I haven’t been to church in a long time. Many years, actually.

I grew up in a Catholic household and I didn’t have a choice whether I was gonna go on Sunday or not: it was a requirement.

But I eventually just stopped going after I became an adult…and I don’t think I’ll ever go back. I guess it’s just not for me…

AskReddit users talked about why they stopped going to church.

Let’s see what they had to say.

1. Can’t make it.

“My father lost his job and the only work he could get involved travel, which meant he couldn’t make the Sunday service. Even though my parents gave to the church monthly, all the support we got was ‘prayers that he found a job closer to home’.

As a teen I was also asked by church elders why father thought making money for his family was more important than attending the church.”

2. Very awkward.

“I moved to a new city for university and was doing a bit of church hopping with a religious roommate to see if we could find a church we liked.

At one of the churches I had a “once you see it, you can’t unsee it” moment where I suddenly thought… this is a cult. The church we went to was a really boisterous hallelujah type place and it was very overwhelming so I had gone to the bathroom to try and avoid a full blown panic attack.

When I was in there a few ladies crowded me and were saying I should take the panic as a sign that the Lord was flowing through me. Like… no this is anxiety, it’s a physiological thing.

They really, earnestly believed that I was being touched by Jesus and I couldn’t help but feel like they were brainwashed. It was so awkward and off-putting I lost my faith and haven’t really gone back since.”

3. Bad experience.

“The priest I confessed my sins to was a kiddie diddler and fled the country.My sins were hella tame compared to whatever he had going on behind the scenes.

I didn’t feel cleansed. I couldn’t in good conscience be associated with a religion who refused to protect its own children.

So those hypocritical sickos can all f**k off.”

4. Scandalous.

“My spouse was raised catholic, she’d go to church at least once or twice a month, and would feel guilty if we didn’t go for longer than a month.

Then the scandals happened and she’s had zero interest. She still has her faith in God and Jesus, but has none in religion as an institution.

Which is pretty much where I always was.”

5. Not into the teachings.

“I started to realize the teachings of the church weren’t Biblical. Every Sunday the pastor would talk about righteousness that was really nationalism, and being free from those who are filled with sin, but very specific sin.

We had divorcees in the church and overt racists, but not gay people or former inmates. There were teachings of love, but it was very clear that love was only meant for certain people.”

6. Wasn’t accepted.

“I never felt truly accepted. 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.”

7. Words of wisdom.

““You don’t need the church to be faithful to god, your body is the church. As long as you to 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.’ F**k those thieves.”

My grandmother.”

8. No evidence.

“The moment I realized that in the absence of miracles the proof of Christianity is supposed to be in the lives of those who follow it.

The avg person I saw in church generally was no better than the avg non believer.

So where is the evidence of there being anything to it?”

9. Rather be elsewhere.

“I’d rather spend my Sunday mornings elsewhere.

I also had a hard time the first Sunday after the 2016 election. The person reciting the “prayer needs” said something about the “new era” and I was not a fan of how they said it.

Made me realize that I wasn’t sure I was in the right place anymore.”

10. Messed up.

“My church growing up was kinda messed up. Southern Baptist.

We brought an African American friend to Wednesday night “youth group” and the youth pastor took him aside, told him to leave, and asked him not to come back. That’s just a tidbit into how things operated there.

In college, I just didn’t have time and was kinda turned off from my childhood experience.

I moved out of the south and was invited to a more progressive church by some friends from work. I went but the ritualistic aspects of it—singing, reciting scripture, standing, sitting (I guess bc I was away for ten years) just felt creepy. Also, the people there seemed fake and it felt more like a yuppie social club.

I still consider myself a Christian but have my own personal sense of spirituality and religion. The externalizing of it just feels weird and full of pretense to me.”

11. Toxic environment.

“Because it was a toxic environment full of people who thought they were better than everybody else because they went to church every Sunday.

Despite the fact that they’d beat their wives, get drunk and abuse their children, lie, cheat, and steal. It drove me away from religion all together. Now what’s going on with my brother’s church only reinforces my position.

They’re so quick to preach love and kindness but don’t bother to actually be loving and kind unless it benefits them in some way.”

12. Lots of reasons.

“I hated having some preach AT me telling me my role in life according to the Bible.

I decided I didn’t want someone determining my relationship with God and what it should be.

I got tired of people believing their interpretation of the Bible was the only correct one.

I don’t think it’s a great idea to base morals solely on THE most edited book in all of history.

There are a lot of churches with big scandals like stealing from parishioners, or just being downright super controlling.

It feels like a lot of churches (people too) use the Bible/religion as an excuse to spread hate.

I feel like all religions have something to teach us and are just as valid as the current mainstream ones.

Anything they don’t agree with is, ” the work of Satan” while everything else is either God’s will/test.

Cherry picking what they want out of the Bible.

There are more nit picky reasons, but those are the main ones.”

Did you ever go to church and then stop?

If so, tell us why in the comments.

We’d love to hear from you!

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