As I said near the beginning of my essay, I didn’t expect to change the mind of any devoted believer. I tried really hard to present my thoughts and experiences in a calm, respectful way, and I’m sorry if some of my frustration still slipped through. If you didn’t find any of my thoughts or questions thought-provoking, then I guess the piece had no value for you and that’s OK.

I’m curious, though, why you feel as though you can know enough about me to be confident that I was not exposed to Christianity in the right way. To me, that feels a little bit flippant or dismissive… in the same way I imagine you would feel a bit off-put if I said something along the lines of, “unfortunately, I do not believe you have been exposed to high-quality science classes which I know would convince you that creation myths and the flood cannot be real.” How could I claim to know that — especially if you had just explained that you had years of experience studying science? What convinces one person might not necessarily convince another.

Are you open to the possibility that maybe there’s not a version of Christianity that always has a way of sticking with you; but that there are certain people who naturally thrive in Christianity and others who don’t? What if we all prioritize different things for different reasons, and for some people’s psychology faith makes sense, and for others, it doesn’t? If your answer is “no”, can you express why?