I just wanted to preface this article by saying that I know many people who read this, including some of my friends, won’t believe the things that I am writing about. The purpose of this article is for me to express how I feel about my own religion and how I’ve dealt with it. I am in no way bashing the religion or people who follow it. I am simply stating my opinion on how I grew up Catholic and how I’ve fallen from it.

Ever since I was born, my parents have raised me to be a good Catholic girl. I was baptized as a baby with all my family members watching the ceremony. From Pre-K to even now in college, I’ve constantly gone to Catholic schools. I was fine with being raised Catholic because I didn’t know much about it. I was just following what my parents wanted me to follow.

I started to realize that I didn’t agree with many of the ideals of Catholicism. I know that not all Catholics are as extreme as the ones that I see on the news, but it was hard for me to associate myself with a religion that didn’t have the same beliefs that I did.

In one of my previous articles, I stated that I’m pro-choice, which is unfortunately not a common view among Catholics.

I don’t believe that God created the world because I believe in the Big Bang.

I disagree with many other beliefs of Catholicism, but these are the main two. Because I didn’t have the same beliefs, it was hard for me to stay in the religion and even be around people who are that religion.

Telling my family and friends that I didn’t want to be Catholic anymore was something that never happened. I was too scared to because I didn’t know what they would think about me.

However, I think the reason why I’ve strayed is that it’s been forced on me my whole life. I’m not mad at my parents for sending me to Catholic school, but I would’ve liked to explore some other options myself. For example, both my middle school and high school, we were required to go to Mass and confession regularly. I didn’t mind it, but it was a lot for me. I felt like these Catholic ideals were being forced on me and I couldn’t handle it.

Now, I only go to Mass with my parents or if my friends want to. I stopped praying. I stopped thinking about God. I just stopped being Catholic. Sometimes, when life gets too hard, I try to talk to God, but it sucks because he doesn’t respond. I know that people will question what I am saying here, but I believe what I believe. I just can’t believe in something that doesn’t exist.