Has religion brought you comfort or pain?

[Anonymous]

In some discussions here, people have talked about how religion has helped them in difficult times and how it can provide ongoing comfort, guidance, and closeness with family and their religious community.

In a recent thread, https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1264455.page people discussed leaving religion. Their reasons involved a lot of pain.

For me, religion brought neither pain nor comfort. I went to church with my family as a child, and eventually gave it up as an adult.

What about you?

[Anonymous]

It's both. I am a practicing Catholic and get a lot of comfort out of my faith. I love to pray. I love ritual. I love the community. At the same time I am pro-choice and in favor of women's ordination to the priesthood and diaconate. As a female cradle Catholic, I bear this lifetime of pain from the obvious disenfranchisement, the message that we are less than men. While at the same time, I love being Catholic and would never leave, especially because if we leave, the reactionaries win. They are conflicting emotions, but not uncommon among women like me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's both. I am a practicing Catholic and get a lot of comfort out of my faith. I love to pray. I love ritual. I love the community. At the same time I am pro-choice and in favor of women's ordination to the priesthood and diaconate. As a female cradle Catholic, I bear this lifetime of pain from the obvious disenfranchisement, the message that we are less than men. While at the same time, I love being Catholic and would never leave, especially because if we leave, the reactionaries win. They are conflicting emotions, but not uncommon among women like me.

How awful and conflicting for you. Meanwhile, you don't mention actually believing in God. Do you believe?

[Anonymous]

Pain

Abuse Catholic Church.
Abortion issue watching my mother and neighborhood women suffer needlessly in the name of Pro Life, clearly they are not pro life.
Domestic Violence. Violence against children.
Protection of Priests that abused family members by the Catholic Church.
Now as an adult seeing it through adult eyes it sickens me the Church is still paying for lawyers to support Priests who abused children over the children.
Opus Dei also horrifying. How women are treated.
There are so many things in the church that people just ignore hypocrites. I grew up in a very Catholic area. There were no other religions that I knew of as a child everyone was Catholic 10 -14 kids were the norm. By HS then more diverse area but still predominately Catholic. Cheating husbands the norm but they went to confession weekly so hey all good right?

Lucky for me my father was a reader and he loved learning he sent us to public school instead of the local Catholic school after 5th grade. He was done with the protection of priests he could not stomach it. My mother the staunch Catholic was always a believer.

Do I believe in God no. Do I believe in a higher being yes.

Given where we are in the world today all the hate spewing children being affected by religion daily not just Catholics and not in a good way. I see religion as nothing good. The excuses people make who are religious for the bad behavior of others is absurd.

Religion is bad for women. Nothing good comes from the hypocrisy and control of women most religions. Ie causes pain.

[Anonymous]

comfort

[Anonymous]

Religion has fcked up my family.

I had to cut out the complete nutters out of my life to avoid their abuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's both. I am a practicing Catholic and get a lot of comfort out of my faith. I love to pray. I love ritual. I love the community. At the same time I am pro-choice and in favor of women's ordination to the priesthood and diaconate. As a female cradle Catholic, I bear this lifetime of pain from the obvious disenfranchisement, the message that we are less than men. While at the same time, I love being Catholic and would never leave, especially because if we leave, the reactionaries win. They are conflicting emotions, but not uncommon among women like me.

How awful and conflicting for you. Meanwhile, you don't mention actually believing in God. Do you believe?

Yes, I believe in God, the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ, his only son.

[Anonymous]

Me personally, neither. Overall, I believe it causes more harm than good. Just look at the Gaza and Palestine situation as an example.

[Anonymous]

I always wonder what I would have been like without all the brainwashing. I think I would have been happier and more successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's both. I am a practicing Catholic and get a lot of comfort out of my faith. I love to pray. I love ritual. I love the community. At the same time I am pro-choice and in favor of women's ordination to the priesthood and diaconate. As a female cradle Catholic, I bear this lifetime of pain from the obvious disenfranchisement, the message that we are less than men. While at the same time, I love being Catholic and would never leave, especially because if we leave, the reactionaries win. They are conflicting emotions, but not uncommon among women like me.

How awful and conflicting for you. Meanwhile, you don't mention actually believing in God. Do you believe?

Yes, I believe in God, the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ, his only son.

And in language straight out of the apostles creed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:comfort

Great! Please describe the comfort that religion has brought you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's both. I am a practicing Catholic and get a lot of comfort out of my faith. I love to pray. I love ritual. I love the community. At the same time I am pro-choice and in favor of women's ordination to the priesthood and diaconate. As a female cradle Catholic, I bear this lifetime of pain from the obvious disenfranchisement, the message that we are less than men. While at the same time, I love being Catholic and would never leave, especially because if we leave, the reactionaries win. They are conflicting emotions, but not uncommon among women like me.

How awful and conflicting for you. Meanwhile, you don't mention actually believing in God. Do you believe?

Yes, I believe in God, the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ, his only son.

And in language straight out of the apostles creed.

But of course. LOL.

With regard to the prior comment about how awful and conflicting for "you", I am most definitely not alone in feeling what I do. It's more of a "we", than just "me", who feels that way.

[Anonymous]

Pain

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pain

Abuse Catholic Church.
Abortion issue watching my mother and neighborhood women suffer needlessly in the name of Pro Life, clearly they are not pro life.
Domestic Violence. Violence against children.
Protection of Priests that abused family members by the Catholic Church.
Now as an adult seeing it through adult eyes it sickens me the Church is still paying for lawyers to support Priests who abused children over the children.
Opus Dei also horrifying. How women are treated.
There are so many things in the church that people just ignore hypocrites. I grew up in a very Catholic area. There were no other religions that I knew of as a child everyone was Catholic 10 -14 kids were the norm. By HS then more diverse area but still predominately Catholic. Cheating husbands the norm but they went to confession weekly so hey all good right?

Lucky for me my father was a reader and he loved learning he sent us to public school instead of the local Catholic school after 5th grade. He was done with the protection of priests he could not stomach it. My mother the staunch Catholic was always a believer.

Do I believe in God no. Do I believe in a higher being yes.

Given where we are in the world today all the hate spewing children being affected by religion daily not just Catholics and not in a good way. I see religion as nothing good. The excuses people make who are religious for the bad behavior of others is absurd.

Religion is bad for women. Nothing good comes from the hypocrisy and control of women most religions. Ie causes pain.

What higher being do you believe in?

[Anonymous]

Pain.

Heartache

Loss of a child through Estrangement brought about by indoctrination into a religious cult that is just an offshoot of a mainstream religion.

Disgust that an ancient book controls so many lives

I could go on…..