From news editor Daniel Silliman: You think you understand people, and then, sometimes, you stumble on a fact that just makes you think, What? Here’s the most recent example for me: In a survey of Christians in the United States, about 10 percent said prayer, worship, and growing closer to God are better online than in person.

That doesn’t sound right to me at all. I am quite at home on the internet, but to get closer to God, I have to stop scrolling. Could one out of every ten Christians really be praying more (or better) while online? 

I don’t know. That’s a good place to be for a reporter, though. That’s where we want to start—not confident, but curious, not seeking confirmation, but pursuing facts that will give us a fuller, more complicated, and maybe different view of the world. Instead of being unsettled by the surprise that people are different than we thought, we want to take it as an invitation to investigate. 

If I figure out what’s happening with these online pray-ers, I’ll let you know. And if you already know, let me know, because it doesn’t make any sense, but I’m curious.