by Ronald Louis Peterson

Created on: August 30, 2009

In The Name of...

When the original design for the layout of Washington, D.C. was developed in 1791, included in the plan was a church. Its purpose was to serve all sects and denominations. Finally, on September 29, 1907, its foundation's cornerstone, a rock imported from a field near Bethlehem, was inset into a larger American granite slab with this inscription: "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." (John 1:14)

In July of 1980, when Manny met with Angela Kingston in the National Cathedral's chapel, the Cathedral was still ten years from completion. It was and is a magnificent structure in many ways, including its size which makes it the sixth-largest cathedral in the world. It was a good backdrop for Manny's interview with Angela to discuss the topic of his last 'sweeps week' story: "Are religions responsible for more harm than good?"

It was a question being asked by more and more people in light of the growing animosities between people of different religions. The fighting between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland and between Moslems and Jews in the Middle East were making headlines, but there were more harsh feelings expressed in many ways around the world by people of various faiths who felt that their deepest beliefs were being challenged, if not threatened, by just the existence of people practicing other faiths. While each faith had always claimed to be the one true voice of God, now some felt it was their God-assigned duty to silence competing voices in the world.

As a result, a growing number of people were opting out of organized religion altogether. Some didn't want to be part of rivalries in which God served as a divisive rather than a unifying force. Others, like Simkov, considered God to be a harmful myth. John Lennon captured their sentiments in his popular song, "Imagine" in which he longed for a world with no religions where people rejected the notion of eternal life...and by inference, God. By doing so, he spoke for millions who thought this would lead to worldwide peace.

But, others said that in such a God-less world, just the opposite would happen. Satan would rule absolutely and evil would run rampant. To say that spiritual turmoil existed in the world then would be an understatement. Life, as people knew it, was changing and nobody really could say what the result would be. Manny just knew he had an interesting topic to explore for his last 'sweeps week' story.

"My grandfather told me that he and my grandmother came here for

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