I believe that many people have left their faith or never got on the train because of fear. They fear that by being faithful they’ll have to do or not do things that they would otherwise enjoy, if they lack such faith. To them it feels as if the prison walls are closing as everyone else is walking free. Let’s face it obligations and responsibilities can feel like a burden maybe that’s why people have cats as pets instead of dogs.
Yet fear of G-D also opens up new doors that others who lack the faith have closed. For we don’t fear death as much as living for a higher purpose. That gives us freedom from the chains of a P.C. culture that continues to tie many people up. It allows us to be who we are and not to worry we aren’t meeting everyone else’s goals just one above. I guess in the end it’s how one looks at a faith that determines how free they will be with or without it?