During these angst-filled years, Annie decided to quit the church. This action may not have upset her parents so much, after all they did not attend church themselves, if she had not sent an angry letter explaining her quitting to the minister of the Church. Annie’s parents were upset because the letter would cause scandal, gossip and perhaps tarnish their family’s reputation. Annie met with the assistant minister, Dr. Blackwood, of the Shadyside Presbyterian Church to discuss her decision, but his words did not move her. He had loaned her some books and tapes about the theological "problem of pain” for a paper she was writing. Annie could not find an answer anywhere to this question. Ostensibly, this was research for a paper, but the reader
