I’d never heard of it until Mich and I got together. She was raised Church of Christ and at some point decided to look into it (I’m not sure what provoked her research), and had discovered…well…the less-than-1st-Century origin. I’d long since left the COC and also long since understood and accepted that I was an atheist, but this was still mind-boggling to me. I mean, the origin of the sect is even quite recent. And yet, I’m sure that most COCers have never even heard of Stone-Campbell.

d

I do understand why you might understand it that way, though, and many of my Christian friends see it the same, and clearly feel that, had I been raised in a less literal, less legal strain of religion, I might not be an atheist.

Perhaps that is true. I cannot say.

Michelle and I were discussing child abuse yesterday morning, because she’s reading The Wild Truth, the book by Chris McCandless’s sister about their upbringing and why he left to go Into The Wild. The book is a study of child abuse, on the level–according to many people–of A Child Called It. Michelle reads these books but I cannot stomach them. Michelle remarked that, had my upbringing been different, I might want and have my own family. (She finds it interesting that my big brother is also childless, and my little brothers have, erm, “troubled” families. None of us have what could possibly be termed a “normal, functional family,” by any stretch. Frankly, until she mentioned it, I never saw it in that light.)

I think you both make interesting points (if I understand yours correctly), but again…I cannot say. I only know what is, not what might have been if.

d