I appreciated reading both of your stories. You make some excellent points in both articles and you have a way of taking complex issues and explaining them simply.

I think the reason the two stories fared so much differently comes down to title and opening.

In the popular one, your title promised exactly what you wrote. It was also intriguing. Your subtitle made it clear you were going to examine some controversy. You then lived up to the promise very well.

In the less read one, your title is generic. Only someone interested in the Bible is likely to click.

You then open with "When I was a young child." Memoir doesn't do well around here unless readers are pretty certain they are going to care about your story in some way.

You could have started with the hymn. Or even better start with your premise which you don't get to until paragraph five.

" The power of the Bible, in terms of its ability to influence and change lives, comes from the fact that it tells stories, and not from whether those stories are fact or fiction."

This should have been your title as well. Something along the lines of "It doesn't matter whether the Bible stories are true or not".

There are so many ho hum stories on Medium along with straight up poorly written ones. You have to sell your story to the reader in the title and the opener or they won't check to see if you are ho hum or worthy of a read.