Decline of religion

[Sheldon]

Former Christians Are Sharing The Turning Points That Made Them Leave The Faith, And They Had A Lot To Say

We asked the former Christians of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us their turning point to leave the religion. Here are some of their insightful stories:

1."There were a lot of reasons I left the church. The pastor had an affair, and it was conveniently swept under the rug because heaven forbid people actually acknowledge the issue. And there was the time the youth pastor told me (a then-preteen) that I needed to put on a bra because I was distracting. And also when members of the church in charge of hiring a new pastor utilized both sexist and racist practices and kept women and minorities from being hired."

2. Pastor gave a sermon about how kids just couldn't 'turn out right' without a father in the house. He said the kid would become a 'criminal, a drug addict, a sex worker, or somehow a less-than-good member of society.' We didn't walk out that day. But we didn't go back, either.

3.  I got a job with a Catholic organization working under a very difficult priest, who believed that we should be working full time for free because we were doing God's work. He would always berate us for not working hard enough or putting in more hours. He said we should be glad to be 'filled with the light of God instead of being materialistic' (which was expecting a living wage). "Someone once replied, 'God doesn't pay my bills or put food on the table,' and he went into a flying rage. Then, on Sundays, he would preach about goodness and kindness.

4. I was raised Catholic and was taught that God would intervene if you prayed to him. My friend was having a difficult pregnancy, and I prayed every day that it would turn out OK, but she miscarried. When I spoke to my priest, he said that God had chosen to terminate the pregnancy because my friend wasn’t married and wasn’t a Catholic. That was six years ago, and I never returned to the church after that.

5. The last time I went to a church it was a lovely and inspirational sermon until the pastor started disparaging gays for absolutely no reason. Even at my grandfather's funeral, the pastor there managed to blame gays for the state of the world. Just random unnecessary hate.

6. My friend was very, very religious and went to the pastor for guidance about an abusive and violent husband, and he put no blame on the husband at all. He guilted her into staying in the marriage and acted as if prayer would fix everything! I was disgusted.

7. The pastor at the family church was involved in a scandal with a child and no one would do anything because he was a 'man of God.' I was instantly turned off of organized religion after finding out.

8. My mother was raised in the Catholic Church, but her breaking point was when they demanded 10% of her monthly income in order to attend. My mom basically told them to fuck off and NEVER looked back.

Read more on
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/former-c...02605.html

Very edifying, but shouldn't number 1 be... "no one could offer anything approaching any objective evidence that any deity exists, or is even possible!"