Spiritual Probation

"What if you prayed to know truth and God told you everything you've been taught is a lie?" Nate O'Connor wants to do right. His senior year of college, though, gets off to a rocky start. He's a student at Bob Johnson University, the flagship institution of higher learning in American fundamentalism, where he and his best friend are placed on spiritual probation after being accused of disloyalty to the school. Their attempt to repair their reputation backfires and when Nate meets two women--one beautiful and smart, the other wise and charming--his entire belief system is uprooted. Nate's world is further rocked by tragedy and his life will never be the same. Drawing on his own experiences as a student at Bob Jones University, Rich Merritt has crafted an extraordinary story of love, hope, loss, betrayal and loyalty. Most of all, Spiritual Probation is a deeply compelling exploration into the power of faith – in friends, lovers and God, as each of us defines God, and in the unwavering dictates of our own hearts.

"What if you prayed to know truth and God told you everything you've been taught is a lie?" Nate O'Connor wants to do right. His senior year of college, though, gets off to a rocky start. He's a student at Bob Johnson University, the flagship institution of higher learning in American fundamentalism, where he and his best friend are placed on spiritual probation after being accused of disloyalty to the school. Their attempt to repair their reputation backfires and when Nate meets two women--one beautiful and smart, the other wise and charming--his entire belief system is uprooted. Nate's world is further rocked by tragedy and his life will never be the same. Drawing on his own experiences as a student at Bob Jones University, Rich Merritt has crafted an extraordinary story of love, hope, loss, betrayal and loyalty. Most of all, Spiritual Probation is a deeply compelling exploration into the power of faith – in friends, lovers and God, as each of us defines God, and in the unwavering dictates of our own hearts.

Rich Merritt began attending Bob Jones Elementary School as a first-grader in 1973 and remained at the Bob Jones family of schools through his sophomore year of college in 1987. He has published a memoir (Secrets of a Gay Marine P*rn Star - Kensington 2005) and a novel about gay Marines (Code of Conduct - Kensington 2008). He appeared on the cover of the New York Times Magazine in a 1998 feature story by Pulitzer-prize winning author, Jennifer Egan titled Uniforms in the Closet. Readers may contact Rich at richmerritt.com but are forewarned that at the time he left BJU, Rich Merritt was on spiritual probation.