Conviction and tolerance may not be mutually exclusive, but they do require a difficult balancing act — especially for high-profile public figures.

On one hand are those who see any kind of religious conviction as intolerance or bigotry. The only acceptable position to them is a declaration that all faith traditions and expressions are equal.

To hold firm to the tenets of a particular faith is considered disrespectful of other religious traditions. That is sheer nonsense.

On the other hand, some religiously tenacious people expect everyone from their dogcatcher to the president to pass their religious test for office. That is ridiculous too.

Politicians seem to have a particularly difficult time with these two extremely polar perspectives. They want their religiously motivated constituency (with whom they share faith commitments) to identify with them while still attracting votes from those from a different faith tradition or none at all.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry felt that squeeze when attending an always-dangerous “God and Country” service at John Hagee’s Cornerstone Church in San Antonio.

At the conclusion of Hagee’s brimstone sermon, a reporter asked the governor if he agreed with the fiery pulpiteer’s assertion that all non-Christians go to hell. According to a Dallas Morning News account, Gov. Perry said he did.

“In my faith, that’s what it says, and I’m a believer of that,” the conservative Christian governor replied.

Now, those of us with deep experiences in Baptist churches know that such an answer is as expected in conservative Christian circles as saying yes to a second helping of chicken. There should be no surprise here.

However, the right follow-up question for those like Gov. Perry, who serve and represent a broadly-diverse constituency, is: Can you hold tightly to your own faith convictions and still be respectful and tolerant of those who hold equally-deep faith convictions that are different?

The answer, of course, is one certainly can be highly convictional and widely gracious at the same time. Christian conviction must always be teamed with humility, respect and kindness.

Particularly for government leaders in the United States, however, the guarantee of religious liberty for all should be constantly reaffirmed.

Melissa Rogers, director of the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at Wake Forest University, during the T.B. Maston Lectures at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Seminary, said it succinctly and well: “In short, one does not have to believe that all religions are equally true in order to believe that the government ought to treat all religions equally.”

As expected, Gov. Perry sought to soften his comments at a political rally later by offering this clarification: “I don’t know that there’s any human being that has the ability to interpret what God and his final decision making is going to be.”

He probably wishes he had included that along with his first statement at the church. But no one should be condemned for holding faith convictions unless those convictions lead them to violate the principles of justice and equality essential to fulfilling one’s job.

And, on a personal level, even those of us who are not political leaders must learn to live and work in a more pluralistic society than most of us have encountered before. To do so requires not seeing our personal faith convictions and the acceptance of other persons with differing viewpoints as being mutually exclusive.

In fact, Jesus taught a whole lot about what we are to believe and how we are to behave.