Anonymous #1 1w

right?? I’m not religious now but I was raised in a religious family, I went to catholic school most of my life but religion growing up wasn’t as crazy like some of the stuff I’ve seen online. We went to church every week but outside of school and church we weren’t really religious, not reading Bible verses and shit. But even I was deathly of sinning and fucking up and I thought every single time I did something “bad”like being sent to time out I thought I was going to go hell

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Anonymous OP 1w

i remember one time my cousin picked up a fake flower that she found in the dollar store that had fallen off the bouquets so it didn’t have a price tag or anything. she got it for her mom and after we got home she showed her mom… her mom flipped out, saying she’s going to hell, she needs to repent and i remember my cousin basically sobbing and even though it wasn’t me, i feel like i got my first dose of religious trauma 💀 we were like 7 and her mom was freaking the fuck out on her

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Anonymous #1 1w

it was like late at night (after dinner idk) and the mom called the priest / “father” to get her to repent and the whole time i was like 😟

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Anonymous #2 1w

i do feel a bit of a crisis at times now that i'm aware of and actively exercising my free will. when i was religious it was easy to just assume every moment was predetermined and for my benefit. it's built-in belonging and security, and people can def be genuinely happy and content following their faith so deeply. i don't think i would go back though

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Anonymous #1 1w

omg poor thing 😭😭 it’s so crazy to me when people push their intense beliefs on their children like that. Like as a child in that position from everything you’re taught you genuinely believe you’re a terrible person and that you’re going to hell and that you’re damned for something so small and harmless as the story you just mentioned. Putting your kid in that position is actually insane.

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Anonymous OP 1w

Like I remember I used to really struggle with the baseline expectation/ belief taught in Catholic Church that you are to love God before all else. I would pray and try to convince myself that I loved god before all else but deep down no matter how much I tried to convince myself I couldn’t. I used to apologize to God and cry myself to sleep thinking I was going to hell praying that I could change 😭

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Anonymous #3 1w

in the catholic community we actually don’t think too highly of those that take catholicism to extreme levels and preach constantly about hell and being perfect 😭 ‘are they more catholic than the pope?’ is a very i’ve heard used a lot lol

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Anonymous #2 1w

Same here I think religion is absolutely fascinating and I love researching it and I’ve done a decent bit of research in my studies with religious ideologies specifically as it pertains to ideologies in extremist and terror groups like Al qaeda. I think it’s quite interesting. It was nice having that security and sense of belonging and thinking I was actually destined for something greater after life but I agree I don’t think I’d go back. I struggle now a lot as well as a result of it.

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Anonymous #3 1w

I’m glad that you had a positive experience and I wish it was like that for a lot of people. I think it really depends on your church and faith, how you’re taught, and what you’re taught, etc. Because even though I was still raised in Catholicism my experience from teachings weren’t like what you experienced. Like I wasn’t taught that with confession you don’t have to remember all your sins.

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Anonymous OP 1w

Like for example the commandment of honoring thy father and mother. My parents were extremely abusive growing up and I fought with them a lot and didn’t abide by honoring them. They were very cruel to me and I didn’t understand what I was doing that was wrong or why I continually got punished by them and was told that I was a horrible person. Or like going to church every Sunday, although I was taught that through the 10 commandments

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Anonymous OP 1w

I didn’t understand why it was so terrible and that i was sinning if I missed church for whatever reason. Or for example not eating meat on fridays during lent or messing up with what I gave up during lent (I love olives and I gave up them up one time). I genuinely just wasn’t understanding why it was so terrible and sinful and why i needed to confess something like that. and if I didn’t, I was a horrible person or gonna be sent to hell.

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