I’ll look forward to it, but you’re talking to a home school dad and CS Lewis was a major force in our three kids’ education. I am also a born again Christian who had to come out of organized religion to find faith. I cannot possibly see where you are going with this, but I’ll keep an eye out....
Regardless of one's denomination (or lack thereof) I suspect that most believing Christians will agree that morality is objective and there are clear distinctions between that which is right and that which is wrong. That very belief presupposes "rules" however, and attempts to codify them tend to engender disagreement. This is, I believe, a natural, if not inevitable result of imperfect humans trying their best to interpret a perfect Divine Will; we're going to make mistakes. If we got it right every time, we would have perfect knowledge of God's Will, which no single human can possibly have. Yet, sincere Christians, despite dogmatic differences will embrace specific beliefs, attitudes and consequently practices as their means of expressing their faith. Failing to do so would be "giving up," in an effort to know God.
Indeed you yourself, felt it necessary to, for the context of this conversation, identify and define yourself by (some of) the outward actions you have taken as the result of your beliefs:
"...you’re talking to a home school dad and CS Lewis was a major force in our three kids’ education..."
Certainly those actions reflect your values, and presumably you mentioned them to me because you expect me to recognize some particular virtue in them. It is apparent that to you, those actions are an extension or manifestation of your belief system or your faith.
Guess what? A denomination is, for all intents and purposes a group of folks of like values who have decided to do the exact same thing, i.e., manifest their beliefs in their actions. You say this has, "absolutely nothing to do with real faith and a real relationship with Jesus." Yet, for serious practitioners of any Christian denomination, it has everything to do with their faith and real relationship with Jesus.
Don't get me wrong, there are many self-proclaimed Christians in every denomination and non-denominational community who pay lip service to their faith, and worse, those who hypocritically hold and act on beliefs in direct opposition to those they profess. Yet, for those who genuinely seek to know Christ, their choice of community is a very deliberate, conscious and spiritual decision, made with every intention of building a closer tie to the Savior. Cynically speaking, history is replete with examples of persons who have aligned with one denomination over another to further their personal agendas and enhance their personal power or prestige or to exploit others. Clearly they miss the point of Christianity.
For the seriously committed, whether one is receiving the Eucharist in St. Patrick's Cathedral firmly believing that they are receiving the blood and body of Christ, or those juggling snakes in a remote Appalachian Pentecostal church, the actions that define a denomination are merely external expressions of deeply intimate and internalized beliefs.
Now, to the concept of, "conversion." I suppose for some people, perhaps for many, conversion might be a matter of convenience, political expedience, or just trying to fit in. For others, however, it is a profound, life altering transformation. Whether it is from one denomination to another within the Christian profession, or from something entirely outside of it, it may happen in a flash, with a proverbial "Road to Damascus" experience, or it may be the end of a long, spiritually arduous journey. In either case, the surrendering of one's way of life to embrace another is a profound decision. An atheist who becomes a Christian may be likened to a traveler getting on a whole new road. I would liken Hahn to somebody who stayed on the same general path, but changed horses. In either case, both persons have made conscious decisions and implemented those changes they came to believe were necessary for them to get where they needed to go.
I'm in no position to begrudge either man their choice or their reasons, as I know that for me personally, I can not envision changing either my road or my horse, and anything that would prompt me to do either would be of such profound, immense and overwhelming power, that it would have to seem to me as though God himself were redirecting me.