I saw on of those videos that were like check the time and then look up the verse in the Bible this is a sign. Idk why I did it or why it was on my Fyp but I did .

5:21 numbers

here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse[a] among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell.

Abortion is apparently okay if it’s a man’s choice 😒

My MAGA Catholic father keeps sending me rosaries in the mail even after I asked him not to. I am a lesbian who has been out for literally 30 years.

He is too narcissistic to grasp that I have zero interest in his religion. I have honestly never felt so free from his control as I did after I sent him this text telling him to leave me alone. So fucking done…

so i know, that, realisticslly, my family is never gonna accept me as a tgirl. my dad has a least been openish abt it. when i floated the idea of me being trans he essentially said "i think you're just depressed and im worried that you're gonna make a descision you can't undo", which honestly is a giant step up from "these transgenders are all hellbound" type rhetoric. I don't wanna give up on him just yet.

the most prestige cinema he can handle is better call saul tier, so he likes good films but not kino stuff. so i really need like, the CW/Fox/mayyybee HBO equivalent of positive trans rep. It doesn't have to be a perfect beautifully nuanced take, like legit if a show or movie throws a boy in a dress and says "hey look these people aren't monsters" I'll take it. I really really wanna keep some semblance of a positive relationship with my family if i can.

Thanks in advance.

Surely this teaching is triggering for other folks on here? According to Catholic doctrine a murderer, rapist, child abuser, or whoever else, can go to Heaven if they repent, accept Jesus, and ask for forgiveness. What about their victim/s and everyone else affected by their actions, do they not matter?

Catholics will also preach that "all have sinned," and in other words telling a lie or holding a grudge is equal with committing murder or child abuse. Just goes to show how petty their vile deity is! Don't forget, we didn't beg and plead to exist in a state where we'd be unable to avoid sinning.

Something else Catholics preach is "only God can decide who goes to Heaven, we cannot make that judgment." Hm, I thought their deity was supposed to be fair and just. On the other hand, the Bible clearly states plenty of times that everything happens according to their deity's will and plan, including which sins a person commits and whether they'll go to Heaven or receive eternal damnation. But should you bring this up, you get the free will excuse. Bah!

Matter of fact, this is one reason why I'd have no desire for Heaven. There are lots of folks (both Catholic and non-Catholic LOL) I've encountered here on Earth whom I'd have absolutely no desire to possibly see and spend eternity alongside in Heaven, screw their repentance and asking for forgiveness!

This week I had my grandmas funeral. She was the most important person in my life. I haven’t gone to church in probably 15 years but I gave a eulogy and it wasn’t until after I learned that the Catholic Church doesn’t really approve of them and I was the only one that gave one longer than 3 minutes. The rest of the hour was just praying over and over again. Overall I was just very unsatisfied with the entire thing. I wanted it to be about her but It was all about the rituals to make sure she actually gets to heaven. She was a believer but she was the fun kind of catholic. It wasn’t a huge part of her life. It just feels like the Catholic Church completely hijacks grief and puts all these constraints on what families can and can’t do. I wanted it to be about her, her life, her friends, and it all just left a bad taste in my mouth. Sorry for the rant, there’s nothing that can be done now but I’m just curious about anyone else’s experiences if they were good or bad and if anyone has experienced something similar.

I (39F) was diagnosed with autism in early childhood. Even though I turned out to be higher-functioning, in several ways I practically got punished for it.

My mom having a tendency to be overprotective, having to be cautious in certain places because my hearing was heightened and therefore loud noises triggered me, people thinking I should live in a group home and/or be in special education, are just a few ways of how I practically got punished for something I didn't choose. My family had to overcome hardships and challenges as well because of my diagnosis, and I feel terrible for them. They love me and wouldn't change a thing, but I still wish they didn't have to endure their obstacles.

