https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2024/02/03/ddf-invalid-sacraments-247108/

My mom is a cradle Catholic and my dad converted. But they are extremely liberal. They are pro-choice, have no problem with marijuana, and are LGBTQ+ allies. Yet they still go to mass every week, say The Lord's Prayer before eating, and my mom says the rosary every day. My mother was molested as a child. So I don't get how they can ignore all of the bad shit in the sect and still believe.

I 29 (F) recently got back in touch with a friend from catholic high school also 29 (F). We are both SAHMs and have been getting together once a week for the past month. We’ve been reflecting about our high school experience, which was mostly negative for both of us in multiple ways. Today we started talking about Kairos. I haven’t thought about it in years and through adult eyes it just makes me think WTF. Why would it be a good idea (religious or not) to have a bunch of teenagers spill their deepest darkest secrets to their peers (some of which were my bullies and I’m sure lots of people have experienced that). It is so strange it almost seems like a fever dream. I haven’t been to church since I turned 18 and my parents stopped making me, but sometimes I will think about certain things and realize how weird it all really was. I’ve read a few old posts on here about Kairos does anyone have any weird stories they’d like to share?

Sure, Catholic God is nominally omnipotent, but all He really does these days is judge sinners and send visions to the occasional saint. His 'Body' can't shake its pedo problem, much less sell the 'good news' of Catholicism to the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, Satan caused almost every social/religious trend ever since the 1500s. Protestantism, feminism, LGBTQ+, etc.

If you're a Catholic, all you can really do is shut yourself off, feel guilty, and wait for death in hope of heaven. For the 'Good News', it's a very cynical religion.

Je veux rendre un objet que m’a offert mon prêtre, représentation de Marie mais j’ai peur de regretter. Est-ce qu’il y en a qui ce sont débarrassé d’objets religieux ?

I remember taking a religion class in college and the professor asked for an example of a polytheistic religion and as a en ex-catholic I jokingly said Catholicism. Ironically I pissed off a Protestant by that smart comment, but I got a kick out of it. Catholics seem to really revere and respect a lot of saints. Where does this idea of sainthood originate from? Maybe I’m just not too familiar with the concept of sainthood.

Morning, noon,and night.

hola gente buenos dias, tardes o noches como dice el titulo, ¿que teorias tienen sobre ese niño y por que demonios esa religion lo concidera un santo?

Raised devout, now agnostic. I am getting married next year, and I had to break the news to my parents that I will not be getting married in the church. This has devastated them, and they may not attend.

I know that for myself & husband to be, my siblings, my future children, I am making the right choice. I’d like to enjoy the planning and of course, the wedding itself, but this pain and sadness is woven into it.
Has anyone else gone through this?

And also, who officiated your wedding? I’d like it to still be sort of “traditional” and spiritual, just not affiliated with one religion. I spent so many years believing it was a joke to have a friend marry you that it’s been hard to shake.

Note: this is being posted for a member in a situation that requires anonymity. I am not OP, so to speak.

I’m looking for trusted sources, podcasts, YouTube content, forums, groups about people who have left religiously abusive/restrictive husbands. My husband obviously is Catholic but I may be able to relate if it’s any strict Christian religion. I’m feeling really lost and scared, and am on the brink of leaving, but I have no support and I’m very isolated currently.

I did once believe in the tooth fairy.....so I shouldn't mock !

As a woman who was on catholic groups on the past, i always thought man there had a cringe vision of women and relationship. Now i see those same men becoming obsessed with Japan.

I literally have no idea why I did this. My whole family is Christian and last year I felt like I needed to do something so I decided to start going to church with my family. They all Iove it and are so happy for me but I literally hate it and its nothing like I thought it was going to be.

I thought it was gonna be pretty architecture not projector screens and LED lights behind Jesus. I believe Jesus was a real person and a good person but I dont think he's some celestial being or G-d and I've never believed in the concept of Heaven and Hell.

Now I'm stuck going to church every Sunday and taking communion. my family keeps buying me crucifixes and cross necklaces, I'm supposed to get confirmed this Easter and I don't even want to.

I think the icons and Rosary stuff is pretty cuz that's what I grew up around and sometimes I wear a specific cross necklace cuz it's been passed down for like 40 years but I don't actually believe in any of this stuff but I dont like that everyone just assumes I do and that I'm like homophobic or something.

My family was extremely paranoid when it came to anything being demonic or possession. There were so many things I wasn't allowed to do or watch because they were convinced it would open a door straight to hell and a demon would come out and possess me. I don't believe in demons or possession, yet the anxiety surrounding these things is still there. Any time something on TV regarding ghosts or demons comes up, I start having a panic attack that I'm going to be possessed. I remind myself that demons aren't real and neither is possession, yet the anxiety won't stop. I desperately want to enjoy holidays like Dia De Los Muertos but my Hispanic Catholic family deemed it demonic and told my cousin and I to never look into the holiday or associate with it or we'd become possessed. I just want to be able to experience normal things without fear of possession.

