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162

Former religious lemmings, what made you quit religion or stop being a believer? (endlesstalk.org)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Mostly trying to relate.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

In the end, I had a 2 pages-document of pros and cons for leaving church...

Some of them:

If I wasn't part of Christianity and had the choice to join, would I do it? No.
The scandals
Their actions to keep the scandals under the radar which made it even worse
Wasted money in Germany. A bishop in Germany bought a bathtub for 15k €. That's a prominent case, but there are a lot more
The fact that the church is literally a throttle of evolution.
Still no equality between men and women (I'm sure, they'll do that at some point. But it's the church. So, it's gonna take 600 years)
No proof of existence of a god or whatever
There are n religions saying, their god is the real one. At least n-1 of them must be wrong.
Only 3-5% of the money you pay as a member via taxes goes to charity (in Germany)
The "Bistum Köln" in Germany has so much money... They started investing it and bought shares of companies.
I became a member of a religion when I was < 1 year old. I confirmed it when I was 13??? Most other live-relevant decisions are 18+. This should be the same here.
Religion lessons in school felt like a waste of time
Church is a black box. No one knows what they are actually doing, how much money they own, ...
Church has an own "justice system" in Germany, which is terrible.
Most Christians prefer not acting christian when they are challenged.
I didn't want to finance an Anti-LGBT group
Ratlines, a.k.a. "How the church helped Nazis to escape Europe after WW2"
... and 10 more points.
Also, I found only 3 or 4 very bad arguments to not quit

And when I realized that the only thing keeping me in there is "fearing" how some people (mostly family) might react when I'd quit, I knew, I had to quit as soon as possible.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Oh wow, I never wrote my reasoning down, but most of your points hit home. Churches guilt people to stay in, and if the collective sees one escaping from the doctrine, they “dispatch” those who are fearful to try to instill the same on you.

I do believe though that church and religion kept communities and societies together, quelling some of the human fear of the uncertainties of life, so there is some value there, but just not for those of us that see all of these cons you listed.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Now you can take that document and perhaps nail it to a door? (: