A LIBRARIAN’S ORIENTATION
What this book explores
A religion reporter recounts how sustained exposure to institutional abuse and unanswered prayer eroded his Christian belief.
EDITORIAL NOTE
Why it’s in the Library
It shows that belief change can be an evidentiary and moral process as much as an intellectual one. The memoir makes room for a nonreligious outcome without asking the traveler to imitate it.
Good starting place if…
You want company from someone whose faith eroded through accumulated reporting, institutional abuse, unanswered prayer, and moral disillusionment rather than one decisive argument.
Know before you begin…
Lobdell's journey ends in nonbelief and reflects his particular experience as an American religion reporter and Christian convert. It is honest testimony, not a prediction that close attention to religious failure must lead everyone to the same destination.