One afternoon when I was 9 my dad told me I'd be skipping school the next day. Then we drove 12 hours from Melbourne to Sydney for the Centenary Test a once-in-a-lifetime commemorative cricket match. It was great fun - especially for a kid who was a massive sports fan.
He has only half learned the art of reading who has not added to it the more refined art of skipping and skimming.
It seems true that the growth of science and secularism made organized Christianity feel under threat.