I mean this question in a funny way, because I do think it’s funny, but I also only recently became aware of the prevalence of this.

I went to a Christian high school and I was aware of the fact that almost everyone there was fucking, but it wasn’t until afterward that I learned that for a lot of people, the church was basically their place to meet people to have sex with in general.

Like how some people go to clubs or use apps or whatever, these people would go to church.

I’m talking consensual stuff. People their age. No prostitution, nothing like that.

I feel kind of like I missed out. Don’t get me wrong, I had girlfriends around the time of my life that I would have gone to church and I was happy, but if I’d known that most Christians were just doing it for the sex community then I don’t know, I don’t really care about the hypocrisy of it, I guess I just wish I’d known so that I could have joined in.

It goes to this theory that I’ve had for a while, which is that Christianity is a club, and if you don’t get that that’s what it is then you’re not welcome. I just didn’t get it. I took it all too seriously. I really shouldn’t have done that.

So my parents are catholic, and my mom at least is very involved. We had a discussion today regarding a buzzcut I want to get (I'm almost 20 btw), and she was getting so fuckin bent out of shape. It was one of those moments where you have to test exactly how far gone they are, and if they can hear themselves.

She kept talking about how changing yourself is against god, and she thinks it's some slippery slope or elaborate, manipulative plot by me to transition into a man (I'm nonbinary), among other things. She kept insinuating she'd kick me out of the house if I went "too far", so I asked her if she would kick out/ban my aunt and uncle if they consistently tried to sleep--- not have sex--- just sleep in the same bed together during visits (my uncle was divorced then remarried several years ago, big no no with many catholics) and she deadass said yes she would. :'DD

Am I crazy? It's really sad she thinks that way, but at the same time... I think you get so used to it if you're around people like that enough, that it becomes kinda hilarious.

Kind of like, "Are you serious? You pullin my leg? Oh my god, you're serious! That's the dumbest thing to damn near disown a family member over! You're so far gone into this religion that you're genuinely hurting yourself/your relationships, and you've convinced yourself that you're doing the right thing."

She even talked about how it was 'crushing her spirit and soul' to even talk about kicking people out like that. It's so astounding I almost have to laugh it a little. A laugh so you don't cry type deal.

Anyone relate to this? Just had to get it off my brain, hopefully find others with similar experiences to feel less crazy.

How do I kindly decline her suggestion of reading the entire bible for book club? Mom's a narc and she loves to control me. (I'm 30F and married.)

How our text went:

Me: (waiting after two months for her retired unemployed self to choose a book)

"Have you chosen a book?"

Mom: "Not yet, but I have been reading a book called Journey: How to live by faith in an uncertain world, by Billy Graham. He has a museum/library in Charlotte North Carolina that I would like to visit.

I didn't respond because I didn't know how to respond.

The next day, my mom sends me a picture of the book, with " I'm going to choose this book or the Bible book of John for our next bookclub. I borrowed it from the library and have been reading some already."

(Mind you, my mother has turned to reading the bible everyday instead of taking accountability for her abuse towards me, after telling me I'M going to hell, after I told her I was never a Trump supporter like she is, and I am no longer a Christian because I don't hate people like she does. Mom wants me to look like the bad guy, and she remains the victim. I'm tired but I don't want to blow up on her like she wants me to. I also recently have called her out for her abuse all my childhood so now mom is trying very hard to maintain her perfect mom image.)

Found this agreement (with witness signatures !)in some old files, given to me to sign 8th grade. I can’t believe this was real thing that no adult around me saw a problem with.

I just became an atheist from being a christian, I had a weird dream of a depiction of hell, it was mostly audible, the creepiest dream Ive ever had, I have an image of the vibe the dream had, I listened to the screams of people in hell, it was the most awful screaming Ive heard, generated by my brain, I found this image and the audio only after the dream, its not the cause, the audio that just tries to come close is the fake audio associated with the deepest hole on earth but mine was 3x worse, it obviously I think isnt a sign from God, but my brain letting go of the fears of hell that I had, I find it kinda weird cuz Ive never imagined such a thing, Im normally not into that weird subculture of creepy stuff, so Im amazed my brain just randomly generated the creepiest experience Ive ever had. closest sound to what I heard, Image that fits the dreams feeling should I think of this?

