quote:

In writing this book, I asked several of my friends (agnostics and atheists) to read the manuscript and give me their feedback, all of which was helpful and some of which was downright profound. As I dialogued with one of my friends, something became clear to me in a whole new way: Healthy people don�t step backward or down; they only step forward or up. This insight explains both why some people leave faith and others accept it; in either case, their move into or out of faith is perceived by them as a step up. For this friend, brought up in a rigid, anti-intellectual religious system, science (in this case, science as a package deal with atheism) � honest, accurate, curious, open-eyed � felt like a huge step up from the superstitious version of religion he had been presented with. I�d have to agree with him; it was a step up. As we continue our dialogue, I�m hoping he can see that the best alternative to "bad faith" in God is not necessarily no faith (or faith in the science-atheism package). Granted, to step back into the version of religion he grew up in would be a step down, but perhaps there is a step that will present itself to him that will be a step up into good faith.