He hopes that his children will stand in the world with their own honor. He does not want to exchange his friends and their honor for his own life. The honor of a Christian is very important, that is why he cannot allow anyone to take it away from him.
John Proctor has a strong faith about doing what he thinks is right. With the presence of Reverend Parris, Proctor mentions the reason why he rarely attends church. "I have trouble enough without I come five mile to hear him preach only hellfire and bloody damnation. Take it to heart, Mr. Parris. There are many others who stay away from church these days because you hardly ever mention God any more" (Page 28-29_Author Miller). He does not fear Mr. Parris, a minister in Salem, he just cares about what is right. He believes that Parris's teachings are wrong; Christianity is not only hell and the devil, but also God.
He shows his disdain to Parris as well as his mistrust of authority. Proctor's faith makes himself become a straight man. His Christian morals do not allow him to hear what is wrong. Standing in the front of Danforth, Proctor exclaims, "I have confessed myself! Is there no good penitence but it be public? God does not need my name nailed upon the church! God sees my name; God knows how black my sins are! It is enough!" (Page 142_Arthur Miller). Proctor has strong faith upon God who he thinks is the sole one who can judge him. God is the sole one he needs, so he will not give confessing to anyone except God. His faith leads him to do the right things. He uses his faith regarding God and Christian morals as a key to make his refusal of signing legal.
With available faith, Proctor needs something more to make his faith much stronger; that is the loyalty to his belief. In the article about John Proctor, its author states that "Proctor chooses to follow his personal ethics, symbolized in his name, rather than the corrupt and misguided instruction of the state" (Bruccoli, Matthew J.
