Why not to be a Catholic

This blog post is about the Catholic religion, but I think it can applied to just about all of them.

Catholic Church: It's not me, it's you

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HuffPost
I am pro-choice, don't go to church on Sundays, don't put stock in the Bible or doctrine, challenge traditional ideas of religion and spirituality and care infinitely more about trying to be a kind, humble person than actively worshipping.

That pretty much why organized religion, in general, in not doing too well. Many people would rather help a friend in need than to financially support an institution that has a set of beliefs that does not agree with everyone.

Me, personally, I am not religious and I am not an atheist. More of a spiritual kind of a guy - do good for others and hopefully others will do good in return.

When it comes to hard core atheists, I would say that majority of these people were brought up in Catholic homes. To me, that speaks volumes without saying much. Many atheists that I have encountered, they know more about the bible than I do. They know about biblical contradictions, hypocrisy and gender demeaning. I have never butted heads with atheists because they are simply stating facts, but I have to admit, I did and still do learn a ton from them.

I am a hard core atheist, but if there are people out there who want to tailor their belief in God(s) and be accepted into a community that allows that, they should try the Unitarian Universalists. All religions, all beliefs (or lack of), all acceptance, all the time.

For anybody that feels themselves falling away from their parent religion, fence-sitting, or describing themselves as agnostic, they should read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. You'll never go back after that.

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Techie
When it comes to hard core atheists, I would say that majority of these people were brought up in Catholic homes. To me, that speaks volumes without saying much. Many atheists that I have encountered, they know more about the bible than I do. They know about biblical contradictions, hypocrisy and gender demeaning. I have never butted heads with atheists because they are simply stating facts, but I have to admit, I did and still do learn a ton from them.

Catholics usually don't know much about the bible. For biblical knowledge, you need an ex-christian fundamentalist. Catholics aren't taught the bible in great detail like fundies are. I was raised as a christian fundy and am now an atheist, and most of the atheists I know are ex-christer fundies. I can run rings around catholics when the subject is the bible.

I left the Catholic church simply because I didn't feel any better about my own personal spiritual growth when I was going there. I felt stunted and farther away from my own spiritual beliefs.

That, and that friggin' collection plate that kept coming around every ten minutes. I never had any money to put in it, so I would give what I could, and then pretend to put money in so I would feel more like I fit in. That's when I realized I didn't fit in. I didn't fit in with their belief system, I didn't fit in with their message, I didn't fit in with anything that they preached. It was a joke that I even tried attending as an adult.

It was all about the $$ and not about what I thought spiritual growth and enlightenment was about. To me, the Catholic church is a big, fancy cult in a pretty building with nicely dressed people.

I'm very much like Techie, where I am spiritual but not religious. I believe in kindness towards others, and the Catholic church does NOT teach that. They are all about intolerance and how everyone is going to Hell unless they do what they say. And apparently child molestation is okay in their books.

I will never attend another church again.

We can also get a little historical on the subject. Bible was greatly distorted during dark ages. During the times of Jesus, many people had near zero education and could not write. Much of what was written about Jesus, was written after his death. Many things were lost in translation and many things were not described correctly because the environment was not saturated with educated people.

And then there are controversial questions. Was Jesus here to bring us religion or was he here to free us from religion? Old Testament was basically made less relevant. Was it meant to go away altogether? Was December 25th really the date that Jesus was born or was it simply the "rebirth" of the Sun rather than The Son?

Every institution attempts to twist religion into their own favor. When Churches say "give generously" they don't imply to give to your friends am family. Then, there were Free Masons, and those guys kept what they knew under the lock and key.

History Channel has interesting shows like "Lost History" and "America Unearthed". They show that religion was surrounded with great secrecy. Why? If bible is the truth, what is being hidden?

I was raised (almost)fundy mormon. If my parents had been true FLDS fundies they wouldn't have thought twice about what they did, and the mainstream LDS religion was a little too soft for my mom's taste. If she could find a way to take something a step further, by gawd she would in the name of doing everything a parent should, but that only meant what the church said, not anything to do with her human obligation to parent.

I am an atheist. Specifically a soft atheist or agnostic atheist. I won't take the hard line of saying I know there is no gawd, but nobody has ever brought convincing evidence, and so I regard all religions as manmade to con people out of time, attention, and material resources.
Biggest scam going, aside from serial moomies who say they love their man.

It's true, I don't do a lot of charitable giving, currently. We do sign up with Hearts and Hammers every year, but the charity work I have always intended to do must come after I am retired.
Besides giving time and resources to animal shelters/charities, I will be taking in the equivalent of people who age out of the foster system, but who come from religious homes. I was given the boot at 18, and I wasn't ready. No one was there for me, but mostly because I didn't know I could ask. With the internet available now, it is so much easier for these kids to find resources, and I'm going to be one of them. A place to go, food to eat, the knowledge about emancipating oneself from parental units in order to receive better college aid, and basic training in how to be a good human that so often fanatics fail to ever teach.

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skyeyes

Catholics usually don't know much about the bible. For biblical knowledge, you need an ex-christian fundamentalist. Catholics aren't taught the bible in great detail like fundies are. I was raised as a christian fundy and am now an atheist, and most of the atheists I know are ex-christer fundies. I can run rings around catholics when the subject is the bible.

Sadly enough, this is true. As a former Roman Catholic I remember countless hours of catechism/CCD classes as a child. Catechism is something entirely different from the Bible. And it is true that most Catholics are totally unprepared to argue the Bible with fundie Christians or even Mormons or Jehovah Witnesses.

Case in point:

When I was very young, in my teens, my Dad and I were home alone one night while Mom was at a women's club meeting. Guess who knocks on the door but two JW's! Dad made the mistake of inviting them in and I pretty much overheard most of the conversation, being in my room doing homework. I suspect he regretted inviting them in for a discussion on the Bible and when Mom found out boy was she mad! But there you have it....