I’ve spent much of my life — some might say, way too much of it — in church. I have a background in the social sciences, and I’ve always been interested in hearing churchgoers’ stories about how they came to faith. I enjoy looking for patterns.
Get to know the most devoted churchgoers, and you’ll learn they’re rarely who you assume they would be.
Yes, I’ve met Christians who were raised in the fold, accepted the tenets from childhood on, never seriously doubted any of it and have lived pious lives from the cradle to wherever age they are now, in their 40s, 50s or 80s. But I’ve met only a handful of those folks.
Mainly, that’s not the story. Mainly, the people who’ve become devoted to their faith did so along a winding path. Some had been to jail. Some were atheists. Some grew up in church, rejected it in their youth, veered out into the wider world for years and then reluctantly found their way back. Some hated organized religion.
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