I left the Catholic Religion 50 years ago because of BIRTH CONTROL

[HockeyMom]

That was when I was a 15 year old Virgin ONLY CHILD (parents choice) in Catholic school. I actually fought with the priests over this, and about divorce and re-marriage. My parents were NOT going HELL for using condoms and diaphragms. The Pill was not available back then. I was not going to APOLOGIZE to anyone, or defend my parents choice, especially to the Catholic Church. My favorite divorced and remarried Aunt was not an ADULTERESS. My cousin was not a BASTARD child. Screw you, Catholic religion. Years later, I also defended my GAY RELATIVES who wanted to live their life, raise their children, get MARRIED, according to what was best for THEM, not what some old man in Rome said.

I am 65 years old now, and never looked back. You want to be a faithful Catholic, good for you, as long as you don't try to impose or legislate your Catholic beliefs on anyone else but YOU.

Tell your Pope, US Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, SC Justices, Legislators, that for me, the FORMER Catholic. I left your religion. Leave us ALONE. Sorry, Catholic Du'ers, I hope you truly understand how I feel. They made me furious 50 years ago, and they are doing so again today.

Edit: While I am an old woman, I do have two adult daughters. One is a straight, married woman who uses contraceptives. One is a gay woman, legally married to a woman. I both a woman, and a mother, I WILL fight for their rights. Understand THAT.

[Suich]

1. So did I!

In 1966.

[warrant46]

6. The mysoginistiic catlick church abusing females since 500 A.D.

No problem with men though

See Pope Paul 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_III_and_His_Grandsons

Paul was not a religious man; he viewed the papacy as a means to consolidate his family's position. He was socially ambitious, a careerist and not particularly pious. He kept a concubine, fathered four children out of wedlock and viewed the throne as an opportunity to fill his coffers while he placed his relatives in high positions.



Titian, Pope Paul III and His Grandsons, 1545–46. Oil on canvas, 210cm × 176cm, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples. Cardinal Alessandro Farnese stands behind Pope Paul III. Ottavio Farnese at right prepares to kiss Paul's feet.

[dballance]

18. I think you need to look back about 300 more years.

During the 100's-200's the Orthodox Christians who became today's RCC were doing their best to stomp out the Gnostic Christians.

The Gnostics were more about spirituality, brother- and sister-hood. They included women as equals in all religious matters. They preached looking inward for divine answers, not looking to a teacher so much. This is pretty much what Jesus did with his disciples. If you read the NT you'll notice that he rarely directly answers a question from his disciples. Rather he counsels them to seek their own answers. The Gnostics also said that just because one can profess a faith, participate in the liturgy, take communion and were willing to be martyred by the Romans didn't really mean they'd found salvation. In other words, saying it doesn't make it so. Or as Jesus is quoted "Many are called but few are chosen." Gnostics felt that every person, male or female, could have an intimate, enlightening relationship direct with Jesus/God. Through introspection and seeking knowledge.

The Orthodox Christians on the other were more interested accepting everyone (building numbers of the perceived converts from paganism) regardless of whether or not their professed faith was sincere and enlightened. They focused on a hierarchy of priests and the Bishops through which the laypersons must have their relationship with Jesus/God. They also happened to be some very misogynist men who felt that women should have no place in the church hierarchy. This is actually the time during which you get the directives from the Bishops that women should be submissive in all things to their husbands and that women should be silent in church.

We see who won the war. The very organized, very patriarchal, very misogynistic Orthodoxy. Since they got to write history, the way the winners always do, they proclaimed everything else in the first and second centuries was all heresy.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

31. We are still all around you and in plain sight.

[orpupilofnature57]

2. I was 12 in 1969 and remember my moms Epiphany, one

of the many reasons I'm a recovering Roman Catholic .

[Cleita]

3. I got a lot of grief too from being an only child in parochial school.

Most of my classmates came from large families and even the smallest had at least four children. My mother had developed a cancerous tumor after I was born and the treatment was a hysterectomy, but that wasn't a good enough of an excuse and was hinted at as probably being a convenient lie. Well, I never believed in the myths anyway and only paid them lip service to survive until I graduated from high school. Good riddance. The only time I see the inside of any church is for a wedding or a funeral. A hike in the forest is my church and religion.

