At work we had a similar mental excercise a few years back during the World Cup.
I envisioned an Israel/Palestinean game where the Palestineans sent in a suicde bomber to take out the Israeli goalie to win the game.
As to your question of why people do it? Many faiths require/encourage public expressions of Faith. I always thought Christianity is one of those. The idea of Fellowship is strewn throughout everything I ever learned.
Think like those Falon Gong people, they could be all underground in China, but thier religion REQUIRES them to be open and practice thier faith in Public. Even if that means you are persecuted and killed.
Thanks for the info.
I know plenty of people who show their faith by publicly doing good works and publicly advocating prayer while they do it, publicly acknowledging their faith, etc. I know people who are openly and vocally Christian who work at a homeless shelter near me; someone I am very close to works at a hospice and is similarly very vocal about her religious motivation. THAT is what I consider being open and practicing their faith in public. THIS sort of thing nowhere in that ballpark, so to speak.