Has anyone who was deeply into their religion left it anyway?

Question

Have you ever left a religion that you had been genuinely, seriously, deeply following? Have you ever had true and sincere belief or faith but then lost it?

Answer 1

Yup.  I've heard that people who believe the most fervently are also the most likely to lose faith.  I think it's because we believe we've got "the answer" so strongly we can taste it, and then life happens.

Answer 2

Yes.  I knew a Catholic and who was really into the religion, but she left to join the Friends Church.  Probably because she did not have a childlike devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

God bless!

Fred

Answer 3

There is religion; there is faith. They are different.

I have left religions but have not lost faith.

Answer 4

I considered becoming a nun at one time and attending Daily mass.

Now I'm an atheist/ Buddhist.

I'm going to have to say yes.  

Answer 5

Yes.

I was as deeply involved in my faith in evangelical christiandom as anybody ever was.  I'm a preacher's kid, went to Bible college, got a minister's license, and truly believed.

The more I read the Bible, the more I knew it was all a crock.  

When I realized that most of what we call christian doctrine turned out to be tradition, not bible, I could no longer preach it.  When I realized how much of the christian tradition was actually pagan in nature, I was even more horrified.

It was the most difficult choice I ever made, but I can sleep at night because I'm not telling people to believe something I doubt.

Preachers don't actually want people to study the Bible.  Only certain verses and chapters... that back what ever denomination they are part of.  When church members read the other parts, it messes with their "faith."  Toward the end, as I asked my pastor about things, I was told not to put my faith in the text, but in the "author."

What a load of c**p.

Answer 6

Yes, my faith in Gods word is stronger than my faith in organized religion.

I reached a point where I realized the path I was on was not consistent with God's word and I walked away.  Sadly, many people get it backward and blindly follow a religion regardless of how inconsistent it is .

Answer 7

I never have but I have seen ones do that.  In a religion that preached abstinence only he wanted to live with this girl without the benefit of marriage and to do so had to leave what he believe to be the right thing to do.  So he was disfellowshipped they call it.  He later wished he hadn't and told me it was a big mistake but people make choices and he just couldn't stay happy with one woman.

Answer 8

I hated being a Christian but I was afraid of going to h**l. I tried very hard to be a good Christian. Then I said to myself, "F*ck it all! I'm becoming an apostate" though maybe not in those exact words.

Answer 9

Yes, i was a deep Catholic, i was an alter boy at my Church and had read the whole bible, some parts more than once or twice I became a reader at my church and went every week, I am now an agnostic atheist. Due mostly to me thinking after careful study that the bible was hodgepodge and then reading books like god the failed hypothesis and then reading more about evolution I became interested in biology and the absurdity of the theory of "god"

Answer 10

I genuinely liked being Christian, and sincerely did my best to follow it for four years.  I left because I realized that it wasn't objectively true.