No, even though I went to Catholic school. We never talked about religion. There was way too much to do. All I remember talking about was baseball or football—and that was mostly about setting up a game—or where we were going to go exploring next. I think we talked about each other, who was a better ballplayer for the team or who was lousy, or who was a good guy to go camping, or fishing, or rabbit hunting with. We played a lot of war with a network of forts and BB guns. Not a lot of talking involved in that after the rules of engagement were settled. We went horseback riding and swimming. I remember a lot more doing than talking. We bonded by doing, not by talking. I think, if it was an issue at all, it was considered a private one, maybe something you discussed with your parents. School was school and everything else was everything else. We compartmentalized it all, just like people do with their business vs. social lives. Never really gave this much thought. With us, if a kid had brought up God or prayer, I think we would have just change the subject or, if he persisted, I think we would have wandered away from him—just like I do these days. Boring and nobody else’s business. But I don’t remember this ever coming up or being discussed outside of a few arguments about who was going to serve as altar boy at some funeral mass or something. Nothing religious at all.
These days, in the Caribbean, I would say the less educated take a more fundamentalist view and it plays a large part in the lives of that social stratum, just like back in Florida. They are more evangelical (among their own countrymen) and more demonstrative about it. Invariably, these are adherents of a protestant branch of Christianity. I don’t see a lot of evangelism among the Catholics in the islands or at home. Maybe they are more secure in their faith? I’ve never had a Jew buttonhole me and excitedly ask if I’d ever heard of Abraham or Moses, either.
I don’t know any of the guys that I hung out with in those days, so I can’t say if they talk more about religion today. I know I hear a lot of it among the nurses and doctors I work with in Florida. Not so much in Northern California, or during my short time in Haiti. I chose the group that I went to post-earthquake Haiti with specifically because they were not a faith-based group. Partners In Health, out of Boston. Excuse the plug, but they are really Good People.
People in the educated classes here are quieter, more candid about their religion, if they have any at all. It is rarely an issue in the educated class here. Unlike in Florida where nearly every politician must quote a biblical phrase nearly every time they are in public—and in that horrible accent with inflections reserved, in my mind, for the most ignorant jackboot preachers and their flock. And these preachers are rampant. Fire and brimstone, brother. No thanks. If I need the information, it is available to me everywhere. Even in the seediest motel rooms.