An apology to Larry Hileman

A long time ago I was in the US Navy. One of my best friends on the ship was IC3 Hileman. One day he asked me what being a Christian was like. In a flat and entirely unconvincing tone I replied, "it's great."

Silly me. How would I know? I wasn't even one myself.

I was a devotee of what I now know was churchianity. Churchianity looks a lot like Christianity; it even feels the same from the inside. It's not, though. It was just acting moral ... when someone was looking.

Churchianity encouraged Bible reading, which was, after all, a Very Moral Thing. It discouraged believing anything I read, though, which would kick the legs right out from under it. It was fine with me going to church on Sunday, and acting like a jerk the rest of the week. Churchianity taught that idols were okay, as long as I didn't physically bow down to them.

I don't know where Hileman is now. I doubt he's reading this. On the off-chance he is, though, I want to say something to him:

I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't know what I was talking about. I'm sorry for giving a flip answer to a serious question. I hope you can forgive me.