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Original poster

Has anyone wrote to the church to officially denounce their religion?

47 replies

WynnieBagel · 12/02/2020 21:48

I not longer want to be affiliated with the Catholic Church.

I've been Athiest for years.

You may think if I don't believe then why do I feel the need to do that, but I still feel that I don't want at my name on their registry or files. I don't want to be listed as Catholic in their books. I want at it to be known officially. I don't want to be listed as something I am not because I was forced to he somewhere as a child.

Has anyone done this? Did you receive a response?

OP posts:
DadDadDad · 12/02/2020 22:42

I generally consider it a twatty move to correct another poster's language, but I suspect you mean "renounce" your religion. Denouncing it would be a stronger act.

I can't see what's wrong with writing a polite letter saying that you no longer wish to associate with X church, and (as with any organisation under data protection rules), please can they remove your name and other data from their records, as you no longer consent to them contacting you.

SouthWestmom · 12/02/2020 22:46

Does the Catholic Church keep lists of current or historic Catholics (genuine question) ? That's very interesting. Is it for financial requests? Or statistics?

My grandad was a practising part of the Episcopalian church and delivered services - I wonder if they do the same. Although obviously we don't feel the same about it so that's just idle curiosity.

If they do I think it's perfectly acceptable to write and inform them you are rejecting the faith.

LovingLola · 12/02/2020 22:50

Our parish has baptism, Confirmation and marriage registers.
Also a database of people who donate and/or are active in the parish. I guess it would be easy to be deleted from the database. I think the registers are historical records.

Commonwasher · 12/02/2020 22:53

Do you receive correspondence from the church? If not, I doubt you are on any parish roll. Your name will be in the baptism register but you cannot change this.

SouthWestmom · 12/02/2020 22:53

Thanks Lola. Sorry op for hijacking

TorkTorkBam · 12/02/2020 22:56

I was raised catholic. That is a truth. I am an atheist. I give no fucks what the church does. Them knowing I was once one of them doesn't bother me at all.

I sense much anger? What's going on with that?

bsc · 12/02/2020 22:57

How can you unbaptise yourself? This is the whole problem with infant baptism...

OhTheRoses · 12/02/2020 23:02

There isn't a problem with infant baptism in the Anglican church. It's an introduction. Commitment comes with confirmation when the child is older. DS was confirmed at about 8; dd thought hard about it at 8 and decided against at 9.

Bluerussian · 12/02/2020 23:08

"Has anyone wrote to the church to officially denounce their religion?"
How would we know if anyone has WRITTEN to the church on this subject? You say you've been atheist for years so I imagine they've got the picture - if you are remembered at all. Seems very dramatic

Just don't attend or have anything to do with the church any more. You don't have to write for goodness sake. Who is going to care?

SouthWestmom · 12/02/2020 23:12

Blue op is clearly looking for others experiencing similar thought processes not a set of statistics. If all you have to offer is grammar correction maybe scroll past?

ErrolTheDragon · 12/02/2020 23:17

Apparently if you were a catholic you can get yourself excommunicated for apostasy. To my mind that's still playing along with their games, but maybe it'd help if you need closure.

www.learnreligions.com/catholic-excommunication-250189

Ihaveamind · 12/02/2020 23:27

There used to be a letter you could write to "resign" as a member of the Catholic Church. But they closed that avenue about 10 years ago.
A reason people formally left was to reduce the numbers the church could claim to represent when it involved itself in public life.
Although I think these days Census figures are relied on more than babtismal records.

TorkTorkBam · 12/02/2020 23:42

You know you are free of religion when you truly give no fucks. You are not there yet.

You seem to be at the same stage as when you want to text your ex with a list of reasons why he was shit and you feel the need to return his stuff to him in dramatic style. You know you are over him when you find an old t-shirt of his somewhere in your house and you feel nothing and just bin it.

Giving no fucks whatsoever is liberating.

DaveMinion · 13/02/2020 08:10

You can’t cause they don’t want you to. They count baptism records to count the number of catholics in the world. As such I do not appreciate being counted in that number. But nothing I can do about it. They are a powerful organisation.

bellinisurge · 13/02/2020 08:26

You are an atheist. You don't need to resign from anything formally. Being baptised and presumably brought up Catholic is part of your life story. You can't undo that. You just walk away from it.

bsc · 13/02/2020 08:44

Are you close to your parents at all?

Original poster
WynnieBagel · 13/02/2020 08:50

I think you should be able to.

I was signed up to a lifetime label as a child, I had no say in it. I did not consent.

As an adult if I want to undo that I should be able to.

There should be some kind of way to at least be taken off the baptism registratry. A sort of divorce from it.

I've been looking into joing the Satanic Temple, UK and the more I read about people's experiences of the church the more angry it makes me that there's not an out if you want it.

Even if it is just SYMBOLIC.

BTW before people start, the Satanic Temple is not devil worshipping. They don't even believe in the devil, its an Atheist group that use symbolism to fight against religious dogma and try and stop religion and state/politics being in unison.
It's a much bigger franchise in the USA where seperation of church and state is becoming increasingly blurred.

OP posts:
Original poster
WynnieBagel · 13/02/2020 08:50

Yes I'm close to my parents, why?

OP posts:
Booboostwo · 13/02/2020 08:57

I completely agree with your OP. I was baptized Christian Orthodox when I was a baby and I have been an atheist since I could think. The Greek Orthodox church most definitely uses baptismal records as numbers of believers and is very influential with the Greek state partly because of their perceived following. I would very much like to remove myself from their numbers but I am not aware of any way of doing so.

Moonmelodies · 13/02/2020 09:10

Is St.Peter GDPR compliant?

TeacupDrama · 13/02/2020 09:43

I think you should be able to take yourself off current data bases but you can't change historical records that Father Xyz baptised baby bagel on 1\1\1970 for example

WinterCat · 13/02/2020 09:47

There should be some kind of way to at least be taken off the baptism registratry. A sort of divorce from it.

Surely at best it would work in the same way as a marriage and a divorce in the sense that the baptism is (often) registered by the church whereas the divorce is the legal act that is separate? Even with marriages, the documentation of the marriage stays in the records.

DisgraceToTheYChromosome · 13/02/2020 09:49

Hi OP. My brother looked into it about 20 years back, and the only way out for him was dying. So that was out.
If pp think this is all a storm in a teacup, they might like consider the abuse inflicted by the church, and the terrible rage and sense of betrayal felt by the victims. I remember a happy quirky little boy, and when I look at the cruel and angry man he is now...

sashh · 13/02/2020 09:51

You know you are free of religion when you truly give no fucks. You are not there yet.

Not necessarily.

I am not at all happy with faith schools and their ability to legally discriminate.

I don't like being included in stats, particularly when it is used for public or government policy.

Original poster
WynnieBagel · 13/02/2020 10:07

You know you are free of religion when you truly give no fucks. You are not there yet.

I don't want to give no fucks. I believe the church is a highly corrupt organisation. My aim as an atheist isn't to forget all about it, my aim is to make sure that others don't forget about the vile things that have happened within that organisation.

Why would I want to Bury my head?

There is a lot of anger yes. Because many, many abusive, sick men and women have used this as a cover up for their own twisted means against vulnerable women and children.

Why should I ignore that? Why should anyone?

OP posts:
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