I'm 34f and I live in England 🇬🇧. I physically left the church when I was 18, I mentally left Christianity at 23.

I never understood it. Anytime I questioned the bible, I didn't want to marry young, I didn't want kids till I was ready, I didn't want to be a trad wife, I didn't follow their rules and so on. It's always "you're gonna get smited by god".

Why?

It never says in the bible about god will smite you. Never. Not once.

So why say it?

I need your opinions because I'm so confused.

Im so tired of hearing this. Ppl act like I can’t be an atheist and genuinely not believe in the God/religion, nope its because I don’t understand it. Then they spend the next few interactions trying to convert me. Meanwhile ive read the bible cover to cover, spent years in church, etc. I genuinely don’t believe in any religion and that should be ok. Sorry, I just had to vent.

I’d love to hear from others either:
1. If you’ve told family members who are still Christian that you left the faith - how did that convo go, and what impact did it have on those relationships since?
OR
2. If you have not told Christian family members, why not? And how has not telling them impacted you personally, and those relationships?

I have not told any of my Christian relatives, but I only left the faith about 6months ago. I’m struggling because it’s hard for me not to be authentic in my close relationships, but, I know how Christians think about those who don’t believe, and I don’t think my family members would fully grasp my reasonings. Curious how others have handled this, especially with family you have a close relationship with.

Did anyone else notice how eager Christians (especially the Orthodox and Catholics) are to celebrate and glorify violence committed by various saints?

I feel like most of them would find the teachings of Jesus repulsive if they didn't have the association with conservative politics (the actual reason why they claim to follow them), and this is why so many are so eager to celebrate and glorify any *BaSeD* saint or church father they can find.

I feel like this is an insight into how they would want their religion to function. People disagreeing with you? Slap them or burn them alive. Shrines you disagree with? Destroy them with an axe. It's really disturbing to know there is this whole subculture of people who think like this out there, somewhere.

I've heard mixed opinions on this and would love to know what you guys think? When I was religious I would've said it was, but now I'm not so sure.

Just tall tales, nothin' really serious. What's worse is looking ahead to 2026 and seeing that there are 'till foolish dudes who fall for this. The year'll be over soon and this guy still won't be back.

Be honest, at what age and for how long have you stopped falling for the nonsense 'bout the supposed "return of Jesus"? And why?

Im still early in my deconstruction, but my biggest fear is losing my wife if I were to tell her. I once told her about a weird, but common fetish I had and she almost left me then so I am almost positive she would actually leave if I told her I am questioning God and the Bible. Plus we have her devout Christian parents living with us so that adds a whole other layer to my fear. So how did it go when you told your spouse, assuming he/she is a believer? I just can’t see a scenario where she is ok with it, but I also can’t see me living the rest of my life pretending just to appease somebody.

Edit: I have dropped a few questions such as “isn’t that crazy how God had an old man killed for picking up sticks on the sabbath?” She said, “well he shouldn’t have been picking up sticks on the holy day.” I replied, “but then Jesus came later saying that it’s okay to do work on the sabbath. If Jesus is God, wouldn’t God have known that back then?” She just said “well I am not God so I don’t know.”

Another is I brought up the man who God killed for trying to catch the Ark when it was falling. I asked her should he just have let it fall the the ground? Isn’t that worse? Trying to catch something that is falling is a natural human reaction. She just said, “he knew not to touch it and he disobeyed.”

I've seen ex jehovahs witness, ex Lutheran, ex catholic, but I was first union first and then switched to Lutheran and I was wondering if there's an ex first union subreddit

Thanks!

So, I grew up in a Pentecostal family in rural Florida, for context. And, honestly, watching how my family has openly defended my abusive parents, Trump, fellow church members who abused me, etc. But, basically treats me like shit for being openly critical of Christianity & also b/c I have a sense of justice. That's something else I've noticed: how Christianity is fine with corruption as long as it's the church or fellow Christians committing it. And, honestly, seeing how MAGA has caused them to go mask off, I don't regret leaving.

