Why Religion Matters (Opinion)

Idahoans have a healthy fear of God.  A fellow who works for state government told me an estimated 80 percent of the people in his hometown are regular church goers.

This morning I attended a pancake breakfast sponsored by the Knights of Columbus at St. Edward the Confessor Church in Twin Falls.  Proceeds will send teenagers to a Catholic Youth Conference.  Religious formation is a lifelong process.  Some of those who belly-ache about the sins of religion are misguided.  Religion is a healthy thing because it sets rules and conditions for living.  If government ever falls but churches remain strong we won’t slip into anarchy, savagery and paganism.

The 80 percent figure doesn’t surprise me and I’m sure this part of the country doesn’t get the attention of the Bible Belt but faith is strong here.

When my daughter was a little girl she didn’t like going to Mass but we went every week.  Studies show children may lapse in their teens and early twenties but those who had a good dose of religion when small will return when they begin to have kids of their own.  Only in the last few years has this trend been questioned.  It’s because of the competition for souls from entertainments, however.  Tough times bring people back to the Lord.  Saturday I watched a documentary about the Great Depression.  The population leaned on God when they had so little else left in life.

Even if you attend a church with a more liberal doctrine than what you’ll see at Roman, LDS or evangelical churches please keep taking the kids.  They’ll get structure and knowledge there is a higher power.  Several years ago a friend who was a devout Protestant was running for Congress.  Media and Democrats mocked his faith.  At a public debate the subject arose.  “Would you prefer a candidate who believes he isn’t the center of the universe?” he asked.  The room went silent.  Then on Election Day the leftists with an overwhelming majority in the district went with the other guy, a devout Roman Catholic who didn’t wear his faith on his sleeves.  Still, he was guided by the same God.

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All photos courtesy Bill Colley.