[nomorenomore08]

10. "A hike in the forest is my church and religion."

[anneboleyn]

14. I know three mothers of "large happy Catholic" families who ALL REGRETTED

having so many children (9, 8, and 7). They all left the church, as did nearly all of the children and their families, and, as the mothers aged, they each came to the conclusion that having so many children had not been a good or healthy decision -- and that it had harmed the CHILDREN. The children were forced to raise themselves and each other as the mothers were simply not able to care for five, six, seven children (while also of course being pregnant again). They also felt that their marriages were destroyed by a twisted view of family.

One of the mothers stated shortly before she passed away that she had had her dreams of a family -- what a family should be -- robbed by the church. When she was first married, she dreamed of having a couple of children to care for -- to be a "good mother" and a "good wife" in the old-fashioned way. But then she and her husband were force-fed the Catholic dogma by relatives and their (Italian) community, and out of guilt they had a large family. She said it destroyed her marriage as she had no time ever to spend with her husband, who had to work regular time plus every hour of overtime he could get to support the family, until they were old (and by then had health problems).

[phylny]

19. My Italian-Catholic parents had three kids.

No one ever pressured them, and I knew they used birth control because my father would abstain from receiving communion, until he went to confession and a priest said, "You're staying away from communion because of THAT? Please, receive communion every Sunday."

[LiberalElite]

4. I left it while still

in Catholic high school, in 1968.

[sharp_stick]

5. I left the Pentecostal Protestant

movement about 25 years ago because my best friend at the time decided that it was smarter to kill himself than accuse the youth pastor of abusing him.

I'm done with religion. I'm a scientist and an atheist and proud of both of them.

[Skidmore]

11. I left a similar background 40 years ago and

you can't get me in to a church. I did marry a into a Muslim family which was very religious but never joined that religion and was divorced after 20 years. I feel fortunate to have escaped the worst of that and I have raised both of my children as secularists. They are good and moral people who are successful as adults.

[joanbarnes]

7. So True! Same for me.

[joanbarnes]

8. As one of 8 mostly unplanned Catholic children, I CHOSE to have an only child.

[Warpy]

9. I remember one of those full of himself, stuffed shirt priests coming into my third grade class

and lecture a room full of eight year olds on the evils of abortion and how it was a woman's duty to die in childbirth because the baby might be a boy.

Well, I was eight and I hated most boys and I sure as hell didn't want to die giving birth to one.

I count that as the day I started to ask a lot of tough questions. I learned very quickly those questions would net me hours on my knees on the marble floor of the church, so I asked them of books.

By the age of 10, my anger and rebellion were so obvious that my parents sprung me from Catholic school and I never looked back.

I have no problem with sensible practicing Catholics who know a celibate old man in Rome knows jack shit about families, especially women in those families.

I'm old now and never had kids, but my friends have daughters and I will fight to my last breath the asinine effort by frightened, rabbity men to push half the population into the horror of reproductive slavery I remember from my teens and early 20s.

Understand THAT.

[Retrograde]

22. He actually said it?

The ones I've encountered usually stopped short of the obvious sexism and hope no one will draw the obvious conclusion.

I wasn't born until my parents had been married several years. My mother once told me that the parish priest once flat-out asked her if she had any "problems". Now, I'm not as virulently anti-Catholic as some people on DU: I'll grant that they do good work in some areas. But I draw the line when it comes to telling people what legal things they can and can not do as consenting adults.

Frightened is the right word, Warpy: they're afraid of losing their influence. Smaller families mean smaller parishes which means smaller collections which means smaller kick-ups to the dioceses and so forth.

I left about the same time you did, because I didn't want to be considered a lesser sort of person.

[Warpy]

29. If it weren't for all the magnificent art

I'd be in favor of a half dozen daisy cutter bombs dropped on the Vatican at any moment. I can't think of a much more useless but incredibly influential organization. At best, it's an anachronism that needed to go hundreds of years ago.

I earned my rage at the hierarchy, I was raised in the Irish church here in the US.

Do note that I find rank and file Catholics to be sensible people who quite wisely ignore what Rome says about abortions, marriage equality, contraception, and most other real world issues that celibate old men know bupkus about but feel compelled to yammer about ceaselessly.