On one hand, my autism wasn't preached to me and/or my family as the result of sin, a punishment, or the work of "the devil." On the other hand however, I was taught that "God" creates us how we are, or at least allows us to be how we are, nothing happens unless he allows it, and everything works out according to his plan. In other words, me being autistic and having to overcome those hardships (and my family's challenges as a result) was part of "God's" plan, and he created me this way, or at least allowed me to be this way.

Besides the typical "just trust and have faith in his plan," "you'll find out the reason/s when you get to Heaven," and other similar canned responses, another claim given is that Goddy dearest gives people disabilities, challenges, or whatever else, "to bring himself glory," as well as teach others and serve as examples. Ah, so in other words I was an unwilling guinea pig...how wonderful! /s

So yeah, this is just one of many reasons why I finally left Catholicism (and Christianity, and religion as a whole) behind for good. If in fact there was a reason/s for my autism (and countless other things), I'd have no desire to wait until after I die to know the reason/s, I'd want to find out right now. Anyone see where I'm coming from there?

My family is very Catholic, so much so they regularly seek out churches that are “correct” Catholic ones and it’s literally their whole life.

My wife was raised loosely Christian but when we got married she agreed to become Catholic so we could be married in a Catholic Church. One other piece of information is that her family comes from a very working class urban type of lifestyle, blunt, crude, blue collar. While I myself don’t fit in or like a lot of their lifestyle I see the good in them in that they all are public servants, firefighters and a doctor and they are very family oriented.

My parents never really seemed to like my wife I think mostly because of her family and that while she did do RCIA she isn’t fanatical about it.

There’s has been so so many instances where she’s been left out or forgotten since she’s joined our family. Literally every single family holiday get together we’ve left, she ends up in angry tears on the ride home. Yet my other siblings who marry spouses who came from Catholic families are treated like golden children.

Although I like a decent bit about Catholicism as I understand it myself, I absolutely hate the cliquish, cultish holier than though behavior.

Pretty sure Jesus spent most of his time talking to sinners and preached caring for the sick, visiting the lonely etc over rituals.

Today was one of those rare times I‘m caught up and just relaxing on a day off. Ran some enjoyable errands, grabbed a coffee, and in walks a woman from my old parish. I hadn’t seen her in more than three years.

She is affluent, conservative, wears rare French and Spanish mantillas, prays a pearl rosary in Latin, admires sartorially splendid clerics such as Cardinal Burke, and is devoted to anti abortion activities. A deluxe rad trad.

I asked her how she was doing and inquired about her family. She barely answered before asking, “Did you come to your senses?” I knew what she meant without asking: Did I return to the fold? I said no, and I never would.

She said, “You know you’re going to hell without the sacraments.”

Work that charm on me.

I said as politely as possible that I didn’t believe in made up sacraments any longer, far less in hell.

She said it would have been better for me never to have known the truth because now I would definitely be lost.

Might have been nice if she didn’t sound so happy about my eventual immolation.

Years ago, I would have felt guilty. Today, I almost laughed out loud. Things can get easier.

Making threats of eternal hellfire is an odd response to someone leaving a group.

What about having a convo about why I left, how she might help, all that stuff about heaven rejoicing over the return of one lost lamb? Not that I want that! It’s just hard to imagine why someone would condemn you for leaving instead of trying to convince you it’s worth returning.

Anyone have a jolly “headed for hell” story to share? Better able to laugh about it today than when it happened?

TLDR: Just vibing at a coffee shop when a resplendent super trad tells me I’m on the highway to hell.

When I was a Catholic, I heard from some people in real life and online that I wasn't a real Catholic or wasn't Catholic enough if I didn't do or believe xxx. Stuff like, "You aren't a Catholic if you don't believe gay relationships are a sin," "You aren't Catholic enough if you don't pray the rosary and don't go to confession often," "You aren't a real Catholic if you don't believe in all alleged apparitions of Mary," etc.

I get that this is manipulation, and it was used to make me do or believe something I didn’t want to.

