Income $$ it took for you to consider coming back? Husband was approached with offer (Boston: sales, 2015)

[3DogNight]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

If you live in Wake County that's not the same as Charlotte. That's Raleigh and the suburbs. Charlotte is full of transplants.

Wake is the second largest county. Volume of transplants is staggering...in certain towns. I didn't move to a transplant town (Apex, HS, WF, Cary). It's changing slowly and the aggressiveness toward that change is encountered daily.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by massnative71

There are many left wing churches taking sides on those issues, not going to name any of them.

Yes, there are. I never said nor implied the politics are one sided, but religion is political. There are progressive churches working to celebrate all of humanity's diversity, fight hatred, anger, war. And there are one's on the other side as well.

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

"Guilt" is much more prevalent in progressive culture and politics than any religion I know of, IMO. Actually, I've never heard anyone in the church even use the word at all, come to think of it... anyway, you're welcome at St Paul's Harvard Square any time- it has the cool architecture you like with the plus of first class sacred music that I doubt many people have ever heard!

Well, I was raised Catholic (mother a Eucharist minister to this day... stories ) and guilt and shame was the basis of the religion. Progressive politics, yeah, only really seeing it for things people should feel guilty for, such has hating someone for their sexual orientation, not for things like, thinking about having sex (a sin in itself).

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Yes, there are. I never said nor implied the politics are one sided, but religion is political. There are progressive churches working to celebrate all of humanity's diversity, fight hatred, anger, war. And there are one's on the other side as well.







Well, I was raised Catholic (mother a Eucharist minister to this day... stories ) and guilt and shame was the basis of the religion. Progressive politics, yeah, only really seeing it for things people should feel guilty for, such has hating someone for their sexual orientation, not for things like, thinking about having sex (a sin in itself).

Can't we all get along here?

[chicagoliz]

Some religions are, and historically have been. But the radical right wing brand of Christianity that has taken over large swaths of the country does anything but. .

Originally Posted by timberline742

I am not sure I agree. They are often very very political. They work to have government have control of women's bodies, they work to fight gay rights, they worked decades ago to prevent racial integration. More than a few of the conservation Christian traditions were aligned/embedded in the KKK. That's political at its core.

I didn't word this clearly. I was responding to a comment about how religions were concerned with social justice. My comment is that there are some religions that are concerned with social justice, and agreeing that previously, religious groups have been involved with movements such as abolition of slavery. But now, there are much more radical groups on the right and they are hugely political, but not from a social justice perspective.

There are some religious groups that do work on social justice issues, but there is a larger and more vocal group that works against them.

[massnative71]

^I know you both have very strong opinions that you make no secret of, and they may have their place in some threads. I do not see how any of this is helpful to the OP, but to each their own.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by massnative71

^I know you both have very strong opinions that you make no secret of, and they may have their place in some threads. I do not see how any of this is helpful to the OP, but to each their own.

Thank you.

[gf2020]

This thread has moved pretty far off topic!

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by massnative71

I have family as well as other friends who either currently (one is in Asheville) or previously lived in various parts of NC/SC, and I never heard of experiences anything like the OP described.

I spent some time in the Smoky Mountains -- about an hour southwest of Asheville -- and, in terms of religion, it was very much like the OP described. I felt like I was on a different planet.

[3DogNight]

Originally Posted by gf2020

This thread has moved pretty far off topic!

Was hopeful for some useful info which is why I came to this thread. I don't want to hear any more about "you should stay in NC" - it's unhelpful - and grew tired of the redirect and the disbelief myself.


I like to hear about MA, warts and all. I know it's cold and expensive, but I'm looking to hear about experiences. We looked at MA in the mid 90s and I'm ever so sorry I was scared off by the ridiculous moniker Taxachusetts, especially coming from NY.



I have been watching the MA, ME and NH forums and all I'm really learning is that there are radically different economic futures (and outcomes) for each state.

[bizcuit]

Originally Posted by 3DogNight

Was hopeful for some useful info which is why I came to this thread. I don't want to hear any more about "you should stay in NC" - it's unhelpful - and grew tired of the redirect and the disbelief myself.


I like to hear about MA, warts and all. I know it's cold and expensive, but I'm looking to hear about experiences. We looked at MA in the mid 90s and I'm ever so sorry I was scared off by the ridiculous moniker Taxachusetts, especially coming from NY.



I have been watching the MA, ME and NH forums and all I'm really learning is that there are radically different economic futures (and outcomes) for each state.

3Dog: I can say this as someone who moved from NYC to NH -- I found the taxes (and all costs, really) laughingly low, compared to what I was used to. It actually skewed my perception of housing costs, in particular. I ended up way over-paying for a house because of that perspective.

I plan to move from NH to West MA in the Spring, so I am trying now to educate myself on the housing costs by watching real estate in the towns that I plan to target. I hope this will at least give me a feel for what's out there, what is a good price, how quickly things sell, etc.

One thing about the "cold". I truly didn't find it all that much colder than what I was used to in NYC. Yes, we get more snow, but honestly, the actual Winter temps between Southern NH and NYC (and, East MA) really only vary by a few degrees in most cases. So it might be 32° here and 35° in NYC, which means our snow will stick and in NYC it doesn't hang around. If you're talking about upstate NY, it might even be colder there than here, depending on where you are.

The one thing that can be different is the availability of natural gas, public sewer and water. Only a few towns in NH seem to have this. It seems to be more ubiquitous in MA, but I wouldn't assume. Heating by oil or propane can be expensive (not to mention a big pain).

The other thing about New England is that you don't find too many places with central a/c. It can get very humid here in the Summer, this past Summer was particularly miserable (I'm sure it was as bad or worse in NY), so that might be something to keep in mind as well. I know, for me, I am going to want to consider what the options will be to install a/c with what I buy, if the place doesn't have it.

Grocery stores: I have been impressed with the variety and availability of grocery options there are. But this is going to be dependent on where you land, so that will be something you will want to research some.

Hope this helps a bit.