Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of this century's greatest philosophers, actually recommended belief in God. Although he himself was not religious, he commended faith because he thought “it couldn't hurt.” But he was wrong. It hurts. It depends how you believe.

If my belief is opposed to yours, if my belief is exclusive, exclusionary, negating all others, then it hurts. Then it hurts not only me, but you as well. This is the very heart of the problem related to freedom of belief and freedom of conscience.

Throughout the history of the Jews, it has not been easy for my people to sustain our faith and practices. We have suffered for over 3,000 years because of our Jewishness, for believing in our God and in His truth, and in His ways. Today, fortunately, it is different, but the problem of religious freedom still exists for Jews around the world. It is because I am a Jew, a believing Jew, and because of our suffering that the Williamsburg Charter project moves me. We Jews have endured suffering because most of the people around us — Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, many Christians, some Muslims, all the Nazis — had less understanding than the signers of the Williamsburg Charter. This charter reminds us that what makes religious faith operative is conviction not coercion. It is for this reason that James Madison could write: “The Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may.”