What I don’t get is that when I decided to leave, the narrative suddenly shifted to me apparently never having stopped being a Catholic and being a Catholic forever because "baptism leaves a mark on the soul," apparently.

It seems like, according to some, I am more of a Catholic now than I was when I considered myself a Catholic. Like, why?!

This is kind of an inversion of the trope where evangelical Christians say that a person who decides to leave Christianity was never really a Christian. In Catholicism, you apparently get the opposite.

Anyone else experienced this?

And what do you think is the psychological process behind this? Why do Catholics act like this?

How can they claim to be 'devout' Catholics, yet support Trump and cheer-on all this deportations?

They try to justify their behavior by claiming they only reject 'illegal' immigration. But if you've ever sat around a group of Catholics (including priests) they constantly make thinly veiled bigoted comments about black people, women (who they seem to hate more than any other group), homosexuals (despite mostly being closeted gays), immigrants, jews, and muslims.

One of the nastiest women I've ever met is a 'devout catholic'. She is morbidly obese, a huge glutton, selfish, hateful, racist, bigoted, and literally stole from the church (using church money to order packages for herself). Naturally, she is a huge Trump supporter. Despite being married to an immigrant from some Latin American country. She found Trumps tweets about the Episcopal bishop HILARIOUS. Imagine seeing that unhinged tweet, claim to be a 'devout' catholic woman, and then view Trump's reaction to the National Cathedral service as funny and righteous.

Honestly, many of the parasites attracted to the Catholic church are people who failed miserably in life and view it as an easy way to cosplay as a "good", sanctimonious person. They make being Catholic their entire personality. And the church even pays their kids' school tuitions, gives them free food, and helps them be part of a community of priggish, holier-than-thou chauvinists. It also praises them for popping out a hoard of kids they can't really afford.

Obviously not ALL catholics are like this (there are some genuinely good, moral, generous Catholics), but an alarming number are just nazi sympathizers, bigots, perverts, and greedy parasites

Given the quick slide into fascism that the United States is undergoing, I wanted to clarify the position of this subreddit:

All marginalized people are welcome here when they are affected by the Catholic Church.

This is especially true for undocumented immigrants and members of the trans community who are currently the targets of this administrations ethnic cleansing and genocide.

We welcome all religions, but people who support mass deportations and blocking access to medical care or government resources to the trans community can - and please quote me here - "Go gargle balls until you drown"

I expect anyone who meets that description has long since left or been banned, but I wanted to make certain you knew you weren't welcome here.

If you feel this is overly harsh and unreasonable please message the mod team so we can carefully consider your probably excellent argument and give it the consideration it deserves. (We definitely won't immediately ban you).

As always, the mod team takes great joy in the suffering of bigots and fascists and will abuse our power to serve those purposes as much as feasible.

Has anyone ever felt that Christianity could be true and that we are headed for hell. I have religious OCD and these days I no longer can say that I feel that God is "Good" I suffer so much that I don't even want to teach my child Christianity due to how much it has affected me mentally. It's honestly the worse feeling and I don't think I'll ever feel like I can get away from it no matter if I stop practicing. Even though logically hell and other teachings don't makes sense, I would never intentionally hurt my child even if they hated me and wanted nothing to do with me and yet here is God continuously allowing human beings to be created knowing most will end up tormented There's always that underlying what if that OCD likes to throw out that makes you stop in your tracks. Ever since I had my child the thought of teaching them Christianity makes me so anxious as I don't want them to be like me. Just wondering if other people have been through similar

i have OCD which is a terrible combination with this hateful religion and leaving was one of the most difficult things for me, it still affects me, and sometimes i "relapse" and go down very bad rabbit holes, but since leaving, things really got better. life is already hard enough, and having the added burden of this religion is just too much. Im not fully "free" but im getting there, and i know i have to get free if i want to live a full life

as a gay person, and as a girl, this religion hates me. it genuinely hates me and that will never change. I finally accepted that its not compatible with my life. i have seen catholics say some of the most evil things i've ever seen, especially about women and lgbt people. tbh it almost makes me lose faith in humanity sometimes because i cant believe these people are real and around me and i interact with them. Then i remember there are good people out there who can see the evil for what it is. This subreddit helped immensely so i want to say thank you all

