leave church

I thought it wasn’t something really important, or not as much as in Finland, for example, where they pay a kind of tax on their income to finance church, when they are a member of it.

But today, there was this priest who came to make a prayer for the family, around my grandmother’s ashes. I said I was going to respectfully leave the room for a few moments, so that the believers could pray together, but my mother told me to stay, because I had been baptized, and that I had to pray with them.

What… the… HELL?!

I never want to pray, I think it’s ridiculous to fake a prayer when you don’t even believe in what you pray, or to whom you pray. I almost feel like laughing when they say stuff like “Glory to our Lord and the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus the benedicted” etc. etc. etc…

Feels like brainwashing. Like a cult. Maybe I don’t hear these things often enough to realize how odd they sound. Some people were praying really seriously, and I respect that if they don’t need any proof to believe in those things! But I ain’t buying it, and I don’t want to be around when they do these things.

I also told my mother later in the evening that I DO NOT want to have religious funerals when I die. I also don’t want to get the “last sacrements” or any other thing related to religion.

I want to be completely unbaptized. I feel kind of ashamed to be called a christian.

I got the letter of confirmation a couple of days ago.

I sent the letter of resignation last week and now I’m just waiting for the answer.

I have been thinking about it for awhile now and since my views differs from what our church teach, I don’t see why I should pay from my little salary something for them.

I said before: “I know that I’m going to do this the day I’m 18”

and today I sent in the application to secede from the Church.

I’ve done this and have no regrets. Go for it.

that I’m going to do this the day I’m 18.

I don’t believe in god, I don’t believe in the word of the bible and I don’t believe the things they preach at the church. Why am I still a member of the Evangelic-Lutheran Church of Finland then? Well, only because my parents chose to baptize me when I was a baby. I have never even wanted to join the church, but the choice was made before I could do anything about it.

But now I can do something about it: I am an adult and I can leave the church whenever I want to. This goal is a part of living my life on my own terms, not trying to live up to the expectations of others. I know my family member are certainly going to be surprised, maybe even a little bit shocked, when I tell them about this. But that’s their problem, I am entitled to make decisions that concern my own life.

This just happened inadvertently. It wasn’t so much that I left church, but that there was a social schism in church and my parents decided to leave.

But anyway, it feels great. I’m really curious as to know where I’d go spritually from here. After 5 or so years in that church, my faith has all but evaporated and I’m left extremely cynical about organized religion. Will I go to some other church someday? Maybe. But for now….hooray!