I was born into a Catholic household. My father and mother were both raised Baptist, but my mother converted to Catholicism when I was just a baby and my father agreed that she could raise us three girls as Catholics. At 4 I was baptized into the church and at 8 I received my First Holy Communion (the communion wine has still turned me off from trying wine as an adult). I left the church when I was 16 years old, because I didn't agree with their viewpoints on abortion and gay marriage. My mother remained Catholic, even though she came out to me as being a lesbian right after my First Holy Communion. It was a shock to me, because she had just divorced my father. She always knew that things were wrong within the Catholic church, but remained a faithful tithing member.
In November 2007 I was baptized into the Mormon church. I was searching for something new in my life, I didn't know what. I found mormon.org and decided to check it out. I invited the missionaries over and they talked to me and proselytized to me and I ended up joining with my husband. Our children were still not members because in the Mormon church you cannot become a baptized member until your 8th birthday (still far too young in my mind). Then 2008 happened. I was still a member after 2008, didn't officially withdraw membership until 2011. I live in California and I'm sure we've all heard of Proposition 8. We were told during church services that we would go to hell if we voted no on Prop 8, we were told during Relief Society that a no on Prop 8 meant that people could start marrying animals. I still believe that tithing was going towards Prop 8. I never went to the Temple, my husband and I agreed after the Prop 8 thing that we would not be tithing members. In order to be seen in good standing in the Mormon church and go to Temple you must meet certain requirements, and one of them is paying 10% of your income to the church. We both left the church in 2011 and requested our names to be stricken from the records. I still have friends within the Mormon church, but I did lose quite a few friends when I told people that I was an Atheist.
My family still believes that I'm going to hell. Well, my mother's side of the family at least. My father's side has stated that they still love me, no matter what I choose in my life, because it is my life. My grandmother was abusive about religion to not only my mom but to myself and my older sister as well. She was never around my youngest sister alone since she has Rett's Syndrome and was living in a group home at the time. My aunt told me to open my Bible and tell her what I landed on. I humored her and told her it landed on Psalm 140. I've since sent my Bible to the recycling plant. It still didn't change my mind about religion. I could probably open up any book to any page, plop my hand down and come up with something that might make sense to another person. I don't think that anyone was talking through me while I did that.
In November 2007 I was baptized into the Mormon church. I was searching for something new in my life, I didn't know what. I found mormon.org and decided to check it out. I invited the missionaries over and they talked to me and proselytized to me and I ended up joining with my husband. Our children were still not members because in the Mormon church you cannot become a baptized member until your 8th birthday (still far too young in my mind). Then 2008 happened. I was still a member after 2008, didn't officially withdraw membership until 2011. I live in California and I'm sure we've all heard of Proposition 8. We were told during church services that we would go to hell if we voted no on Prop 8, we were told during Relief Society that a no on Prop 8 meant that people could start marrying animals. I still believe that tithing was going towards Prop 8. I never went to the Temple, my husband and I agreed after the Prop 8 thing that we would not be tithing members. In order to be seen in good standing in the Mormon church and go to Temple you must meet certain requirements, and one of them is paying 10% of your income to the church. We both left the church in 2011 and requested our names to be stricken from the records. I still have friends within the Mormon church, but I did lose quite a few friends when I told people that I was an Atheist.
My family still believes that I'm going to hell. Well, my mother's side of the family at least. My father's side has stated that they still love me, no matter what I choose in my life, because it is my life. My grandmother was abusive about religion to not only my mom but to myself and my older sister as well. She was never around my youngest sister alone since she has Rett's Syndrome and was living in a group home at the time. My aunt told me to open my Bible and tell her what I landed on. I humored her and told her it landed on Psalm 140. I've since sent my Bible to the recycling plant. It still didn't change my mind about religion. I could probably open up any book to any page, plop my hand down and come up with something that might make sense to another person. I don't think that anyone was talking through me while I did that.
