'Give me, O Lord, an undivided heart', asks the Psalmist. Integrity is perhaps the hardest virtue to achieve—not merely making sure that one is steadfast in sticking to one's principles (or examining them critically when honesty so requires), but striving to make sure that all parts of our outlook fit together, that there are no hidden projections or self-deceptions distorting our attitudes, and that all our beliefs are held sincerely and responsibly. Religious belief, or its lack, is something that touches our integrity as or more deeply than [sic] any other aspect of our outlook. It goes to the heart of who we are, what we take ourselves to be doing with our lives, and how we locate ourselves in relation to others.
(John Cottingham, Why Believe? [London: Continuum, 2009], 16 [footnote omitted])