Mine was my sexuality, gender orientation, and just the overall teachings seeming far fetched to me. (And let’s not forget how they protect rapists and pedophiles)

I grew up with staunch Catholic parents, Catholic school my entire upbringing, was a Lector for our parish as a young adult and my father was an usher. Mom was on the school PTA Board. I was one of the girls that went away during high school - got pregnant at age 16 and of course, Catholic Charities handled the adoption. That began 35 years of hell and is really a story for another sub but some of you reading might understand & it’s part of my story. The sex scandals came to the forefront about this time and I was disgusted. The minute I moved out on my own  I stopped going to weekly mass. However, over the last 30 years I’d pick up going to mass here and there.   I’m not one to spout my faith, & despite not attending mass on the regular I have continued to pray the rosary weekly, pray every day & have a deep faith in the Trinity. 

Last Fall, my 20 year old got an invite from his coworker to attend a service at the coworker's church. Son decided to go and then continued to go to church, even without the coworker. Let’s call this church “non-denominational but very much Jesus based.” I refer to it as a small mega church. If this church had a tagline it’d be “Victory in Jesus”

One weekend, son invites me to attend as the church was having a friends & family service. My experience with religion outside the Catholic Church has been very limited. However, WOW did I really enjoy this service! The music! Heck, not some boring organ! The songs! Oh yeah…some on the rock side a bit on the country side and a couple even sung in Spanish…ok, very cool! Pastor’s message was positive & uplifting - definitely not conveyed in a way that highlighted the sin I was born into and made me feel guilty for that sin. I left service feeling positive, closer to faith in Him & knew I’d go back!

I went to this same church the following week, again the week after, and the week after that.   Just as I began to want to explore this church further…BAM, the guilt set in hard. In lieu of attending service, I returned to my roots, so to speak & believed I couldnt take the step of joining this new church without attending a  Sunday Mass first. Maybe what I felt like I was "missing" in my life was regular attendance at Mass. Friends…I went to mass & couldnt get out of there fast enough - there was no interpretation of the readings we just heard, the music included a guitar & drums to accompany the organ, but it was lame in comparison, and I felt emotionally drained. Despite not going to confession first, I took communion & booked it out of mass immediately after…..longest hour of my life.

Last week I attended the service at the “Victory in Jesus” church and was *this close* to taking  “next steps” by signing up for a call from one of the Pastors to discuss how the church can help fulfill my religious needs and I just couldnt do it. The guilt of even considering this was OVERWHELMING.

I feel like I’ve potentially found my place of worship. Now how do I get past the guilt?

Hello everyone! I am a 34 yr old ex-catholic woman. This is on a side account so I don't mind that much about downvotes by angry Christians.

I live in the deep south. It feels like everyone here is Christian and judges you automatically if you are an atheist. I've had several death threats for just saying that. Another part about why I don't tell people is because the try to "save me" and I understand why they do that but its quite annoying. Like, im here and im happy with my belief in science. Another thing is I have been disowned by my moms side of the family for being an atheist and whenever I bring up my beliefs they always wanna fight me on it.

I've been told I was actually a Christian, the devil in disguise and that I was going to burn.

How do I learn to set a good example for my kids and learn to be open and honest + standing my ground on my beliefs?

