According to a recent news article, an American young woman began a relationship with a new group of friends. She found them online after reading about the Islamic State. She was curious about them and wanted to know why they behaved as they did.

She found them easily, and they were willing to spend hours with her to explain their view of the world. They were, she said, very kind. They were interested in what she wanted to do with her life. They told of the new Islamic State, where one could live by God’s laws.

The young woman had grown up as a Christian, but her new friends said she didn’t have to leave Christianity to become a Muslim. She could join a faith that, they said, corrected Christianity.

At one point, she contacted her Christian pastor with questions about the Trinity and what Christians believed. The pastor spent about fifteen minutes with her and said she needed to trust God.

What appears to have won over the young woman were the hours her friends spent with her, listening to her, and answering her questions. Eventually, she converted, online, to Islam. She has considered traveling to a Muslim land to live with fellow believers.

The new convert to Islam was not part of an immigrant family, the kind often pictured as drawn to the Islamic State. She wasn’t trying to find her way within two cultures. She grew up in a more mainstream American society.

We think of our young people as pleasure-seeking hedonists. Perhaps many are looking for our friendship and our time. Perhaps they want to find purpose and meaning and a place to serve.

Here’s the entire story if you’re interested.