[nomorenomore08]

12. Thank you. This was a great post, and screw any idiots who object to it.

[SunSeeker]

13. K & R

[mimi85]

15. My Beloved MIL

who passed away about 10 years ago had 5 kids. I honestly never heard her complain about anything, a truly loving, kind woman.

In her later years, she told my husband and I how she went to the Catholic church many years ago and read the priest the riot act for the church not allowing any effective method of birth control. She adored all her children and wouldn't have traded them for anything, but many a night she went to bed hungry so my FIL and the 5 kids could eat - of course the kids never realized this for some reason. My FIL died young so I don't know what he thought.

When she was on her death bed, some well meaning soul sent a priest to her home to administer the last rites. Mind you, she hadn't been to church in decades. She rallied enough to tell him to get the hell out of her house. I loved this woman with all my heart and I will never forget her act of bravery.

[Warpy]

30. My parents both died unbelievers

after decades of being horribly disappointed that I'd kicked the church to the curb in my youth and never went back. My mother finally sat down and read the bible cover to cover and was furious about it and never went into a church again (the pastor dropping dead on the last day my dad managed to guilt her into going had nothing to do with it).

My dad offered to call the priest for the last rites and was amused as hell when she rallied and broke through her dementia and told him there was no way she'd die that big a hypocrite.

I have no idea what finally made my dad an unbeliever. I was just glad that he died without fear of a vengeful god.

I miss them both now and only wish we'd had more years as mutual unbelievers without the church poisoning the relationship.

[47of74]

16. I left because of all the horse manure in 2012.

I finally had enough of all the horse shit that year. I finally had enough of a church that would excommunicate people for saving the lives of women and children whose pregnancies endangered them. I finally had enough of a church that crawled into bed with the most despicable right wingers to shove pray, pay, and obey down our throats. I finally had enough of a church that was doing everything it could to go back to the 1950s and get rid of anyone who didn't agree with them. I finally had enough of a church that was campaigning for the Republicans.

[phylny]

17. I left about 25 years ago because of three things:

1) I used birth control, and didn't see it as a "sin."

2) I didn't believe the pope was infallible.

3) I didn't believe you should pray to Mary.

At the time, I thought it was hypocritical of me to stay in a church when I don't believe these things and won't follow the rules.

[MANative]

20. I held out for a year longer than you did, and left 38 years ago over the same issues.

Never looked back, never will. I only step foot in a church to honor family weddings and funerals, and even then with great reluctance. My 77-year-old mother keeps insisting that I'll "go back" to the church someday, constantly urging me to "pray" to one saint or another. It'll never, ever, ever happen. Like you, they've made me furious for decades and I can't even breathe over how angry I've been in the last week. I'm well-educated and typically pretty articulate, but I've been reduced to sputtering in fury since this latest travesty from the clowns of SCOTUS.

[KG]

21. I never believed. I recall as a child going to sunday school etc, but I just played along...

nothing I was being told ever made any sense to me

[neverforget]

23. As soon as I moved out of the house at 18, I stopped being a Catholic.

My parents made me go through CCD but I was never into it. I would do anything to get out of going to church or CCD. The last time I went to church was for my dad's funeral in 2006.

[Cartoonist]

24. An eye-opening thread

I am a 60 year old man who survived Catholic school.

I don't mean eye-opening as much as connect the dots. Of course being a breeding machine is bad for the woman. I come from a family of seven kids. My mother died before my father. My father was an asshole, my mother an angel.

It has long been my contention that Central America and South America are made up of third world countries because they are still ruled by the Pope.

[Hekate]

25. Contraception was the reason I never converted at 15. Me, the archetypal good girl, virgin til 21...

...and engaged, I knew down to my toes that there was no way I would "let God decide" the size of my family. Mom didn't raise me in the Church, but I felt a real attraction to the rituals of my grandparents' religion, so I attended catechism classes with a friend for a year. But I just couldn't get over their ban on family planning. That was 51 years ago.

I'm so fortunate I had the mother I had. She was very open about many things having to do with female sexuality, and she also shared a lot of family stories with me. As the oldest kid I was also around for her several miscarriages, one of which almost killed her. I think I was about 11 when she told me Dad had chosen to have a vasectomy while she was pregnant with my youngest brother in 1957. By that time her GP had urged that one of them should get snipped, and he was a Catholic himself.

