I've been thinking about that Pew finding that a large number of Americans have left the religion in which they were raised. I'd like to ask the room here to share your own experiences in this regard. Are you now worshiping in the religion in which you were raised?
If not, why'd you leave? Are you happy where you are now? Is your new faith everything you thought it would be? What lessons did you learn along the journey? Have you changed churches, or faiths, more than once?
If you remained in your childhood faith, why? Do you stay put in spite of anything? Were you ever tempted to leave, but chose not to -- and if so, what lessons did you learn while trying to discern what you should do?
We might well have talked about this before on this blog, but as we have a lot more new readers now, it might be fun, or at least thought-provoking, to do it again. Here's my apologia for leaving Catholicism for Orthodoxy. Please keep in mind that I'm not eager for folks to fight over which faith is the true one on this thread. I'm interested in people telling their stories. Let's be respectful of each other, and not use this thread an an opportunity to proselytize or to do apologetics. I welcome some critical commentary, as long as we keep a respectful tone, but let's be good to each other here.
UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan weighs in on why he's remained a Catholic.
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If the official policy of the RCC regarding child rape is NOT a matter of faith and morals, then what is?
Faith and morals refers to doctrine, not the here-and-now policy of assigning priests or punishing them for their misdeeds. Those policies are practice, not doctrine, so they do not require absolute obedience from the lay person if they are inherently sinful.
Doctrine is clarified by the Councils of the Church and the Pope acting in a specific teaching capacity. It has never been understood to encompass every action of the hierarchy. If you look back at the lives of many Catholic saints, they often stood up heroically to corrupt members of the hierarchy. But these same saints never questioned the actual authority of the Church in matters of doctrine.
My point is that, after studying the history of the Church and the rational justification of its doctrinal teachings, it's clear to me that there is something higher guiding that teaching. Despite scandalous priests, bishops, and even popes, the Church has maintained a remarkably consistent tradition. I do have to admit one thing: it is an intellectual matter but also one of faith. I cannot fault someone for seeing the Church as a human institution first and foremost, as long as that is a determination they came to in good faith.
"I’ve always thought most people who leave Catholicism are simply poorly catechized. If they really understood what they were leaving, they wouldn’t leave." A good theory, but didn't work for me. I had very good classes in religion during high school. I think I'm as literate in pre-Vatican II Catholicism as anybody I know. It just didn't work for me. The idea that something could be a mortal sin today and not tomorrow, or in New York and not in Caracas, just turned me off.
"Faith and morals refers to doctrine, not the here-and-now policy of assigning priests or punishing them for their misdeeds. Those policies are practice, not doctrine, so they do not require absolute obedience from the lay person if they are inherently sinful."
So, God is more interested in doctrine than the sexual safety of our children? That God is ready to guide the hierarchy in matters of artificial birth control or the assumption of Mary, but lets His hierarchy fend for themselves in mundane matters of the here-and-now like the rape of children?
This is a montrous compartmentalization and rationalization of crimes against children to prop up the facade of divine authority.
The difference between doctrine and practice is still being ignored here. Official Catholic teaching, embodied in the catechism and derived from the obvious directives of the Ten Commandments, is more than clear about the evils of pedophilia. The point is that many in the Church hierarchy have failed to live up to their own teachings.
No Catholic is obliged by their faith to do something inherently sinful. It's called the primacy of conscience and it takes precedence over any duty to obey legitimate authority, including the Church hierarchy.
This doesn't "prop" anything up. It preserves the authority of the Church acting in its teaching capacity. The pedophilia scandal has nothing to do with Catholic teaching and everything to do with human evil.
Probably pointless to post this so late, but it's fun to think and write about this.
Raised in a tepidly Catholic household, attended Catholic schools, now a happy nonbeliever. Two kids -- I have no intention of taking them to church.
Catholic schools were a great experience, and all the priests that I had as teachers were wonderful people. But I just never, ever believed any of it. Not claiming to be a nonconformist or to be brighter than anybody else (because many of the smartest people I know are believers). I was confirmed at 17 and I regret it. I wish I'd had the courage and intellectual honesty to opt out.
When people talk about "taking Jesus into their hearts," or their "walk with the Lord" I honestly have no idea what they could mean. And frankly, I'm not interested to know.
With two kids now, I feel no compulsion to return to the Catholic church or to seek out another church to belong to. I hope my kids will be knowledgable about the Bible and world religions, as cultural phenomena. But I'd be a little disappointed if either of them took up a faith.
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