Why write about religion?

Because faith has shaped our world -- for good or ill -- and we cannot fully understand the world around us without understanding faith.

Because understanding religious myths helps us to understand the shape of the human mind and heart. Why do we believe Davids can beat Goliaths? Why do we fondly believe that good will win out over evil? Why do we believe that our actions have eternal resonance?

Because religion plays a role in the lives of an overwhelming number of Americans: about 90 percent express a faith preference, about 90 percent say that they pray at least occasionally and more than 40 percent go to religious services on a typical weekend (that's roughly 100 million Americans, more than go to sporting events, movie theaters, etc.)

Because religious groups often are communities within our communities. They form the centers of some ethnic groups. They're neighborhood centers, athletic centers, political centers. They can be a doorway into understanding the structure of community life throughout our state.

Because religion can be a toolbox of spiritual resources that help people deal with all kinds of challenges in their lives -- from working on improving a marriage to trying to be an honest employee to summoning the strength to hit a home run to battling cancer.

Because clergy in local parishes often are key sources for community information. Want to understand the dynamics of a small town in a hurry? Go talk with one or two clergy.

Because religion and faith are at the core of the conflicts over values that we all seem to be sharing in the '90s: individual vs. community, tradition vs. change, responsibility vs. freedom, objective vs. subjective, immortal vs. mortal ...

Because stories that involve a person's faith life can be intimate, revealing, exciting -- and provide a real narrative energy. There's emotion there. There's conflict there. There's passion and guilt and inspiration there.

Bottom line: These are simply good stories.

Here is a religion writer's checklist to help you step into the swamps of spirituality -- and scramble out alive.

1. Do your homework. A little research goes a long way toward helping you frame the right questions, reassuring your subjects that you understand them and ensuring that your precious on-site reporting time isn't consumed going over basics you could find in books, journals, magazines -- or on the Web.

2. Explore alternative religious media. From local publications to Christianity Today, the Christian Century, Parabola, Tikkun, and Hinduism Today, these publications are windows into these communities.

3. Explore Religion on the World Wide Web. This can be an important reporting tool. Want to find the full text of a quote from the Bible you heard some politician or minister spout during an event you covered? TheWebhas a complete searchable Bible with a half dozen different possible translations. Want to find out the latest word from the Vatican on a particular moral issue? The Vatican has its ownWebsite.

4. Try to get an accurate sense of each religious group's size, weight and influence. Don't rely on a religious leader's estimate of the group's overall size. Has there been a census? Is there an official mailing list? Or, if you think a source is overestimating the group's size, get a list of local affiliated groups and then spot-check membership of the larger groups to estimate an outside figure.

Even well-established denominations use very different methods for counting members. For example, United Methodists mainly count active adults while Catholics estimate the overall population, including completely fallen-away Catholics.

Also, look for the weight of religious groups in academic, business, political circles. This can broaden your story -- and lead to further stories.

5. Always ask another question. Invariably, the answers to your first questions about religion will have traditional words and phrases that really are code words religious peopple use to describe their experiences. (Less charitably, they're cliches.) When someone says: "God spoke to me,'' ask: Did you actually hear an audible voice? What did the voice sound like? Were there really words or was it more of a feeling? Did you feel happy or scared? Did you sense an image of God? What did God look like?

And on ... and on ...

6. Double-check every detail -- even details you're sure you know. Here's where even long-time religion writers (myself included) can blow it. Examples: "Baptism'' means very different things in different churches. The meaning of "sanctuary'' varies widely. Protestants don't go to "mass.'' Yes, the Koran does include a long account of Jesus' life -- but the details are very different from the biblical story. The identity of the son Abraham tried to sacrifice varies, depending on whether you're Muslim or Jewish.

7. There aren't always equivalents.Sometimes you have to find new words and phrases to explain a different faith's concepts. The goals of an ordinary Muslim's regular prayer times probably are quite different than a Roman Catholic's meditative prayers or a Southern Baptist's nightly prayers. Other examples: The Dalai Lama has described Buddhism as "Godless'' to Christian groups -- but the truth is more complex. God is more "irrelevant'' than "denied.''

