Reply #63: My church now is a lot better, though we still have a lot of work ahead.

[knitter4democracy]

Part of it's cultural, and in the Orthodox church, culture's huge (especially in the Greek church--it's very old-school Greek in many, many ways). That's slowly changing, though, as the second and third generations start taking over and we get more converts. The evangelicals like me who convert take awhile to loosen up, I've noticed, though many of us are just so thankful to find a church that's more what we need that we jump in and start swimming right away.

I don't miss my old church at all, and I'd love to burn down my old college (at least, that dark part of me would relish the job). Horrible things are done to people there in the name of the faith, and it's disgusting.

I'll say it again, though--there's no way you aren't beautiful when you have a heart that loving and kind. No way.