Several years ago in an introductory religious studies class I was reading aloud the famous “death of God” speech by Nietzsche's madman. Midway through the passage, I looked up to notice a young African-American woman at the back of the classroom who had both hands clamped firmly over her ears, which she kept in place until I finished reading. She left the classroom hurriedly at the end of the hour and never returned after that day. One part of me found her response gratifying. She, at least, got Nietzsche's point, unlike the other blasé undergraduates (most of whom were white, well-to-do products of Christian, Jewish, or secular liberalism). For her it mattered whether God is the God of the living or the dead. On the other hand, her gesture epitomized all too graphically an attitude common among modern believers (though rarely exhibited so concretely): they are unwilling to hear challenges to the truth of their faith, and at the root of that unwillingness is cowardice; they do not believe that they can meet the challenge, and they are afraid to try.