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We often hear cynical Christians condemn the impotence of American Christianity, but listen to a real cynic: Justin Webb, the bbc correspondent in Washington, D.C. He spoke about his postings in Belgium, London, and then the United States.

My wife and I do not believe in God. In our first posting in Brussels among the nominally Catholic Belgians, unbelief was not a problem. Our house in London was right next to a church. We talked to the tiny congregation about the weather, about the need to prune the rosebushes and mend the fence, but we never talked about God. How different it is here on this side of the Atlantic.

I'm not talking about the Bible Belt-or about the loopy folk who live in log cabins in Idaho and Oregon and worry that the government is poisoning their water. I'm talking about Mr. and Mrs. Average in Normal Town, U.S.A. Mr. and Mrs. Average share an uncomplicated faith with its roots in the Puritanism of [their] forbears. According to that faith there is such a thing as heaven-86 percent of Americans, we are told by the pollsters, believe in heaven.

But much more striking for me and much more pertinent to current world events is that 76 percent, or three out of four people you meet on any American street, believe in hell and the existence of Satan. They believe the devil is out to get you, that evil is a force in the world-a force to be engaged in battle. Much of the battle takes place in the form of prayer. Americans will talk of praying as if it were the most normal, rational thing to do. The jolly plump woman who delivers our mail in the Washington suburbs has a son who is ill-the doctors are doing their best, she says, but she's praying hard and that's what will do the trick.

And so I'll tell you, I'm awed. I'm impressed and awed by Christians in America who in facing unexpected tragedies turn to God.

Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds in Matthew 13 is fitting for us who live in the best of times and the worst of times. Servants asked the master whether they should tear out the weeds that had unexpectedly grown up alongside the wheat. The master replied no: "Because while you are pulling the weeds you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters, first collect the weeds and tie them into bundles to be burned and then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn."

Let there be no doubt, wheat and weeds are growing side by side in America. But Jesus tells his followers not to worry about pulling up the weeds-he will take care of that later. Instead he tells his followers to grow the wheat.

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Related Elsewhere:

Posted yesterday was "A Decisive Turn to Paganism."

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August 2004, Vol. 48, No. 8