I’ve been an atheist for a long time. It’s been 20+ years since I’ve considered myself a Catholic. 

I’ve only called myself an atheist for the last 12 or so years. A slow journey from the hypocrasy of the Catholic church to the realization that religion, spirituality, or anything resembling that has no place in my life.

But the church still baffles me. What does it do in response to declining membership, increasing scandals, and a narrow world view…. It puts up walls.

Case and point. Catholic Bishops in the America just gave themselves the power to deny communion on anyone who is pro-life.

And why…. Because Joe Biden is Catholic, President, and Pro-Choice.

My dad once told me “When I’m asked if it bugs me that you don’t attend church anymore, I tell them that it doesn’t at all. That I believe you (and your siblings) are good, kind, people that I can be proud of. That I think being raised in the Catholic church helped with that.”

This was long after I stopped going to church and well on the way to out and out calling myself an atheist. And for a long time I really liked what my dad said.

But reflecting on it over a decade later, giving any credit to the church is too much and takes away from the amazing people my mom and dad are.

My morals, who I am as an adult is largely in part to how he and my mother raised me, not some narrow minded conservative organization that shelters pedophiles, treats women as second class citizens unable to hold the same positions as men, and holding onto the belief the a woman’s body is no longer her own to make decisions over once she is pregnant – no matter the circumstances that lead to the pregnancy, the current situation or beliefs of the woman, or health/medical factors regarding either fetus or woman.