It was more the practice and the Church that I found hypocritical.
About the practice, I guess it's the same on every religion, people claim things and pray, but behave unaccordingly, that is what stroke me as a teenager. I was always wondering: have they just listened to the scriptures read by the priest?
So I started to think that the style had taken over the content.
As for the Church, its hierarchical functionning, silence in front of repetitive child abuse, the questionable legitimacy of the pope throughout history, the appropriation of the relationship with God (through indulgences then confession), among other things...
The doctrine itself is in my opinion very reductive when defining God, at least in its popular version, by opposition to the thoughts of Meister Eckhart for instance.
Are you a Catholic?
Replies (2)
Those seem to be common complaints former Catholics have and reasons why they left the church myself. Now I recognize actions of fallen men do not contradict religion or its institutions.
I grew up Catholic and for similar reasons drifted away from it. Spent many years as an agnostic during and after college. A few years ago I started to become more conservative and between that and Bitcoin I found myself coming back into the faith. Initially it was more from a mainstream Christian or evangelical angle, but I’m becoming more and more convinced I should return to the Catholic church as of recent. Frank Turek helped answer some questions I had regarding the existence of God and Trent Horn has helped dispel many of the myths and criticisms about Catholicism and he makes a compelling case for it as well. Both gentlemen have great debates and content on YT. Oddly enough ChatGPT is really good at answering questions about the Bible and explaining all the typical complaints about Catholicism like infant baptism, confession, etc.
Thank you for sharing. Yes, these were mainly triggers that led me to eventually leave the church.
I have grown up, and I have realised that I could actually come back aware of what is behind the curtain (or the priest in that case)...
But the reason I will not do that is the impact the church and my catholic education had on me. It made me feel divided, separated from God and from myself, separated from nature, and cut me off from other spiritual traditions that were despised in religious class (when not erased by the church in history).
It took me a long time to find that back and I am still struggling for this. I re-learn to trust my guts and feelings, to live my life more connected to my intuitions, my heart and the divine. Reading about Jesus helps me for this but the church (and institutionalised religion in general) does not.
I need to draw my own spiritual path and share with others the fundamental message of all religions, which is always Love.
