Possessing a fervent conviction in one's rectitude adds little good to public policymaking. The official stage needs to be protected against pious rages. There is no one who will take away human freedom faster than a true believer who gets the upper hand. Witness the Taliban. I believe faith needs to be protected, too.
Faith needs to remain on the margins.
The Word of God calls people to repent and to let go, to turn away from the lures of wealth and power, to embrace the outcast and despised. To be effective, faith needs the freedom to disagree, to name the evils, to step away from the crowd and onto a boat, as Jesus once did, to take unpopular views, and to encourage values that are fundamentally at odds with community norms. Tom Ehrich is a writer and computer consultant, managing large-scale database implementations. E.W. Scripps Publications , All Rights Reserved. Site users are subject to our User Agreement .