As the parent of two young girls, I struggle with the same issues in my conversations with them. These experiences, however, led me to reject totally the claims of the Christian Church or any other human institution or person to absolute correctness of doctrine or authority. Such claims, based on revelation or anything else, seem arrogant and prideful. I believe that all human perceptions are relative and contingent, except the experience of love. The warmth of my experience of childhood in St. Albans parish was an experience of love, and it remains with me to this day.
Love seems the central fact of human life, and the foundation of spirituality.
All enunciations of this truth, whether in prayer or in a love song, are equally worthy of response. The truth of human suffering remains a mystery. I can fathom the suffering of the innocents who were slaughtered in the camps, or in Bosnia, or wherever. Theirs is the terror of the deer caught in the mindless jaws of a hungry wolf. I suspect the answer is yes.