EVERY person — even the one whose beliefs feel harmful or triggering — is more than their politics, more than their theology, more than the label we’re tempted to slap on them.

There’s a particular ache that comes when the community we once called home no longer fits. It’s not just losing a place or a group of people — it’s losing a rhythm, an identity, a way of being known.

Gentleness is not weakness. It is courage. It is inventive. It confounds the violent because it refuses their script.

One of the quiet casualties of high-control religion is emotional honesty. Many of us were taught—explicitly or implicitly—that emotions could not be trusted.