The well-intentioned idea of presenting the appealing, useful side of faith fails, I think, because it doesn't question deeply enough the basic consumer ethos. The transaction that takes place between a shopper-seeker and the goods acquired (groceries, furniture, the key to the meaning of life) is one that leaves the seeker in control, in a position of judging, evaluating, and rejecting the parts he doesn't like. But entering faith is more like making a promise or beginning a marriage. It involves being grafted into a community and requires a willingness to grow and change. If it didn't, if it merely confirmed us in our comfortable places, how could it free us to be more than we are?

--Frederica Mathewes-Green