Nearly all the friends I had in high school are now parts of the church. Youth ministers, musicians, etc.
I think the church is the only place they ever felt passionate release of all their inner sh*t and so it meant a lot to them (and so of course the Bible had to be true!)
I felt the same way when I was young, but I eventually realized that taking on a Jesus relationship for comfort and hope only prevented me from facing the things in my past. When things would get hard, I’d pray for comfort, feel okay because the afterlife would be heaven, and forget the problem that caused the pain to begin with. (I mean young life things – in my case, bullying and moving across the country over and over with neglectful folks and a distant family who WERE the church.)
Religion may be interesting, but it’s fantasy. (I mean the light-only, ‘live THIS WAY and ONLY THIS WAY’ religions.) It’s a drug, a crutch – it doesn’t necessarily make you weak, but it does keep you from being strong.