When Faith is Seen as a Threat to Social Cohesion

Your parents' divorce builds your character, but your faith may be a detriment to social cohesion.

That's the conclusion Ray Pennings drew from watching how the media handled interviews with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Rocco Grimaldi for the NHL draft:

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was chosen first overall in this draft and received more coverage than most. Commentators talked about his maturity and composure as they debated whether he was ready to step into the NHL next season. Quite matter-of-factly and with considerably more detail than seemed normal, they discussed the impact of his parent’s separation while he was very young as a contributing factor to his character.

Rocco Grimaldi was a novelty because of his size. At 5’6″ and 165 lbs., he was the shortest player ever drafted when the Florida Panthers made him the 33rd pick overall. Grimaldi is also well-known for being outspoken about his faith. At the draft, he wore a tie with a biblical text. The interviewer asked him about his faith and whether being openly religious could be a divisive matter in an NHL dressing room.

Pennings was struck by the assumptions of the interviewers that lay behind these two very different ways of handling divorce and faith:

Character shaped by having to deal with family breakup is so routine that it is self-evident how it helps a kid mature. Character that comes from religious education and commitment is so out-of-the-ordinary, it needs to be questioned for its potential divisiveness....We ‘get’ family breakdown and experiential learning; we don’t ‘get’ religious commitment and faith. The first is regrettable but normal, and something that ideally we learn from; the second is divisive and to be handled with care. It would be more comfortable not to be so public about this faith stuff.

Read the whole thing.



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