People stop attending church for several reasons, but one user on a well-known online forum wanted to know what the primary causes were. Here are 13 of them.
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Parents Had to Work on Weekends
In order to support their families, some people had to work on weekends and thus, their kids stopped attending church. For some, this turned into a lifetime decision not to attend.
They Stopped Believing in God
Some people stopped believing in God and therefore stopped going to church. This usually happened when they were old enough to make the decision about believing in God themselves.
Their Priest Had a Scandal
Unfortunately, scandals involving inappropriate behavior are common in some churches and religious sects. Some users felt really uncomfortable going to church after their priest or other religious leader was involved in a scandal.
Church Made Them Feel Guilty
Some sermons and religious sects inflict guilt on their congregation, making them believe that they only sin and will never make it to Heaven. One commenter said, “Realized the only emotion that place made me feel was intense guilt. Now I’m only slightly bitter.”
They Stopped Offering Free Doughnuts
While this might feel like a silly reason to stop going to church, one commenter didn’t like that “they stopped giving out doughnuts at the youth group.”
They Didn’t Feel Truly Accepted
Similar to school and other social gatherings, churches can make people feel excluded. One user said, “Everyone was super friendly but it seemed that I couldn’t be accepted in their bubble. I also felt I didn’t need to go to church to be a religious person. I’ve also been bullied in a church retreat when I was in grade school.”
Brunch
Another silly reason, but some people prefer going to brunch on weekends with friends, instead of going to church.
Religion Is More Than Just Church
One person’s grandmother said, “You don’t need the church to be faithful to god, your body is the church. As long as you talk to god on your own time and it’s genuine you’ll be fine. Besides, the church is only there to collect money but when you need money for rent, food, clothes, or anything else they’ll tell you ‘it’s god will.’”
It’s Just a Social Group
One poster said that now “church is mostly a social group for people with similar cultural beliefs, more than an exercise in spirituality.”
Some Churches Steal
Another scandal that occurs in some churches is “stealing from parishioners, or just being downright super controlling.” While this is not very common, it does happen and has led some people to leave the church.
Churches Cherry-Pick What They Want Out of the Bible
Some churches and church leaders pick and choose what verses they listen to in the Bible.
Some Churches Aren’t Inclusive
While some churches exhibit outright hatred, others don’t support gay marriage and other social paradigms that they don’t believe are allowed in the Bible.
Their Church Had a Toxic Environment
One user thinks that their church “was so quick to preach love and kindness but don’t bother to actually be loving and kind unless it benefits them in some way.” They went on to say that it was “full of people who thought they were better than everybody else because they went to church every Sunday even though they’d beat their wives, get drunk and abuse their children, lie, cheat, and steal. It drove me away from religion altogether. Now what’s going on with my brother’s church only reinforces my position.”
Source: Online Forum
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