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I Don’t Feel Comfortable as a Vegan Activist Because of My Evangelical Upbringing
A spiritual experience is what led me away from eating animals, but I stopped evangelizing for anything when I left the church.
Church was a major part of my life growing up. I went to both church service and children’s Sunday School on Sundays, choir practice on Tuesdays, and a kids’ program on Wednesday nights aptly called “Wednesday Night Kids’ Club.” Every summer, I’d spend a week of mornings in someone’s backyard for Vacation Bible School along with a full week at a Christian summer camp.
I loved church.
Church was like school, which I also loved, but with better food and cooler activities. We listened to adults tell stories and watched videos like McGee and Me! about a real-life kid who learned lessons from his skateboarding cartoon friend. We ate snacks and played silly, Double Dare-style games. We sang and prayed. Everyone was happy and everything we did felt fun.
In middle school and the first two years of high school, I attended youth group on Sunday nights as well as occasional Friday night youth events. Instead of quitting the Sunday School, Kids’ Club, and Vacation Bible School I’d aged out of, I became a teacher.
