Ugly headlines need not penetrate the heart

By David Murray

I am by nature a backslider, and I'm good at it. Hence, after a particularly long spell of avoiding church, the need was pretty strong. Dutifully trundled up with wife and offspring, I bowed my head in gratitude, then lifted up my voice in song, and felt the refreshing of the spirit, washed as with a stream.

This was a Sunday morning of family joy (take that, Wallace Stevens). Until, that is, I stopped in the Safeway parking lot on the way home

I had to run in for orange juice. "Just a second, honey," I said as I dashed in. Five minutes later I emerged, bag in hand, strode brusquely to the car, and could sense my wife and children stiffen as I jerked the handle, dropped into the seat, turned the key, and quickly pulled out into traffic. Something had changed.

About the author

David Murray, director of the Statistical Assessment Service, in Washington, D.C., is coauthor of It Ain't Necessarily So: How Media Make and Unmake the Scientific Picture of Reality (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001). He describes himself as a bit of a religious pilgrim, searching for a church home. His family currently attends services at a United Methodist church.

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