

Certainly some would question the wisdom of pushing a $750 million tax increase during a recession, but the voters of Oregon were faced with what they considered unacceptable cuts to public safety, education, and health and human services. It didn't even come down to street lights for them.

We in Minnesota are lucky that anti-tax zealots haven't yet gained much power beyond the governor's office. The damage has been constrained as a result.

Sure, the Minnesota Miracle is well behind us. Yes, our roads are decaying. Social services have been cut. Education is in decline. Oversight and regulation are hampered by lack of resources. We know. But at least the street lights are still on, right?

As the long list of gubernatorial candidates is winnowed to a final few, Minnesotans would do well to keep Colorado Springs and Oregon in mind. We need a governor who will consider every option rather than basing critical decisions on the dictates of a narrow ideology.

A mix of tax increases and spending cuts will be necessary to balance future budgets and maintain the quality of life that makes living here worthwhile, so let's make that the first issue to put before the candidates between now and November.

May the least narrow-minded win.

###

Dr.DRL

Help for Haiti-- please consider donating

Everyone's heard about the disaster in Haiti. Medical Teams International (formerly Northwest Medical Teams) is an international aid group based in Portland, Oregon. I've long admired their work and supported them through donations when trying to respond to a crisis. They are an explicitly Christian organization but they represent the "good" side of that faith perspective, i.e. providing services to anyone and not using their aid as a tool for evangelizing.

If you are looking for a way to respond to the Haitian tragedy please consider Medical Teams International as a possible place to donate. They are sending their first response team on January 14th and more aid will follow. Their main web page includes a link to donate specifically to this operation.

-Dr.DRL

Wall Street Journal lists best jobs of 2010-- guess who's at #5?

The Wall Street Journal has published a list of the "best' jobs for 2010. Shockingly, "historian" comes in at #5! The rest of the list is packed with surprises as well.

-Dr.DRL