When I was in Middle School, my mom was earning her associates at the local community college. One day she came home rather agitated. She was taking sociology at the time and was researching a paper. She had stumbled onto a textbook that in its discussion of cults had classified the Assemblies of God as a cult. Needless to say she went into a rant in defense of her core beliefs.
I did not dwell on it at the time. I was a devout (if not perfect) follower of the faith of my family. I later went to the same community college. I did not take sociology, but I did take evolutional biology. It set my mind on fire. The very complicated web of faith that I had woven in my 18 year old mind, was badly damaged.
I sought refuge in the one place that I was certain would restore my faith. I went to an Assemblies of God bible college, tossing what might have been a promising career in the sciences aside.
While I did not exactly fit in, I did manage to stabilize my faith. But stabilization is not repair. I have had so highs and lows over the years, but the subtle erosion my faith has continued.
End of part 1.
I had one of those moments in High School biology. It wasn’t evolution, but taxonomy that did it for me. The whole family/genus/species thing really captured my attention and made sense in a way that I let “steep” for several years, without fighting it, and without really defending my “faith” against it. By the time I got to college, I learned from Rich Israel and others that it wasn’t too difficult to integrate my faith with evolution. Although there are still young-earth people out there, and folks who assume you’re going to hell if you believe species may have evolved one from another.
I agree, it is not that difficult to integrate the two. But it is also not a huge stretch to eliminate faith altogether. The pendulum swings widely in my noggin these days. Hopefully some day I will find a comfortable resting place.