” Back in the day,” as she would say, daughter Johanna, from her perspective as a college student, suggested that it is not faith but religion itself which is what is dangerous.

I also think that today there is a danger in believing in the religion so wholeheartedly that you lose the faith.  In believing in the letter of the law so much that you lose the spirit of the law… this is more of an opposite danger… the dangers previously discussed were the kinds of dangers that – when risked – led to better things.   I think that “dangerous faith” can also encompass the dangers that we fall into when we just nod our heads and believe everything that is said without thinking about it and without understanding it for ourselves  If faith were a test, and Jesus the teacher, I don’t think He would want us to just SPIT BACK what He said in a nice, neat essay -  I think He would want us to challenge it, work with it, and come to our own conclusions.   I think that this line of thought itself is perhaps dangerous to some people, because who knows where it could lead?  But who knows where it could lead?!!?  And what it could teach us?  Faith is meant to be grappled with – and grappling with faith can be dangerous as well

The band R.E.M. empathized with Johanna’s feelings when they sang “That’s me in the corner, that’s me in the spotlight, losing my religion, trying to keep up with you, and I don’t know if I can do it.” Faith is dangerous stuff.