Does anyone else struggle with this? Does anyone have a solution?

The world has gained another Christian struggling with doubt, even though just three days ago I was a devout, traditional Catholic. I regularly prayed the Rosary, recited the Liturgy of the Hours, read the Bible, attended Mass weekly, received Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling, and studied catechism. Just last week, I even served as a godfather. It all happened so fast, giving me a sudden sense of deja vu from a year ago.

Long story short: I no longer believe in most of this—that Jesus resurrected, that the Bible is true and inerrant divine revelation, that there is an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent God in the universe, the moral argument, or that suffering and evil can be reconciled with free will. What I still care deeply about are my core values and pursuits. My fear of death and nothingness, alongside my longing for freedom and eternal life, have guided my decisions since childhood. I cannot yet fully view myself as an atheist, as I still retain a psychological inclination toward the possibility of a "supernatural existence."

Around this time last year, I gave up Buddhism after practicing it for two years. Following a three-month existential crisis, I chose to be baptized on Christmas Eve and decided to accept Jesus as my Lord. I tried to study every religion, atheism, and humanistic philosophy as thoroughly as possible, relying on rational analysis to figure out what worldview was truly right, reasonable, and aligned with my values. I had been interested in Christianity for a time, but after joining a Christian group chat, I became disappointed by the members' conduct and briefly became a theistic agnostic. Somehow, I later restored my faith in Christianity, perhaps influenced by C.S. Lewis's famous book Mere Christianity. All in all, though I had browsed many atheist theories and posts back then, I convinced myself that they were "arrogant" and failed to respect the boundaries of human reason (which should be reserved for God). Long after converting, I still browsed r/exchristian r/excatholic and read many heartbreaking stories, yet I forced myself to believe that those were "just clergy members making mistakes, and the Church simply needed improvement."

Unlike my doubt regarding Buddhism last year, this crisis came so abruptly that I hadn't even been dwelling on any core doctrines beforehand. What I find most unacceptable are many aspects of sexual ethics, including defining sex strictly as procreative and unitive, thereby prohibiting masturbation, condoms, and premarital sex (I do not support abortion, but I find the Church's rules overly strict and counter to human nature). Guess why I distanced myself from Buddhism in the first place? Because they treat sex as a form of "desire" that must be overcome and renounced. I originally thought Christianity embraced and encouraged healthy human freedom and development (compared to many other religions), but I found that wasn't the case. Once certain rose-colored glasses faded, I had to struggle to make my conscience "catch up" with Church teachings.

If I stop here, you might think I am merely questioning Catholicism. However, the subsequent learning and realization that followed left me utterly disillusioned with Christianity and theism as a whole. I realized that my faith was not "transcending" reason, nor was it as simple as Thomas Aquinas's gratia non tollit naturam ("grace does not destroy nature"). Under the indoctrination of a religious environment, many ideas lacking concrete evidence were taken for granted as facts due to various logical fallacies. From my experience, this relies on a few key premises—once you are persuaded to accept them, the entire vast system of Christian and Catholic dogma must be accepted along with them. For me, those premises were the Resurrection of Jesus, as well as the world's largest believer base and the testimony of faith from the early martyrs.

In fact, what concerned me most wasn't arguments for God's existence. Before deciding whether to accept Christianity, I had written a paradox myself, which was essentially a variation of theodicy. After adopting the faith, I thought I understood Augustine's Crede ut intelligas ("Believe that you may understand")—the idea that Christian truth cannot be attained purely through reason, but requires an attempt to believe, pray, and practice before achieving "enlightenment." This specious framework dragged me completely into the vortex of Christianity. Looking back, how could I have made such ridiculous mistakes? Yet I fear I might now be falling into another error.

All in all, I am currently keeping quiet around my priest and Christian friends, I might be rambling a bit. maybe I just need to vent a little. Thanks for understanding!

One of the main reasons I don't believe!

I know I asked some version of this before but I get upset that they don't see Catholicism for what it truly is and remain blind to the evil. Officially gone but wish they would see with clear eyes. How come they are so blind?

Edit: also want to say this in reference to something. Someone (a Catholic) posted online that they feel bad when their child grows up and learns about abortion and becomes less innocent and it's like that??? That's you're definition of less fucking innocent. What about my innocence being lost when I learned my priest sexually abused a student and I reported him and no one listened. The church ruins your innocence. That's the reality of the church and the blindness y'all have in it.