As for deciding to have sex with my fiancée -- I planned ahead and got a prescription for the Pill first.

In my opinion, forbidding women from having control over their own fertility is evil. It makes us no better than slaves.

[Dawson Leery]

26. I broke all ties with the RCC in 2008.

Last edited Sun Jul 6, 2014, 11:07 PM - Edit history (1)

I began to question the church and religion in general during the Bush years. The RCC's decision to place priority on opposition to gay rights and reproductive choice began my questioning of this faith.

It was in May of 2005 when (Great Whore) Benedict had the nerve to recall the duly elected Prime Minster of Spain (Luis Zapatero) for his approval of gay marriage, I saw the church in an entirely different light. What kind of person was Benedict too give such and unenforceable order? Of course Mr. Zapatero told the Pope to go to hell.

The dark ages past long ago and the RCC has never gotten over it's loss of power.

The Bishops and Cardinals (great whores) got into bed with the Republican party during the 2012 campaign. That was more than enough for me turn anti-catholic.

I fully defend the Spanish Republicans who stripped this evil institution of it's power during the 1930's. It was unfortunate that the pro-Catholic Franco won the war.

[Wounded Bear]

27. Not a Catholic...but much like Republicanism...

I've often wondered how a woman could do that.

[theexwife]

28. Good for you!

He without sin cast the first stone...
I think birth control, and gay marriage should be the last thing on Catholicism's mind with all the sex abuse scandals coming forth...

[Strat54]

32. I gave up on religion almost 20 years ago.

I am a WASPy guy. My parents believe and they made me go to church and be confirmed, but after that, it was up to me.

I do remember, back in the 70s, we belonged to a United Church of Christ in OH. I don't know how to say this, but it was the freakin' "Age of Aquarius" in the old UCC. I was taught the most loving, non-judgmental, take the hard path... Peace!!! brand of Protestantism I have ever experienced. We played Beatles and the Ides of March in the church youth band.

I am an atheist!! I do not believe in Fairy Tales. BUT!!!... I do acknowledge that the structure and history and knowledge I gained from having that educational church experience was very beneficial to me as a person.

Look!! I honestly believe that, even if there were some sort of God, he would be more concerned about how we treat each other and that we don't be assholes to each other for fun. But, I honestly do believe that there is no God.

I am a father now. My daughter is VERY smart. She knows I don't believe. She says that she doesn't really believe either, but she asks questions from time to time. I stopped by to check out my old church after 35 years. I stop and I talk to the new pastor. I tell him my story and my history with this congregation. He is impressed by my recollection of the church from 35 years ago. He discloses that he has been pastor for 5 years, and he is gay. He said that the people that had an issue with that left 5 years ago, and that they have an all inclusive policy.

I sometimes think that my daughter would benefit from this, a similar, tolerant experience like I had when I was her age.

[Strat54]

33. If I revealed my ignorance in the above comment, I'm sorry....

.....I don't believe because it doesn't make any sense. Seriously, my brain won't allow me to do the kind of gymnastics it would take to convince myself that there is a God.

The message, however, if given the way it was given to me 1974-1979, can be a useful reference for dealing with your neighbors, good and bad.

I fondly refer to that church from the 70s as "the Church of Our Groovy Father".

[ReRe]

34. I can relate, HockeyMom...

... only with me it was one of those horrible evangelical Protestant churches. Long story short, I could not wait to grow up so I would never ever have to be confronted by those hypocrites again.

[TBF]

35. I was agnostic/athiest by about 12 -

the hypocrisy of all the adults emptying out of church on Sunday only to drive down the street and plant themselves on the bar stools was too much to ignore (very small town in midwest - no stoplight, 3 taverns, 3 churches).

I don't mind churches for the most part. Most do tons of charitable works and provide not only a social outlet but also answers for folks who seek them (whether they are based in fact or fantasy I will let each of you decide for yourselves). The problem comes when folks decide their own beliefs must be followed by all.

I hear you and understand.

[Bluenorthwest]

36. I admire your honest life. I have a great lack of respect for many religious people who announce

that they don't believe any of 'those bad things' but remain in their Church and urge others to ignore the 'bad things' just like they do. They don't understand at all. If you don't believe it, stop asking others to pretend it is deserving of respect, stop asking others to excuse hate speech and bigotry.

Thank you.