Foreign tones and melodies aren't necessarily "mournful'' or ``wails.'' It's important to an evangelical Christian to be a "member'' of a church -- but most Muslims aren't especially concerned about being "members'' of a mosque.

8. Be very slow to believe or quote an expert in one faith -- when the person starts talking about another faith. It's often stunning to realize how little scholars in one faith tradition know about other faiths. Just because they're bishops, or academics, or authors doesn't mean they know much outside their own disciplines.

9. Dig for concrete scenes that will make abstract ideas come alive. You're telling a story, not writing a dissertation or an entry for an encyclopedia. You need to fully paint those scenes that readers must experience to understand and feel strongly about your story. Look for the telling scenes readers must see to understand this tale.

10. Take readers to places they've never been before. Even in short stories, devote a few paragraphs to helping readers feel at home in the sights, smells, sounds of this world.

11. Don't blush, turn away or show surprise. Spiritual life can be as deeply intimate as sexual life. Ordinary folks, if they trust you, may reveal all kinds of unusual experiences. Don't ask: So, do you actually pray? Ask: So, how often do you pray?

12. Don't put your reporter's pad away too soon. Almost without fail, when you interview ordinary people about spiritual experiences, they'll feel a strong desire at the very end of the interview to make one last statement. You'll be shaking hands near the door and they'll take a deep breath, then deliver the best quote of the entire interview: "You know, I guess what it all means is ...''

13. As you're mapping out additional reporting, look for signs that your story cuts across religious boundaries. Almost any major religious story echoes across other religious groups. You can broaden the impact of your story with some additional reporting that places this all in a wider perspective. For example: Members of many non-Christian faiths will quickly tell you that "a distinctive tradition in our faith is our strong emphasis on family bonds'' -- when, in fact, that concern cuts across many faiths. Other examples: Issues such as the role of women or homosexuality cut across religious boundaries.

14. Don't assume you've spotted a religious trend, just because you've suddenly discovered it. Generally, most trends in religious life are really cycles. It's fairly easy to check the history and breadth of a trend. Libraries are full of religious-studies books and resource materials.

15. Don't assume that a religious group's leadership truly speaks for its members. We know that Catholics often disobey the pope, many Baptists drink beer, etc. The same is true in non-Christian faiths and, in fact, it may be a crucial part of your story to explore the many ways American culture is reshaping traditional religions. Example: Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day, but most Muslim lay people -- even fairly devout Muslims -- find it impossible to pray that often.

16. Remember that world faiths are broad -- and may contain as many denominations and variations as Christianity. Members of many non-Christian faiths smile when they read stories that say "All Hindus believe ...'' or "All Buddhists believe ...'' It's almost impossible to make such statements. We're on safer ground when we attribute details to the specific group or person we're covering. If we want to broaden our statements, then we need to be prepared to do the homework to check out the broader background. In many parts of the country, a local Buddhist group, for example, may be run by a well-meaning New Ager with very eclectic interests who conveys a rather eccentric view of Buddhist faith and tradition. This problem is complicated, because the members of many religious groups try their best to gloss over differences within their own faith, when talking with outsiders. Muslims, for example, will tell reporters that there is no difference between local Sunni, Shiite and African-American congregations, when there probably are major differences.

17. When interviewing kids, pack colored markers and paper. Children have vivid spiritual lives, but they have trouble talking with adults in abstract terms. You can unlock the spiritual imagination of children much more effectively by asking them to draw pictures. Then, as they describe their pictures to you, you've got the basis for an interview.

David Crumm has been the Free Press religion writer since 1986. He has won six national Wilbur Awards for religion reporting since 1988. His most recent awar, in 1997, was for his Sept. 3, 1996, report, "The Church Fires: False Crisis Creates Hope," which examined how the country became caught up in the mistaken belief that a resurgence of racism was fueling fires at black churches.

The Detroit Free Press offers an entire page of tools at: http://www.freep.com/jobspage/toolkit/index.htm

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