Posted on: Sunday, September 26, 2004

AFTER DEADLINE

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writer

As controversial German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, "All truth is simple ... is that not doubly a lie?"

We'd like to think facts lead to the truth. But sometimes, the best stories can be plucked out of that space between facts and the truth, where the big picture is shaded with plenty of grays.

As part of a recent presentation by the Interfaith Alliance of Hawai'i, a group of seven of us — from a La Pietra high school student to a retiree who grew up in a Zen household — gathered to wrestle with the question, "How high should be the wall between church and state?"

Talk about vivid grays.

When The Advertiser created the religion and ethics beat, it afforded one lucky reporter (me!) the chance to ask the questions that go beyond, "Who's the good guy?" and "Who's the bad guy?"

In this beat, I get to probe the "why?" questions even more deeply, the ones that get to our core beliefs. And the best days on the job are the ones when you realize good people with the best of intentions can end up on different sides of an issue.

"How high should be the wall between church and state?" is one such issue. There are some who would tear down that wall, arguing that being a person of faith means acting on those beliefs in all areas. Others argue such a wall should be beyond our ability to scale it, that the wall protects us from encroachment onto our faith.

Discussions like these make covering religion today much more than an exercise to see how far we can spread our brain cells. Because "church" here isn't just a Christian church, it's also a temple for Buddhism or Hinduism, a synagogue for Judaism, a mosque for Islam and even the 'aina for those who practice Native Hawaiian spirituality.

The gray areas, as religion professor George Tanabe at the University of Hawai'i points out, keep us reporters in business. We're poking into a sometimes-dormant part of our conscience to see how it responds. A journalist's job is to chronicle our times ... and wrestle alongside our readers with what it all means.

And lately, questions on the separation of church and state have made for great stories.

Should we say the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance? Should a worker be allowed to leave religion pamphlets in a city and county lunch room? Are President Bush's faith-based initiatives tearing down that wall?

So as the chronicler, here's what I learned:

One in our small group gathering said he believed faith-based initiatives were fine, as long as the churches didn't proselytize or discriminate in the programs they instituted using public money.

A minister wondered if simply showing up in the van with the church's name on it couldn't be, at some level, proselytizing.

The activist pointed out that some recipients of the good works done by churches might make for easy "prey," and that discrimination is allowed to take place.

The student felt faith should be a private matter.

Fascinating observations all. Do I agree?

Well, I agree I'm better equipped now to start asking more pointed questions and to share what I've learned — because it's the big questions that stretch us.

Religion and ethics writers included.

Reach Mary Kaye Ritz at 525-8035 or mritz@honoluluadvertiser.com.