This column is about religion, so please alert the American Civil Liberties Union. There may be some very offensive stuff coming up, and, God knows, the public should be protected. When I was a kid, my parents usually took me to midnight Mass on Christmas. I think they did that so I would not get up at 5 in the morning looking for what Santa brought. If my dad was going to stay up past 10, there had to be a reason other than praising the Lord.

Anyway, my church was always packed back in the early 1960s, when only about 3 percent of the American population was not affiliated with a specific religion. Today, 13 percent say they are non-affiliated religiously, but still an overwhelming 78 percent of Americans profess to be Christians.