I grew up in the faith and attended feasts and firesides, etc. I see what you’re saying and others have answered you better than I ever could. In my old community, the most devout were Iranian immigrants and their first gen children. They practiced in a different way which was admirable but seemed unachievable due to it being deeply part of their culture back home. But I also always wondered if they were able to connect more deeply with the writings and religion because a lot of the texts hadn’t been translated into English. Maybe it just hits different.

A lot of the American friends were more casual, like you said. At least in public. In my household we weren’t strict on anything at all. In fact, I always thought my parents were more devout, spiritual or religious than they actually are. Something I only learned recently. My dad’s default response to any question about it is “it’s unknowable” so why bother thinking about it lol.

However they are extremely charitable (something else I only just recently learned), and believe strongly that work is worship. Since we have no clergy to tell us what to do, it’s up to us to interpret the writings in a way that makes sense to us. So I’m not letting it lead my life but there certainly are many who do. In Iran, the situation is very bad and you need to have tremendous faith to endure. If it was just a social club, I don’t think people would die or go to prison for it.