Religion/denominations - what made you walk away?
 

If you're of a different belief now...

What made you walk away from a specific religion/denomination or religion in general?

science.

Quiet introspection and reasoning. :)

Actually, it was the priest arguing with me.

I was Catholic, now not practicing anything (but still believing in the faith in general).

When the priest not only could not (would not ?) answer my questions, but told me I was wrong to have them, I said "time to go." I wish I could go back, but since I have fundamental issues with some of the doctrines and what I'm told is supposed to be the "right way", I will just have to miss the singing and churches.

I walked away and came back. But I only came back because I found a Catholic parish and priest that doesn't make me feel like I am condemned to hell for my past. Perhaps I'm lucky.

But I am still very curious about other religions in general.

Let's see:

14 years of Catholic education, which included two years of preschool/kindergarten. Mix that with one strictly religous, very pre-Vatican II believing father who insisted the earlier one attended mass, the more religious you were :)

The same father insisted on the celebrant for my wedding mass, who had been assistant pastor at two churches we'd attended growing up (and a man I couldn't stand.) Turns out my instincts were right, because this priest was the same guy hit with dozens of sexual abuse/assault claims and almost single handedly brought down the Archdiocese of Louisville due to the number of lawsuits filed just against him.

Toss in my own deep beliefs that some of the Church's doctrines and "right ways" (thanks ZTA1806!) and top it all off with relatives who insisted that we'd all go to hell if we followed my father's own burial wishes by not having a full-blown Catholic funeral mass with the associated visitations and wakes, etc and that was more than enough for me.

These days, I'm what they term a "non-practicing Catholic" and do not participate in any formal religion.

I realized that I don't believe in God.

ETA: I was raised Presbyterian and later became a Baha'i and am now Buddhist.

:) I'm "non-practicing" too! My mom used to have a fit, since after 16 years at all-girl catholic school and getting her graduate degree from another catholic school, she still wants to go to mass every day.

I think it still bugs her a bit, but she's very understanding that it is not that I am a non-believer, just that I have my own way of expressing my faith. I also think it makes her feel better to light candles for me (but that could have something to do with my job, too). Even though I'm no longer in a LT relationship, she still has a minister (also a former Catholic, and a very cool guy) on call for my wedding (someday). Like I said, she's not pushy about things anymore. I guess she figures if He hasn't taken me out yet, I must not be that bad afterall (LOL)
:D

I guess you could say I've walked away from traditional Catholicism - I'm a neoThomist and I'm an Americanist, neither of which the Church is fond of, but it's certainly the direction the US Church is heading in. I'm not a strict interpretationist of the Bible. ;)

I grew up Catholic even though my mother wasn't strict about it and my fatehr is an atheist. My aunt is very super-Catholic and she pushed my brother and I into it when we were kids. My brother rebelled while I was there but not there. It wasn't until my sophomore first semester when alot of crap happened that I got serious about God. I first looked into getting back into the Catholic Church but I was already skeptical because of the whole priest abuse scandal and stuff. I didn't get back into it because no one really wanted to answer my questions. I would say now I'm a bible based non-denominational evangelical. I take all Christian beliefs with a pinch of salt and a look at my bible.

I didn't really practice anything before I got saved and started going to an independant baptist church. I went to a Methodist church and a Church of Christ church and a Catholic Church, all with different friends. I didn't really know what I believed. I switched because what they were telling me didn't make sense to me, but I found what I believe to be the truth in the bible. My faith is stronger than ever now.

I know I could google this, but you will probably give a better explanation. Does the neoThomist thing have anything to do with the Gospel of Thomas that was found, or am I completely on the wrong side of the fence?

Much to the amusement of many on this thread I'm sure, I find myself being pulled toward Catholicism, but I think it's more of a way to honor my grandmother and great-aunt than anything. The Lutheran church (or maybe it's just my home congregation) seems to be pushing evangelizing more and more, which I do not feel comfortable with. That and losing a lot of tradition. Call me shallow but I do not like to see paper signs made by 3 year olds hanging in the nave - it's TACKY!! The church I go to downtown is much more traditional and has more of the Catholic/Episcopal feel (i.e. wafers, intinction communion and Stations of the Cross on the wall).

one time, we lost the defining scriptures so we had to make it up, then the next time, i got turned off by the monthly payments.


weird

I didn't walk away from Catholicism so much as walked toward the Episcopal Church. I kind of fell into it because I wasn't very religious when I married Mr. KR and so we got married in his faith. Since we didn't get married in a Catholic church, we had the girls baptized in the Episcopal church. Then it dawned on me that, even though I was attending Episcopal services, I was the only family member who wasn't "official". So then I got received into the Church and I'm all official now :)


PS: Dionysus, is your deleted post count accurate? Only 1 in an entire month? Girl, you must be getting boring in your old age! ;) Either that or I'm not paying enough attention :)

Actually neo-Thomism is St. Thomas Aquinas - not the Gospel Thomas. It's, in short form, a return to intellectualism and modernity in the Catholic Church.

I took an American Catholic Life and Though class through our Theo department this summer and it was probably one of the best religion classes I've taken in my life.