Impressions of New York By A Midwesterner

One of my favorite correspondents sent me a paragraph from Mary Hollingsworth's delightful book of stories by children, Little Wonders. She writes that at the end of each year, she and other Sunday School teachers give the children pencils and paper and ask them to chronicle what they have learned in Bible study. This assignment never fails to elicit some intriguing responses.

In case you're a little foggy on your biblical history, here's a sample of what her junior church students compiled from their essays.

"Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people.   These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.   God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti.   Then He gave them His top ten Commandments.  These include don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's bottom (the Bible uses a bad word for bottom that I'm not supposed to say.  But my Dad uses it sometimes when he talks about the President. Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more:  Humor they father and thy mother."

Though I'm not your father, humor me a bit further, because I have a serious concern. Sylvia and I just returned from a weekend in New York City to visit our son. While there we wandered around in Manhattan and visited the site of the former World Trade Center. By the way, there's a lot of building activity going on there, but the builders are a long, long way from finishing the proposed memorials and other buildings. There is a new Trade Center building however.



What struck me--again--about NYC and especially Manhattan is the lack of certain types of buildings. Millions of people are crowded into row after row of apartments and condos. The streets are lined with every possible kind of restaurants and shops. Huge sky scrapers are filled with offices. Businesses of every kind are booming. Listen to the people passing by and you will hear many strange languages. Watch the people sitting across from you on the subway and you will observe people of all races.

But where are the churches? We saw a few pushed in among the multitudes, a synagogue urging Sabbath observation, a Seventh Day Adventist church advertising 11 AM Saturday morning worship and an Episcopal chapel directly across from the WTC site. But if I were to venture a totally non-scientific observation, I would have to say that, based upon their lack of religious buildings, these New Yorkers are not a religious people. And yet Americans as a nation are. It's just that this vast city does not reflect it in their buildings.

Geitner Simmons, the editorial page editor of the Omaha World-Herald is a Midwesterner, a Southerner, a husband, a father, and a son. In his Blog he posts maps, developed by the Cincinnati-based Glenmary Research Center, showing religious adherence to be greatest in the middle of the country — from Texas and Louisiana up through the Dakotas. Religious adherence in the Southeast, long dubbed the "Bible Belt," is more spotty that one might expect.

He also posts maps of the influence of religious bodies upon various parts of the country. As I knew, we Lutherans are located largely in the upper midwest. Baptists dominate the South. There is a general Catholic presence around the country. Mormons are strong in the West, particularly Utah. Methodist have strong holdings in various parts of central and eastern United States. And so it goes. Over 80% of the religious people in this country are Christian.

And yet I have a hard time shaking off my impressions of New York City. Perhaps that has to do with my being born in Minnesota and spending all of my professional life in the midwest. Nevertheless I have a question that must be addressed regardless of where one lives. Who is your God and what do you worship? Answer that question and you will answer many questions about morality, life styles and dreams.