CarefreeDude posted...
I'd love to pick your brain a little more. Where you actually catholic? What made you leave the faith if so?
I mean, please.
I was as Catholic as you can get. Born into the religion and took every word as absolute, like you listened to teachers tell you about gravity.
What tore me away from it was, to be kind of humble, Family Guy. There was an episode where Lois was trying to find a new religion, the gag at the end of it was that "all religion is bullshit anyway". I laughed, and that was it, I didn't believe in god anymore.
God lives in the head of every religious person as an imaginary friend. You never want to let go of this friend. This friend is always there for you. The downside is that they never talk back, God is always silent. You always are fighting the feelings of atheism, the idea that he's really not there. That's more powerful than anything else in my experience, the feeling you get with your best friend, God. All problems you have can be solved by him, eventually.
When I left I felt some relief, as well as the feelings you get when you lose your best friend. It was a cascade of shedding my Conservative beliefs. Gays didn't have to be evil anymore, global warming could be true. Trans people could be valid and acceptable. I was allowed to truly think about things objectively.
I still remember the days I spent with my grandma in bible study fondly. She really believed those things and wanted the best for me.
Personally I will never be able to feel religion again, I've seen all of it.