There was not a single Baptist, northern or Southern. Certainly, no African American or Pentecostal picture and write-up could suggest to the scholar centuries from now that nationally the members in this last group were huge presences not unrepresented in greater New York but nowhere that week in the Times.

Picture an archaeologist or anthropologist centuries from now coming across a Sunday New York Times from our times.

He or she might wonder what light the relic would throw on tribal customs like marrying in 2012. (We are assuming that marriage will survive long after newspapers don’t.)

The trained scholar would know that through the ages marriage rites and customs revealed much about what people valued and believed. Here is a document that will reveal much!

What would those newspaper pages from American civilization’s major metropolis suggest about such rites back in 2012?

Stunned and worn down by an overdose of public religion news in the past fortnight – think of “The God Particle,” The Presidential Campaign, Presbyterians Voting Against Spanking of Children (Presbyterians vote against spanking children, but are sharply split over “divestment” from Israel.), Conflict in Israel over Drafting Haredim, Scientology and on – I took refuge near an air-conditioner and read the Times on July 1 to do my own deducing.

In every case, the published marriage stories told who officiated at weddings. Ten officiants were civic (judges, etc.), in which cases the rites would have been classified as “secular.” No surprise.

The winner among favored clerics were the 11 rabbis, with the cohort of eight Roman Catholic priests coming in second. (One listed as “Old Catholic” is not Roman.)

The favor shown Catholicism would have been no surprise, nor would the number of rabbis among New York area influentials.

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