Leaving the Faith

We all love conversion stories. Our history is riddled with them. Perhaps the quintessential conversion, unrivaled in its drama, unexpectedness, and completeness is that of St. Paul, who encountered Christ on the road to Damascus. The story has penetrated our consciousness and our language so that a “Damascus Road experience” denotes a radical and instantaneous conversion. Other great conversion stories inevitably come to mind. St. Augustine’s struggle with the Christian faith took place over years and finally culminated in the dramatic scene in the garden with the child’s voice chanting, “take up and read.” In the 20th century, the conversion of Whittaker Chambers from communism to a defender of the West represents a pattern and trajectory that those on the right find both thrilling and comforting. After all, our own convictions are inevitably strengthened when someone who has long opposed our views experiences a change of heart and joins our side.