For purposes of what I consider to be Jewish unity, even though I don’t accept Rabbinic authority to impose an interpretation of the Torah, to legislate or to enforce their interpretation or legislation, I have spent many years believing that all conversions must follow a strict “orthodox” approach: the prospective convert is (1) discouraged, then (2) very thoroughly educated, then he demonstrates his (3) understanding of the laws and (4) willingness to accept “the yoke of the Torah” by beginning to live a Torah-observant life, then he must be (5) accepted by a Beit Din, undergo (5) circumcision and (6) immerse himself in a mikvah, after which (7) his conversion to Judaism is both complete and permanent.
Though I knew the story of Ruth and preferred to find a way to return to that system, I always assumed the Rabbinic standards were quite a bit more solid than what I’ve just learned. An article about conversion to Judaism has presented things in a very different way: “The candidate for conversion is first told of the dangers confronting the Jewish people in order to ascertain whether he/she is willing to be subjected to these risks as a Jew… we are not supposed to belabor the issue of mitzvoth… We may neither persuade nor dissuade too much… It is up to the person to decide… whether or not to become Jewish.” This is a great and interesting article that everyone should read; I’ve subscribed to the site’s feed and found a lot of other high quality material there.