Atheists, tell me, a Roman Catholic: why should I become an atheist?

[Joko]

I can speak as a formerly traditionalist Roman Catholic:

My views on politics and society revolve around the notions that we are all in this together and that everyone should be afforded respect. However, the Catholic Church mandated that I oppose things like marriage equality and access to contraceptives despite the fact that these two things can improve quality of life for people. Gay people should be free to love whomever they want to love, and condoms/birth control pills should be readily available.

I was unable to reconcile my social progressivism and religious beliefs. So I chose the former over the latter.

Francis is, of course, trying to push things into a more  progressive direction, but as he does that more and more, then you have the problem of the so-called infallible Church contradicting itself on its so-called "infallible" teachings.  I am a former traditional Catholic, also, but as I posted earlier in this thread, I left the Church for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was all the contradictions that occurred between one Pope and another.  It just got too silly to believe in it, and the "smells & bells" were not enough to keep me interested.  In the end, I was faithless, that is, without a faith!

As much as I love Pope Francis as a guy (he's really cool) -- let's not exaggerate how progressive is reforms have been. He is completely opposed to LGBT equality (anti-marriage rights, anti-adoption), is against abortion/contraceptives in all cases, hasn't budget on ordaining women, etc. I really feel like he would be the kind of person who would be in favor of these things but he is constrained by his faith.