Thunderstruck readers probably know Cathleen Falsani’s name. Her byline has appeared in the articles linked here many a time. Falsani is the religion writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, and she “has always been interested in discovering God in the places some people say God isn’t supposed to be”—in her own way, putting the pop back in culture. That description shows up in the dust jacket of her new book The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)—a collection of conversations on spiritual matters with everyone from Bono to Elie Wiesel, Russell Simmons to David Lynch, Billy Corgan to Hugh Hefner, Annie Lennox to Anne Rice.
Now that she’s written a book, it’s time to put “God Girl”—a term of endearment—on the other side of the interview desk.
Thunderstruck: Each of the interviews in the book starts with a quick fact sheet on the subject, including what faith the person was raised in and what he or she follows now. Sometimes it’s traditional—Baptist, Muslim—and sometimes it isn’t—Buddh-ish, Buddhalupist.
Cathleen Falsani: The point being that even if that is the label, if you peel it back and look at what’s underneath, it’s far more complicated and complex. Even for someone who very much embraces a traditional label, there’s always some way they’re finding their own path and defining their own place within that tradition. That’s true to every person in the book.
My favorite quote from you is in your Introduction: “In our mainstream media, little of what we learn about the beliefs of public figures goes beyond labels—this actor’s Catholic, that one’s a Buddhist. But labels don’t mean a damn thing.”
They don’t. They’re conversation-enders. Melissa Etheridge says to me at one point, “Thank you so much for asking about this because normally people—if they do, which is rare—will say, ‘Are you religious?’ and I’ll say, ‘No, I’m spiritual’ and that’s the end of the conversation.” And she really likes to talk about this stuff. If I hadn’t reminded her that she had another appointment I think we would have sat there all afternoon.
Why do you think mainstream media has had difficulties delving into faith issues?
Many journalists are not trained to talk about faith. It was, until quite recently, considered impolite to talk about it publicly unless you were a clergyperson. And so they wouldn’t ask for any number of reasons. Or if they did ask and they got an answer, they didn’t know what to do with it or wouldn’t know what to follow up with.
I find this problem with the coverage of President Bush. Now, he keeps religion reporters at arm’s length. I don’t think any of us—and there are several hundred full-time religion reporters for all the major media outlets in the United States and Canada—I don’t think any of us ever actually had a conversation with President Bush about what he believes.
Read the rest at Thunderstruck.