keep it secret, keep it safe

We’ve been talking quite a bit about the assumed boundary between the private sphere of religion and morality, and the public sphere of consensus facts. All beliefs in the private sphere can be tolerated so long as they remain in the domain of the private sphere. This article in Newsweek illustrates this issue perfectly. The article presumably is about an agnostic/atheist type coming to the realization that her fundie sister ain’t all that bad. But pay special attention to the final paragraph, where her sister’s admirable qualities are finally outlined:

• “we don’t see eye to eye on religion, it’s nice to know that she still calls me for advice about the practical things” (private=religion vs. public=practical)
• “When it comes to faith, she’s private and doesn’t preach…for her, religion is a personal thing”
• “I greatly respect her for having such a strong faith in something” (italics hers)
• “I wish I could believe so fervently in anything so abstract” (here again, religion remains in the ether)

More video on this subject to come.