Heschel tells this story in his book, "A Passion for Truth," his attempt to come to terms with two competing spiritual tendencies--the commitment to what he calls "honesty, authenticity, integrity," and love. One needs both in relation to the other.

I think that's the way it is with honest atheism.

Here's what I mean.

As a rabbi, I really don't have a problem when congregants tell me they don't believe in God. On the face of it, where's the proof? I get that it's hard to believe and especially in a world where there is so much evil done in the name of religion, it's a challenge to convince people that they should have a relationship to a God they cannot see and whose evidence of omnipotence is often, well, lacking.

But the notion of merely walking away from the relationship without a fight is something that I think most people find impossible to withstand. Especially Jews. We relish a good argument. Our founder Abraham stands toe to toe with God at Sodom and Gomorroh and challenges the Divine not to sweep away the good with the evil. In the midst of chaos and the preponderance of evil, Abraham stands as an exemplar of being in relationship with the values God is said to represent--holding God to a higher standard, as it were.

So, according to a new Pew survey, 21% of American atheists believe in God or a universal spirit, 12% believe in heaven and 10% pray at least once a week. I don't find that hard to believe at all. It's hard to walk away from an argument, especially when, as an honest atheist, one may insist upon holding the God Idea to a higher standard.

Heschel writes, "At times we must believe in Him in spite of Him."

It's that way in all relationships--in marriage, with children, in the workplace. No relationship is perfect at all times. From the mundane day-to-day to the depths of despair, we may find, as Heschel argued, that "faith comes about in a collision of an unending passion for Truth and the failure to attain it by one's own means."