University of Arkansas Baccalaureate Sermon, 1962

But one of the most striking manifestations of the modern religious revival was that religion somehow became overnight a highly marketable product. Juke boxes began grinding out "religious numbers" like the radio version of the Lourdes Hymn. Meanwhile, across the wide, wide movie screen priests and nuns comported themselves like real "good Joe's"; and sentimental, religious gush, in which powerful characters like Moses were portrayed as "great lovers", was worked into a box-office formula for a series of "Biblical pictures" for cinema audiences. Immense coverage was given to religious events like the death of Pope Pius XII and the election and coronation of Pope John XXIII; and increased attention was given to the "religious issue" in the Presidential election. The world at least was not ignoring religion and to some it amounted to an honest-to-goodness revival. Nevertheless, in spite of this marked preoccupation with religion on the part of contemporary society and the modern mass media, solid religious impact on the souls of men and on their institutions was somehow curiously missing. It is true that religion had taken its place, as never before, in that vast literary supermarket, The New York Times Book Review. There one was offered a full-page quiz for Catholics, the Prophecies of Nostradamus, a free-book offer from the Rosicrucians, and "Voices of the People" by the Jewish Record Club of America, all in one issue! And perhaps this removal of fences from around our religious and literary culture is a sign of certain promise. Maybe it presages a similar rapport between religious and secular education. On the other hand, maybe it is only an uncomfortable courtship brought on by fear of the big boys down at the corner — science, business, and government. However that may be, one thing seems to be certain as a fact of our times: that people actually are more interested in religion than in literature, and a great many are interested in both. It never ceases to amaze me, when travelling, to see the diversity of literary fare that seems to sell very well on the revolving bookracks of modem airports. Somebody must be buying this material and maybe somebody is even reading it. But there it is - from