Do we want an Evangelical Christian on the Supreme Court?

I read this morning that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers is a born-again Christian. As an agnostic who has thought long and hard about it, I just don't get it!

I do not understand how a smart person can accept the "born-again" idea. If any Christian belief is a fairy tale, the born-again one, coupled with the idea of accepting Christ as the "savior" described in the Bible, surely is.

I want judges who are Philosphers, not People of Faith. I want them to be skeptical, to ask questions, to never accept something just because a sacred book, or belief system, or preacher, or even a warm feeling inside, says it's true.

To me, belief in Evangelical Christianity is no less extreme than Islam's belief in martydom. True, it's far more benign, and that's a good thing, but it's no less fantastical. Like Islam, its outrageous claim that it "knows the truth" is never challenged. Like Islam, it's believed with certainty. Both religions "know" for certain that God is on their side, and what happens to us after death.

Why is "religious belief" so radically different from other types of "belief" when it comes certainty? In every other area of life -- business, science, academics, personal relationships -- what we "believe" is a function of our experience, knowledge, asking hard questions, application of logic, what our senses tell us, etc. Only in the area of "religion" are we expected to accept as true a set of beliefs for which there's not a scintilla of evidence.

The fact that a believer finds it "comforting" or a "source of solace" counts for nothing in terms of whether it's the truth or not. The only real TRUTH about the nature of God and the Universe, and our relationship as humans to each of them, is this: WE DO NOT KNOW! It would be nice if we did, but we don't. This is not deny to "spirituality" -- which I believe is real -- but rather to question the assumption that any religion has a corner on the truth.

It must feel very peaceful, perhaps even smugly pleasant, to possess the certainty that Evangelical Christianity (and Islam) confers. I'm just not sure it's a quality I want to see in a Supreme Court justice.