Can we talk?

Why we can openly discuss sex and politics, but not religion | David Aikman

I was still quite young when I first heard there were three things you shouldn't talk about at a social gathering: sex, politics, and religion. All three, my advisers pointed out, were calculated from the git-go to produce little profit and much embarrassment.

Over the last generation, of course, items one and two tended to disappear from that short list of forbidden topics. If there remained any inclination to keep them there, Bill Clinton, all by himself, almost forced their inclusion in everyday discussions.

But religion? At any serious level, it's still too hot to handle in most contexts. And even as a casual matter of reference, "religious" allusions tend to produce discomfort and unease. Sports reporters last week, for example, responded awkwardly to the frank Christian witness of the Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner and his wife, truncating interview after interview as soon as the two got a little too explicit about their faith in Christ. It's easier today to talk in public about the details of a sex-change operation or what you did in the secrecy of the voting booth than to talk about where you put your ultimate trust for eternal issues.