He’s a rule follower and takes our kids to mass. I reluctantly go sometimes (always hoping this time it will be different! It never is.), but opted out this morning. He bribes the kids by taking them for donuts after. I said, “let me guess - you’re not going to bring me a donut since I’m not going.” He proudly said “yep, only people going to mass get a donut.” It just felt like such a catholic thing to do. The guilt and punishment of it all. Just another reason to hate the Catholic Church! 🍩

Did anyone else have a meltdown whenever it came to church? I can't remember when exactly it started, or WHY it even started, but for two or three years I couldn't go to church because it would cause a meltdown reaction. I would start shaking and crying, and in extreme cases, screaming. I would also faint where I was still conscious but couldn't move my body. At that point, my parents decided I didn't have to go to church until I felt I could handle it, chalking it up to social anxiety. But I didn't have this problem at stores or the mall or other packed places. It was just church.

I DO remember shortly before all of this started, I had horrible dissociation at church. My own thoughts and hallucinations were so distracting I couldn't focus or remember anything that had happened in mass. I relied on muscle memory to get through all the motions. I remember asking at that time if I still had to go if I was completely mentally unpresent, and they insisted that it didn't matter because "God wanted to see [me]." I wonder if that's why I have really bad dissociation now...

Is there something like this in the Catholic Church? If so, can some provide sources?

And, yeah, I am aware the Catholic Church leaders are famous for their selective empathy. It's one of the reasons I do NOT go to church and haven't gone in 25 years.

I had heard so many horror stories about this movie growing up. I had heard that it was blasphemous, depraved, filthy, and every other adjective under the sun.

Well, I've been on a Marty Scorsese kick over the last couple years, and I finally got to Last Temptation. And frankly, I can see why the Church might not love it, but I think they're really doing themselves a disservice by demonizing this movie. If I had been shown this movie when I was still a Catholic, I think I would have absolutely loved it, and I think it almost certainly would have strengthened rather than weakened or challenged my faith. Apart from being a much better and more enjoyable movie from a purely artistic perspective than I expected it to be, the extremely relatable depiction of Jesus is way more compelling than the boring version I used to get during religion class, or the frankly bullshit version shown in stuff like Passion of the Christ.

So...anyone else seen this film? Anyone else a fan, despite no longer being a Christian?

Hello everyone,

I'm an irreligious ex-Catholic from the Christian-majority nation, the Philippines. It's Sunday today, and my mind finally arrived to conclusion that I am an agnostic-atheist.

It all became crystal clear:

• I have been trying to rekindle my faith. I really did, recently. I though my healing mental health would allow me to reconcile my issues with religion and give it another attempt - which failed. What is happening in the US only revived my internal war; the cognitive hurdles were too much to bear.
• Hasn't it been said, that we look at the fruits of teaching to see its worth? With that, I couldn't reconcile the behavior and words of Christians with what they are supposedly taught. Indeed, the material, real fact is that they themselves (who deem themselves as pious or devout) cannot even meet their own expectations. One speaks but does another. It doesn't make sense.
• And I've accepted the painful truth, that I will always be the "other." I am a gay man, asexual-aromantic. To add, I suspect I am part of ASD and/or ADHD spectrums. I am also officially diagnosed with persistent depressive disorder. My entire being, my whole identity is in contradiction with the Christian view of the world. I cannot disregard the Catechism's view, the Canon Law's promulgations, and the very history of the Church. I might forget all these things... but they will always remind me. And even if I hide it, they will seek to harangue it, destroy it even.
• I have been non-religious before my attempt. For 10-years, I was also a stern anti-theist (for many reasons). Now, that I am more mature I sought answers to my issues. But the Church didn't mature - misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, antisemitism, ableism, and other forms of prejudice could no longer resonate with my more accepting and progressive heart, as it had always been.
• Perhaps, that's why I left in the first place. Deep within my mind, I knew something didn't click. I pushed it away. And now it's louder than ever. I think it has been right all along.

Thank you, for this sub. It's awesome to find it - to find you, my people. I was searching for a more ex-Catholic-centered space. I hope to stay for years to come and interact with more people on their (our) deconstructing journey.

Take care, all. Ingat po kayong lahat palagi!

