You know, we have to do a lot of educating about things like SOPA and other laws that we as programmers generally aren&#x27;t fond of. And we get upset because we know these things affect everyone in an important way. People use computers and technology every day of their lives -- some are even programmers, and have been their entire careers -- and sometimes even after they have been educated about this issue, they still don&#x27;t care. But there are still we who care about these issues, and the small number of people (in comparison to users of technology across the whole US) who respond to us.<p>As you can guess, my point is that this situation occurs in many other areas too, including that of religion. And here I will speak from my experience as an Orthodox Christian: this is an extremely dangerous view. The temptation to label your brother as &quot;not a true Christian,&quot; to see yourself as superior because you&#x27;ve read more books, attend more services, pray more often, etc. is very great. I&#x27;m not trying to veer into proselytization here, but rather am trying to explain at least the Orthodox response to the general argument of why all Christians aren&#x27;t obviously great people. :)<p>When it comes down to it, every person -- Christian or not, Orthodox or not -- is engaged in a very great struggle in their hearts. They have been wounded deeply by this world, even if they live in relative comfort and ease compared to another human in a worse situation. Some have chosen a particular hospital to recover in, but unfortunately struggle greatly with their illness.<p>I know that my own case, of having experienced multiple religions and chosen an education in religious studies, is rare. But what I am trying to say is that people being sincere about their religion takes many forms, and is more complex than a one-dimensional scale. There are indeed beacons in the Church: the saints, such as Saints Porphryrios and Paisios, who are not far from us but reposed in the 90s. But as Saint Porphyrios said, there are untold numbers of &quot;hidden saints,&quot; who lived lives of obscurity and humility and love, not writing tracts of theology, but who lived theology, who lived communion with God.<p>I think that perhaps we expect a saint to be a certain kind of mythical person and we hold religious people to that kind of standard. I know that it must be disappointing when you meet a Christian and do not encounter faith, hope, and love. But the story of each Christian&#x27;s life is not over until death -- and even at that point there is mercy.