I am an Atheist but technically I am still (sigh) a...Catholic. I took all the Sacraments of Initiation.(against my will) I'm sick and tired of my friends calling me a Catholic too. They always say stuff like "you are not an Atheist you are just a lapsed Catholic" that annoys the crap out of me. So I want to get rid of this religion from my life. Is there any procedure to this??
2007-07-19 16:37:08 · 31 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Write the Church a letter explaining that you want to severe all of your association with the Catholic church. Be sure to tell them to remove your name from any and all membership records and or lists.
2007-07-19 16:42:09 · answer #1 · answered by Tim 47 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Tell them you are now a baptist.
Sorry, its a joke, but they may take it serious enough to leave you alone.
My Husband was raised catholic and took all the rituals, worked as an usher, very involved.
He was told by the church that he could not marry me because I would not become a Catholic. That is when he left the church.
He did not get involved with another church for 13 years, and his mother did tell him that he was lapsed, among other things.
He no longer felt he belonged to an organization that cared more about a label than a persons heart and soal.
Now, the chruch that he finally found his personal relationship with Jesus Christ is a baptist church, but the fact of the name on the outside of the church didnt matter. What mattered was that the bible was taught as God wanted it to be, verse by verse, chapter by chapter and book by book.
End result, by doing nothing at all, like during my husbands 13 year hiatus, others will still call you catholic, even though you are not. If you want them to stop, start reading your bible and get the amunition you need to stop them in their tracks when they call you lapsed.
2007-07-19 16:46:04 · answer #2 · answered by cindy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your attitude says your not a Catholic/Christian because you have publicly renounced The Christ as an Atheist
- the holy spirit will continue to flicker inside you for awhile - you will know this when you recognize evil in the world around you - however the Bible teaches that it is possible to loose your salvation. The Bible also teaches that those that have heard the word and consciously reject it - will be damned, unlike the heathen in remote parts of the world that never have heard the word - they will have an excuse /pass on judgment day.
Apparently this need to "rid" yourself of religion is your need to "rid" yourself of guilt, that which the holy spirit and your conscience are convicting you with. But by you r actions it seems you have rid yourself from the spiritual growth that religion provides.
2007-07-21 04:11:13 · answer #3 · answered by thefatguythatpaysthebills 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here are the steps:
1. Start taking money from the offering tray
2. Gargle the sacramental wine
3. Take 3 or 4 Wafers at a time
4. Start belching in the service
5. Say God's prayer wrong
6. Walk up to the priest and comment on his jewelry
That ought to get you out of the Catholic Fayth.
2007-07-19 16:49:57 · answer #4 · answered by dlbt21 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I suppose you could get excommunicated. But why let it bug you? If you don't believe, fine. Realize that it was part of your life. You know the old saying, " Don't throw the baby out with the bath water." The more people know it bugs you, the more they are apt to say things. I say people, because if some one is a true friend they aren't going to keep bugging you about it. I've met many people who were raise in a religion they no longer part take of. So you stop making a big deal of it and so will others.
2007-07-19 16:51:01 · answer #5 · answered by Janet C 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Is it possible that it is merely catholicism that you do not believe in, rather than God? As a christian, I have felt very strongly that the Catholic Church is more of a cult than a house of God. Before you give up on Him altogether, do your research. God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you. Don't let a (possibly) backwards church take that away from you. And just so you know, you don't need to give God messages through a priest or a saint. Just talk to Him from where you are sitting right now. He can hear you, and He is listening.
I wish you the very best in your journey and I am praying for great things in your life! God bless you!!!
2007-07-19 17:11:05 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
If you unwilling received the sacraments, they had no effect on you. To become a Catholic you must want to be one and believe in what the Church teaches. Otherwise it is a false conversion.
2007-07-19 16:42:46 · answer #7 · answered by nicole f 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I had the same problem of people refering to me as Catholic. I'm not Atheist either. I just think what I think. Just tell them, "I was Catholic until I reached the age of Reason"
2007-07-19 16:48:36 · answer #8 · answered by Nib 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my wife says the same thing to me. I was 'raised' catholic, I walked completely away from their church when i was about 14. Haven't been back since.
I don't hold ANY of their beliefs.
IF your looking for a document that states that fact I don't think they ever created one.
Your alleged 'friends' opinion is just that an OPINION nothing more.
2007-07-19 16:43:30 · answer #9 · answered by Mr.TwoCrows 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dunno:
I was raised in Roman Catholicism. It really meant very little to me until I had a personal encounter with Christ. I had been searching into all kinds of things, including atheism.
When I began to take the tiniest bit of serious review of the Bible, Christ revealed himself to me - as the Bible says he will. He led me to find a community where people believe the Bible and take their faith in Christ very seriously.
From that time forward, life has been an adventure and an amazing experience. I was literally dead until then. I just didn't know it.
Blessings.
2007-07-19 16:44:28 · answer #10 · answered by TEK 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