Here is a link to a wonderful article by Bernard Avishai written in response to the NY Times review of James Carroll's newest book, "Practicing Catholic."
Both Avishai and Carroll are sometimes considered too critical of their faiths and are sometimes asked why, if they don't like them, they stay. Both men for me personify moral courage and great humanity and decency. The Avishai article is his Easter and Passover gift.
Both men demonstrate by who they are and what they say the value of staying within society and being willing to do so with one's integrity intact.
All of this is difficult to address. In our age of the demands of social science to define concepts in clear words and back them up with data, Avishai and Carroll, by their words and deeds, appeal to those best parts of us anchored in the shadows of our being which we find it all too easy to ignore, to our detriment.