Hey everyone,
My name is Mike, I'm 24 and I live in the UK. I've been an atheist for roughly 10 years now. I was brought up in a catholic household, all of my relatives are either catholic or protestant and I was baptised and had my first communion, but I was never confirmed.
From an early age I always questioned religion to a certain degree and when I finally decided and announced myself as an atheist, all my family were completely fine with it (it even rubbed off on them a little).
Recently, I have started to look into excommunicating myself from the church. I have no desire to have my name associated with them in any way. However, I was wondering if there would be any cons with doing such a thing, e.g, I might find it hard for any children I have in the future finding a good school.
I can't really find many cons, so I just want to make sure I'm not missing out on any real benefits. Also, after saying this to my parents, I was surprised when they told me that they would be disappointed if I went ahead with this. That surprised me a lot. If I was to tell them I wanted to be a muslim, hindu, any other religion they'd be accepting. They are accepting of me as an atheist. If I was homosexual or bisexual, they'd be accepting. But this decision seems to have hit a nerve.
Would be grateful to hear any advice or even stories from members of this forum.
Thanks,
Mike.
My name is Mike, I'm 24 and I live in the UK. I've been an atheist for roughly 10 years now. I was brought up in a catholic household, all of my relatives are either catholic or protestant and I was baptised and had my first communion, but I was never confirmed.
From an early age I always questioned religion to a certain degree and when I finally decided and announced myself as an atheist, all my family were completely fine with it (it even rubbed off on them a little).
Recently, I have started to look into excommunicating myself from the church. I have no desire to have my name associated with them in any way. However, I was wondering if there would be any cons with doing such a thing, e.g, I might find it hard for any children I have in the future finding a good school.
I can't really find many cons, so I just want to make sure I'm not missing out on any real benefits. Also, after saying this to my parents, I was surprised when they told me that they would be disappointed if I went ahead with this. That surprised me a lot. If I was to tell them I wanted to be a muslim, hindu, any other religion they'd be accepting. They are accepting of me as an atheist. If I was homosexual or bisexual, they'd be accepting. But this decision seems to have hit a nerve.
Would be grateful to hear any advice or even stories from members of this forum.
Thanks,
Mike.
