Almost as soon as the cockpit voice recorder was recovered from the wreckage of EgyptAir Flight 990, there were leaks describing a "religious" statement made by one of the pilots. This was always reported with a caveat: Muslims often talk about God and faith in everyday speech.

I assumed that this caveat was included by some copy editor who apparently didn't know that most people of any faith often talk about God and their religion as a matter of course. It is well-established that most newsrooms are not filled with people of faith. I do know reporters and copy editors who go to church or temple, but most aren't terribly observant.

Garry Wills commented on this situation in his book on religion and American politics, Under God:

"Some of the glibbest persons in the nation are oddly tongue-tied when the Bible is brought up. And editors seem to prefer inarticulacy on the subject. Major papers and networks encourage reporters to acquire expertise in the law or economics, but I have not heard of any editor asking reporters to brush up their theology."

This extends to other American intellectual pursuits as well. Last year, I wrote a book about a boy's quest for faith. The rejections rarely mentioned the writing. Instead, they focused on the subject. Most seemed to be scared of a book which raised overtly religious questions. I got a number of letters which told me that if I wrote about anything other than religion, I'd have a real shot at publication. There were a few on the other side who prefer a more fundamentalist view of faith. The decidedly liberal theology I wrote about was unpalatable to them.

According to the publishers, there just was no market for a book which seriously discussed the questioning of faith. This is, of course, dumb. Judy Blume, Robert Cormier and other young adult writers sold tons of books in the 1970s. Those books still sell today. But enough bitterness from my corner.

Because, see, that caveat in the EgyptAir stories didn't come from editors. It came from "eminent Islamic scholars," folks who seem to think that secular intellectual America is actually a good mirror of our society. In other words, we have snowed the rest of the world into thinking that the United States is a bastion of atheism.

Which we all know is a load of crap. Every single day I hear people on the street talking about God. Or Jesus. Or, more specifically, Jeeeee-zus! But I'm not trying to disparage anyone's beliefs here. I think that the sharing of religious ideas is a great thing. I myself am a born-again atheist. After struggling with faith for years, the moment I finally accepted that there is no God, my soul found peace. For me, that is "truth." Of course, billions of people find peace in their belief in God. As far as I'm concerned, whatever works is what you should believe. And thus, the more ideas that are shared, the more people who will find peace.

Unlike most of my atheist brethren, I don't see religion as the enemy. I like to talk about religious and spiritual ideas. Indeed, I'm fascinated by what goes into a particular person's faith. That's why I wrote my book (where the main character, in fact, "found" God). That's why I'm infuriated when anyone even intimates that Americans are so alien that they cannot identify with someone expressing a simple prayer.

Yes, yes, the reason that caveat was inserted was the idea of "fairness." We still don't know for certain that Gamil El Batouti plunged more than 200 people to their deaths. So we have to make every effort to point out the "other side," that Batouti was simply praying before he took the controls and didn't disengage the autopilot and send the plane reeling. I understand and applaud that. Fairness is perhaps the most important journalistic ethic (mind you, I didn't say "objectivity").

But there's gotta be another way to be fair than to disparage the religious awareness of Americans. Really. There's at least as much fervor on these shores as anywhere else in the world.

Jon Worley fails to attend the church of his choice every Sunday in Durham, N.C.