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FāVS News | Feb. 23, 2026
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News.
The retreat of faith into private life is only half the problem.
People have watched some Christians move in the opposite direction—seeking to impose their worldview on others, using law, policy, and cultural pressure to enforce religious norms. In this version of faith, very little is left to conscience. Difference becomes threat. Power replaces persuasion.
So people feel trapped between two bad options:
Faith that stays private and largely irrelevant
Faith that seeks to dominate public life
Neither option leads to human flourishing.
This false choice didn’t appear by accident. It took shape during the Enlightenment period, when Western culture made a fateful bargain:
Religion would be treated as private—about belief, morality and worship. Public life would belong to reason, science, politics and economics.
Given the position of the Western church as a political power, this was an understandable choice. It was also an overreaction.
But no society actually works this way.
Every society is shaped by values. Every society has a religio—something that “holds it together.”
The real question is not whether we have a public faith, but which one.
Today, our dominant public religion quietly teaches that human beings are primarily producers and consumers, competing in a winner-take-most economy. Even when softened with kindness or charity, this story slowly erodes human dignity. It treats people as means rather than ends.
And history is clear about one thing: societies with extreme inequality do not last.
Most of us know this, even if we struggle to name it. Few would freely choose such a society for their children or grandchildren.
Which raises a deeper question: If this is not the world we want, why do we keep organizing our life together around these values?
Stay tuned for the next column in this series.
The Rev. Terry Kyllo
The Rev. Terry Kyllo is executive director of Paths to Understanding: Gathering Neighbors, Growing Trust. He is passionate about renewing civil society and democracy by helping communities build trust across deep divides—because he believes we are living too divided, and we do not have to live this way. A Lutheran pastor, Terry works through local practice, media, and public leadership to bring neighbors back into relationship, so we can build a world where everyone belongs and everyone can thrive.