Why do people go off the derech? I got into a somewhat heated discussion about this last night. After my presentation at a wonderful shul, K'hal Bnei Torah in Brooklyn, a very yeshivishe gentleman came over to me. He complimented me on my talk, which was about the animal kingdom in Jewish thought, but asked me why I had to publish my books on Torah-science issues. He didn't dispute that there are Rishonim and Acharonim who take the rationalist approach, but he argued that it is too dangerous to write about such things. He complained that a