The debate about the language in which we learn and express our faith is often misleading, I think, because amid all the talk of accessibility and historical accuracy, the most important word -- poetry -- is rarely brought into the discussion.

We easily associate music with worship, thinking we mean the power of melodies and rhythms sung by choirs and congregations. But the original music of the great faiths is in the words of the holy books and of the prayers. And that is vital, because, as most of us understand, you don't really "explain" music, you feel it, and the experience of great music is transcendent. It is also memorable -- indeed, unforgettable. So, too, with great poetry. These qualities are not always lost in translation, but when the new language is merely literal and utilitarian it becomes a barrier to the sense of exaltation that many worshippers are seeking.

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Who will defend the Muslim who doubts his faith? Who speaks for the man or the woman who might believe in Allah, by his or her own lights, but does not wish to worship? We hear a great deal in the West about the need for freedom of religion in the Muslim world, usually meaning for observant Christians and Jews. But what about freedom of non-religion: the liberty of the individual to think, to reason, to speak out loud rejecting the dictates of public piety? Few voices are raised, if any, in his or her defense.

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