"The hardest thing for me, living in a bright Red community in an otherwise Blue state, is that I can't find a church that I can go to in good conscience. Out east, where I come from, there were plenty of mainstream churches that would never have taken a political position on anything. Methodist, Presbyterian, Anglican, Episcopalian - you name it, they were normal, everyday people who allowed you to believe what you wanted to believe."
"All my life I have felt that I had some control over the things in life that matter to me. Now, not even my vote counts. I vote anyway in every election because that's what patriots do, but in the presidential election where, ultimately, the out-dated Electoral College elects the president, I have no voice. Barring some cataclysmic shift, Texas is going to vote RED. It makes me angry, sometimes depressed, always worried about the state of our country."
Left-leaning residents in deeply conservative and rural areas often cannot find nonpartisan religious communities and feel forced away from local churches that align with politicized beliefs. Many experience chronic social isolation and lack of like-minded peers, which can lead to anger, depression, and persistent worry about the country's direction. Voting can feel futile because of entrenched state-level outcomes and the Electoral College. Family ties and caregiving obligations often constrain relocation, leaving people feeling stuck and dependent on small, hard-to-find support networks.
Read at BuzzFeed
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