SairB Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Wow. I think I might just have found a new online home! I've only just signed up - I discovered Ex-Christian.net this morning, in fact - but I'm looking forward to hours of interesting and informative reading So, here goes - my conversion. To begin with, I was brought up Catholic. Whilst I don't feel damaged, as such, by this, I do think it has had profound effects upon the person I have become (though not in ways one might expect), and although I no longer profess to be Christian, let alone Catholic, I think this will always be part of my personality. Until I left home at 18, I was pretty well immersed in being Catholic - going to mass weekly, usually also confession weekly, and pretty much all my views on morality were informed by Catholic teaching. I attended Catholic schools, and all the rituals of Catholicism were significant events. For most of my childhood, I was fairly sheltered, and led a fairly insular existence - not against my will, I should point out; I think I have always been inclined to be a bit of a loner. However, my relatively limited interaction with the wider world and with my peer group definitely helped to maintain my very Catholic worldview. All that changed during my first year at university. I began to find friends who were neither Catholic, Christian or even at all religious. This kind of forced me to acknowledge that they were still living, breathing, feeling human beings - despite the fact that they had sex outside marriage, supported gay rights and thought that abortion was permissible in certain circumstances. As you may well imagine, this was quite a shock to the system. For a few years, I continued to attend mass, although missing it gradually became less and less of an issue. I had always taken a fairly intellectual approach to my beliefs, and I do recall one particular priest whose sermons I found particularly satisfying - he always explained things intelligently, in ways that referenced history and made sense intellectually. However, as time went on I increasingly began to apply my reasoning ability to my Catholic faith, and found that in many ways the faith part was coming up short. Part of this process involved studying a unit on the historical Jesus, and seeing just how convoluted the evolution of Catholicism as we know it today actually was - all of a sudden nothing was set in stone any longer. In light of this, I read a book called Joshua, The Man They Called Jesus by Ian Jones. Although it did seem to speculate about many things, it also put forth an interpretation of the Jesus story that was - based on available evidence - just as valid as the one with which I had grown up. The moment of truth came, ironically, in the middle of a mass. It was when the priest said, "Your lives are not your own - they have been bought and paid for", that I realised I no longer bought into the convolutions of Catholic faith. I walked out and sat in the foyer to wait for the rest of my family. Since that time, I no longer identify myself as Christian. My family are not entirely comfortable with this, and I don't know that they ever will be. Religion has become the elephant in the room when I spend time with them. My brother has even said that he prays for my return to the church. I suspect his prayers will be in vain. Recently I have taken to arguing with Catholics in online forums, about various social issues. I have questioned why I do this, and although I can admit to being a bit of a troll, there is a serious side to it. I do think it's important to challenge one's personal beliefs by exposing them to alternative opinions, and arguing my own position helps me to consolidate my own beliefs. So that's where I am right now. I can only add that I feel much happier than I did 15 years ago... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deb Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Welcom SairB, enjoyed your story! You'll find much encouragement and support here. Looking forward to hearing more from you Deb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trike Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Hello and Welcome, SairB! Hope you like it here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shantonu Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I'm an ex-Catholic as well. It's nice to let it go. But what will you do with all the free time not spent in church? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitchu Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Welcome to the forums, SairB. I hope it will become a "home" for you, as it has for so many of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SairB Posted January 16, 2009 Author Share Posted January 16, 2009 I'm an ex-Catholic as well. It's nice to let it go. But what will you do with all the free time not spent in church? Oh, believe me - since I stopped attending mass, I've found entirely new and interesting ways to have a time deficit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Welcome, SairB! I enjoyed reading your story. It’s funny but I was raised Baptist and then later Church of Christ. I married a man who had been raised Catholic. When I was exposed to many of the Catholic traditions and rituals, I was amazed. I just could not fathom that they actually believed in those things. Of course, it never occurred to me at that time that many of the rituals and traditions that I had been raised to follow were just as bizarre, just different!!!!! Anyway, it’s nice to have you here. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defygravity Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 Hi and welcome. I am still pretty new here myself. I was raised non denominational Christian, or other wise known as the Charismatic/Fundamentalists/Evangelical Christian church. I went to a Catholic church once with a friend who I spent the night with and it was bizarre to me and all that kneeling and standing, it got old real quick for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts