Desert Faith

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• RICHARD RODRIGUEZ:

  We are far enough now into the century of religious frenzy that we barely attend to the mad man's post any more – after the explosion in London or Bali, before the blood dries, a Web page proclaims vengeance against the Zionist crusaders.

  For centuries, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, worshiping the same desert God, these brother religions have been divided against by another, divided even among themselves.

  It is not news tonight that ancient hatreds persist. But consider also this. Sitting together last March, these holy men, a Muslim cleric, the orthodox archbishop, the Latin patriarch, the chief Sephardic rabbi, the chief Ashkenazi rabbi, united in opposing a gay parade in Jerusalem.

  Even as lethal differences separate the three desert religions this is a time also of strange new alliances, two against one, or three against the secular state.

  Even while some mainline Protestant churches consider divestments from companies that profit from Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories, no church Protestants become Zionists. For some, support of Israel fulfills an apocalyptic expectation, but such a mainstay of Israeli tourism have Evangelicals become, a grateful Sharon government may lease to a protest group the site on the Galilee where Christ dispensed the Beatitudes.

  So unprecedented is our religious age of divisions and alliances, we lack the proper lexicon. We speak of fundamentalism when we describe the new Christian super churches in America's suburbs, but a church like Lakewood in Houston, the largest superchurch in the country, is exactly the opposite of fundamentalists. It has exchanged theological precision for when everyone is welcome, feel uplifted, Christianity.

  For centuries, wars were fought among Christians over points of theology. Now there is reunion, perhaps in resistance to the rise of Islam, or to secularism. Increasingly in America, one hears people name themselves simply Christian.

  Outside Terri Schiavo's hospice in Florida, gathered Roman Catholics, alongside Low Church Protestants. In another time, highly communal Catholicism and Evangelical Protestantism's stress on Christ's personal call were as different as the "we" and the "I."

  From Vienna, Cardinal Schonborn, voices skepticism about Darwinism. Catholicism long ago rejected a literalist reading of Genesis, but now as right-wing Protestants challenge evolution in the U.S. classroom and President Bush proposes teaching the theory of intelligent design alongside Darwin, the Viennese cardinal suggests that evolution is mere ideology, not science.

  In the Middle East, fatal differences between the Shia and the Sunni may end up destroying Iraq. In America, a fear of Islam leads many non-Muslims to see Islam as the monolith next door. Yet in a recent poll, a majority of Americans indicated an admiration of Islam. One senses envy among many Americans, envy of the Muslims' freedom to worship in the public square, in ancient desert cities.

  From the U.S. Air Force Academy comes news that coaches and administrators and students –the very people responsible for protecting our freedom to believe or not — have busily been proclaiming America a Christian nation.

  As it has become fashionable for Americans to speak of their religious lives publicly, I confess mine. I go to Catholic Mass every Sunday. I am, you could say, a Christian.

  But ever since Sept. 11, when havoc descended in the name of the desert God, I find my easiest companionship with the agnostic and the atheist.

  I'm Richard Rodriguez.