“...And the nonreligious won’t get religion through external conversion. It doesn’t work that way.”
Umm...actually Kathleen, yes it does work that way. Christianity is a rescue religion. Every Christian who has ever lived was, at some time in their life, a non-Christian.
You can be born to Christian parents, and be brought up in a Christian household, and be taught Christian doctrine until you can recite the Bible word for word, but none of that makes you a Christian.
Perhaps she is right about the US no longer being a Christian nation, when someone as intelligent as herself doesn’t understand basic Christian belief.
Kathleen has fallen prey to the common falsehood, "I have not experienced that, therefore nobody has." or, "I have not seen that, therefore nobody has."
The more self-centered a person is, the more he will think in that way.
Millions of Christian converts, beginning perhaps with Saul of Tarsus, could point out the error of her assertion.
“...And the nonreligious won’t get religion through external (GOVERMENT IMPOSED) conversion. It doesn’t work that way.”
Fixed it...this is what I think she meant...and on this point...she is correct.