Cont...

As humans most of us have the propensity to grow into then out of these groups and I think with age, and the inevitable dose of cynicism, your chance to be a fundi may have past you by. I am happy for my brief sojourn with them in my teens.

Yet you do show the signs of the individualism that perhaps may still put you in contention for the older variety, therefore I will use your excellent example of the Quakers to illustrate the pitfalls.

'Amazing Grace' is a Christian favorite no matter what the denomination, yet the author John Newton, contrary to popular thought, did not have his conversion moment when recoiling from the evil of the trade in slaves, but because he thought his life would be lost during a storm. In fact he went on to Captain slave ships for a few more years.

The Quakers were the ones who most clearly saw the evil and enlisted Mr Wilberforce to be their spokesperson in parliament.

Any conversion isn't going to mean much to the rest of the world unless married with an empowering collective.