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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 21, 2025

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And in that search, Catholicism is virtually the top sect we are most hesitant to consider, behind "Unitarian" which at least near us codes to "Whatever goes man" loosey goosey "spiritual but not religious" non-faith.

My experience has been that you are most likely to find "spiritual and religious" where the religion is tied to the geography, or at least the community. The clearest examples of this are all old-world; Shinto in Japan, but also Lutheranism in Germany or Anglicanism in England.

This is difficult to replicate in the United States, but it seems like the most authentic Baptist congregations are in the Bible Belt; the really convincingly Lutheran Americans are all in Minnesota (or thereabouts); if you live in Utah then you may as well be Mormon. Catholicism in, say, California seems to be two faiths, really--depending on whether your congregation is Woke, or Hispanic. I don't have much experience with Jewish worship but my impression is that it's a lot more immanent in Manhattan than it is in, say, South Dakota.

Of course I say all of this as someone who is not looking for a church, but who has spent a lot of time thinking about religion and who sometimes has reason to wish I were more susceptible to faith than I am.