On Abandoning Faith

Image courtesy of Stockvault.

The group meeting went as well as I’d hoped. There were no picketers outside the room demanding we get saved. Everyone in the meeting was friendly. By the end of it, we were all practically family – in all the good connotations of the word. I went to many, many church meetings in my lifetime, but this meeting of apostates felt more welcoming.

I won’t be sharing anyone’s specific stories. They were powerful, and I suspect that there are a great many more out there that go untold by many others. Rightfully their stories are not mine to tell, and they really shouldn’t be. I believe that people really ought to be able to tell theirs without reservation.

That’s what the goodness of a simple gathering has which often gets missed in so many other places. If I went to a new church as a convert, there would be no end to the welcome wagon. When I left my old church, there was nobody to tell me it was going to be okay, to say that this is normal.

It was nice for that hour and a half to not have to worry about life or death or any of the world’s conjectures. People talked who wanted to talk, and people listened who wanted to listen. There was no need to measure yourself in the presence of the immeasurable. All that existed was the catharsis of being rid of that which is burdensome.

This might not be something that everyone needs, but I think it’s something everyone ought to have access to. To repeat a theme here, going into faith gets much attention. The people who get nothing from it and live to see the day when they are free should get the same attention. Validation for one’s beliefs doesn’t just belong inside a church.

It belongs in the real world, too.