The Atlantic

The Church of CrossFit

Gyms and other secular communities are starting to fill spiritual and social needs for many nonreligious people.
Source: Justin Sullivan / Getty

“You always know if someone goes to Harvard or if they go to CrossFit—they’ll tell you,” said Casper ter Kuile, a ministry innovation fellow at Harvard Divinity School. “It’s really interesting that evangelical zeal they have. They want to recruit you.”

CrossFit is his favorite example of a trend he has noticed: how, in the midst of the decline of religious affiliation in America, and , many ostensibly non-religious communities are “functioning in ways that look.

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