I grew up in a very small catholic town, the population is still less than 500, majority of residents over the age of 65. For the first 10 years, there wasn’t reliable internet access, and there still isn’t any public transportation.

I always felt different, this town of german settlers proceeded the founding of Canada and was stuck in that rigid traditionalism. I was the product of Caribbean immigrants, a young girl who loved to explore art and music.

I hate it, I always hated it. I’ve always felt trapped, I barely ever left this town. I went to a catholic school, with only 10 other kids in my grade and church, with a deeply loyal parish of under 100 people. All I knew was to be catholic, to be disciplined, and to be obedient.

I remember as a child, being confused as to why I hated my life so much. I was doing everything right and I still felt unprotected and unloved.

The street where I lived served as an alternative highway route for truckers, so everyday as I walked to school, huge 18 wheeler trucks would speed by me. There was no barricades, not even a patch of grass or a tree to stop me.

It was so tempting, everyday, to jump in front of these trucks and let the headline be that an unsupervised 8 year old had had an accident.

I grew so used to my suicidal mindset, that anything else felt uncomfortable.

I was so used to being controlled, I didn’t question when I was threatened and stalked.

I was so scared to be disobedient, I was subjected to psychological abuse from both other students and the school staff.

Every kid I knew was desperate for an escape, sometimes that meant bullying or threatening me to maintain some sense of control.

The first time I was in a room with heavy drugs, I was 13. I was in the apartment at 12, when my friend of the same age lost her virginity to a 16 year old. I already knew I should stay quiet and no one would believe me when I was assaulted when I was 11.

I’ve lost too many friends to drugs and death, one of the greatest pains of my life was seeing my crush’s blue, ice-cold hands, folded neatly in his casket when he was 18.

I hate that I was raised to be walked over and I need to teach myself to be loved. It’s draining, it’s exhausting, and cruel.

Sometimes I lay in bed, I wonder if I escaped a cult.

All I knew was a society that punished me for being different. It’s confusing, I never had bad intentions, why was I treated so cruelly?

Has anyone been raised Catholic but decided to learn more about it as an adult and realize that it is nothing like you were taught during religion class/ church. Instead of it bringing you closer to God you realize that what they teach as sin is around every corner and it makes you feel like your living in two realities the real world and the Catholic world. I unfortunately have religious OCD so learning more about the church actually made my anxiety and depression worse I now have a very young baby and I always thought I'd baptism them but the requirement to bring them up Catholic actually makes me anxious as deep down I struggle with the dogmas/faith but then there's the threat of hell on the other end. While I've resigned to going there if it is all true the thought of my child going there even though there's no proof of it existing freaks me out. Is there anyone who has felt this way who could provide insight on how to move forward?

Do any other ex-Catholics have conflicted attitudes about nudity? When I was around 15 or 16, I somehow internalized the idea that nudity was equivalent to sex and therefore unacceptable. I went out of my way to avoid any situation that might involve even partial nudity, to the point that I stopped swimming and wouldn’t take my shirt off at the beach. I don’t remember my church teaching anything specific about modesty, but I’m certain the other ridiculous things they taught about sex contributed to my view. (For context, I’m a 43-year old gay man).

When I was in my 20s and deconstructing, it started to dawn on me that my attitude toward nudity was ridiculous. I started to go swimming again and I even worked as a nude model for art classes at a local community college. It gave me a lot more confidence about my body. And yet nudity still something that I’m reluctant to talk about. It’s like part of my brain still thinks I’m doing something wrong, even though I’m not.

Curious if anyone has insight around this. I have known of some people who left Catholicism and were not religious for a while, even atheists, who reverted back to Catholicism and became devout. I even know of people who entered religious life after this happened - and none of these people had a near death experience or anything that drastic. But they’re all so by the books and one of them even said that she feels contraception has ruined modern marriage (insert audible eye roll here).

What are your theories/thoughts?