The fear my mom lives in everyday must be so draining. She recently started this “Discipleship” course and since the bible teaches that those trying to grow closer to God will be under attack from Satan everyday, she’s been living in fear. She’s been drowning our apartment in holy oil. Marking crosses on everything. She can’t even sleep by herself anymore. She forces my 8 year old sister to sleep in her room when my dad goes off to work. I asked my sister why and she said it’s bc “mom feels the most evil things happen during the night time”
Like she’s literally instilling this fear into her own child. It’s honestly quite sad.

Religious psychosis kind of reminds me of those zoo animals that go crazy after being in captivity too long. Zoochosis I believe.

Apologies for the long post in advance!

Lately, it felt like my “friends” from my old church had been treating me like the fifth wheel or a coworker you just get lunch with during work. I know they probably didn’t mean to treat me like the side quest friend or the afterthought friend, but I always felt excluded from their activities, and I think it’s because I’ve stopped attending church and participating in the church’s activities.

For context, I have been “friends” with these three girls at my old church since I joined about a year ago, and I will be creating fake names for my post. The first main girl is Reginia, and the second girl is Gretchen (Yes, I based the names off the Mean Girl characters because I thought it would be only fitting). I became “best friends” with Regina first because I related to her being the one of the few single girls at church, and we would always complain about being single.

Eventually, she did manage to get a boyfriend. I’ve noticed our hangouts became less and she didn’t call me as much as she used to. The only time she would call me is when she had something to complain about her boyfriend. I started to feel like a therapist in the friendship rather than a friend. I also noticed she started spending more time with the girls who were in relationships at church but was always busy to make the time for me. They would plan double dates and go to each other’s family functions but never bothered to see if I was interested in hanging out with them.

The final straw was when Regina had posted a party she had on her story, announcing her engagement and that Gretchen would be her maid of honor. I was hurt that I didn’t get an invitation and especially hurt when she didn’t tell me about her engagement at all. I did notice that it was mainly couples there and few single people that I didn’t recognize, but I noticed the majority of the people in her post were from our church.

The next day, I confronted her and told her that I saw the post of her engagement party and was hurt that she didn’t tell me anything or bothered to invite me. Regina explained that it was just a small gathering for most of her close friends to spend time with her fiancé before he went away on his business trip. First of all, based off the post alone, it wasn’t a small gathering. There were about twenty people there. I confessed to her that I have been starting to feel left out lately, but she kept making excuse and started getting defensive. She explained there wasn’t enough pizza for everyone, she didn’t have enough seats, and there was a budget for only a small group of people. All of that could have been true, but I told her that I could have offered to chip in or bring my own seat. Also, she had a really big living room and dining area that could fit a lot more than the people that were there.

Instead of saying, I am sorry you felt left out or that I will try to invite you more, Regina said that you must be really worked up. I think she was just trying to shift the explanation of why I wasn’t invited and turn my emotions back on me. I told her I am moving different states, but I wished her well on her engagement instead of creating more drama. She ended the conversation with the usual, “I will pray for you,” nonsense. I thought it was hilarious that she also told me, “Good luck with your future endeavors,” like I was sending her a resignation letter and she responded like HR, or she needed a quick response and asked Chat GPT.

Unlike the girls in Mean Girls, Christian mean girls are less obvious to spot due to their hidden fake niceness, and they believe what they’re doing isn’t harmful. While I understand my friend could have had a small budget, she still could have offered the invite, but she had small group of people that she thought were more appropriate to meet her man. I don’t know if it’s because I am single since there were single people at her party, or that I stopped attending the church. If I ever do find someone, I will never forget or leave my single friends out. Always remember the girls who helped you out while you were alone or broken up with.

The license plate frame had a Bible verse. I think it was Psalm 127:3-5.

Anyway, it infuriates me that people are out here destroying the planet for Jesus.