Commentator Frederica Matthews-Green reflects on the phenomenon of everyday people who demonstrate deep faith. She tells the story of Michael, a local plumber and fellow member of a small Eastern Orthodox congregation, who recently went off to become a monk. As the congregation tearfully sent him off, Matthews-Green noted the extraordinary number of people like Michael who live lives of faithful devotion. Negative images of religious people in the media are unfair stereotype, she says, because most deeply religious people are just like the rest of us, and Michael.
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