Don’t beat yourself up. Seriously.

I was able to break free early partly due to how absurd the hypocrisy became. My mother was going to hell, not because she’s a cold narcissist, but a Jew and a ‘practitioner’ of new age bullshit. And my father saw nothing at all wrong with this type of belief.

Not to mention he was pretty racist (though in a ‘subtle’ way), while helping raise my adopted Korean sister.

I was lucky that he and my mother were such atrociously bad examples of how to deal with others, that I vowed to never be like them.

I recently saw a shirt for sale online that says, “I’m sorry for everything I said when I was evangelical,” and that really just about sums it up.

Fellow former conservative christian here, and I share that pain. I eventually came around thanks to a LOT of patience from friends who understood my background.

I try to pay it forward by putting myself out there and extending a hand to anyone looking to understand and accept others. I have had decent success with anyone who asks in good faith.

Same. Lost a very good friend because I was too slow to change, lost my family because I did.