We’re still around, and the reasons relate directly to your opening question. First, it turns out that people who are certain that they’ve found the right way want to tell others about it. What’s the point of Knowing the Truth if you can’t brag about it? For Christians and many others, there is an obligation (borne of love) to talk it up.

Well, you might say, that’s not really conversation, that’s a monologue. True. But sometimes when people monologue at each other, they accidentally hear what the other is saying. Even if they don’t agree, they come to accept the basic authenticity of the other person’s viewpoint. They go from being cartoon characters to humans with whom they disagree. That is progress.

Second, religious people swiftly find common ground ridiculing their common enemy: secularism. One reason religious Christians embraced Joe Lieberman in 2000 was that while he was a Jew, he was observant and therefore an ally in the war on secularism.

Most important, a large majority of religious people don’t actually care about doctrinal differences. For them, faith is personal – a sense that they have a great Partner helping with life’s travails. That someone else might have a different view is often unfortunate but irrelevant. On our website, we often find that when people go to message boards to debate doctrine or philosophy, they seldom change minds. But look at one of our interactive prayer circles – say, for a child battling leukemia – and you’ll see prayers from many faiths. Almost never will you find the mother of that child complaining that someone of a false faith offered a prayer.