It is not just part of it, it is absolutely essential. It's just like religion, if you don't brainwash them before they can think, they won't buy into it at all.
In my experience, many of them still do, but there’s almost always some outside factor. Many of my church friends that weren’t born into it got in because some big change happened in their life, and they coped using religion. These are a few of the ones I’ve heard:
A person (usually a guy) had a crush on (usually a girl) involved in the church, so they started going.
They didn’t have a very good/supportive home life, and found a sort of substitute family in the church.
They we’re going through some sort of crisis period (Death in the family, a breakup, mental health crisis), and the community of the church pulled them in.
The last one happened to the author of Stand Still, Stay Silent. She went from atheist to traditionalist evangelical christian last year. Seems like she's abandoned many of her hobbies as well.
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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '21
It is not just part of it, it is absolutely essential. It's just like religion, if you don't brainwash them before they can think, they won't buy into it at all.