If you haven’t heard yet, Megan Phelps-Roper and her sister Grace recently left the Westboro Church. The story is getting a lot of press, but I think this account from Medium is the original. It’s a powerful story about the change and growth that can come when you break free from epistemic closure, but also about how some things are constant even in a storm of doubt and change.

She hopes to emerge from this season “with a better understanding of the world and how I fit into it,” she says, “and how I can be an influence for good.” This all sounds lovely and rainbows and unicorns, but really? You may believe it or you may not, but Megan won’t budge on this—and a trace of the characteristic Westboro stubbornness that I experienced in Topeka resurfaces. She is emphatic: “It’s true! I wanted to do good! I thought I was. And that wish hasn’t changed.”