28 Formerly Devoted Churchgoers Share What The Straw That Broke The Camel's Back Was For Them

A couple of weeks ago, a thread appeared in the AskReddit community, where the author, the user u/lowly_shepherd, decided to ask netizens: "People who have stopped going to church, what made you stop?" The question, you must admit, is quite difficult and too personal for many, but people began to answer. And so, as of today, the thread has over 9.5K upvotes and around 16K various comments.

So we, Bored Panda, have collected for you a selection of the most interesting, sometimes touching and sad, sometimes simply rational and even cynical stories, behind each of which stands a human being, their beliefs, expectations and dreams. Sometimes, unfortunately, unfulfilled...

Someone becomes disillusioned with organized religion, having encountered banal manifestations of base human feelings even from priests (up to sins that the Bible actually recognizes as mortal ones - just remember at least the Oscar-winning film Spotlight...). Well, someone who continues to go to church simply by family tradition, sooner or later, begins to rethink these traditions.

This is completely reasonable and logical. In fact, in the end, behind each tradition there is some rational experience from the past, which people eventually elevate to the level of ritual. In this case, tradition loses its validity and turns into just a mechanical act. So people who start thinking about it involuntarily deconstruct the entire process.

A separate issue is the relationship between religion and science. Despite the fact that the top leaders of many denominations have long been trying to adapt their teachings to the scientifically based picture of the modern world, some priests ‘in the field’ continue to deny any scientific fact that doesn’t fit into the framework of the sacred scriptures of their religion.

But if the person who hears this has some kind of rational thinking, they sooner or later begin to wonder - is it really worth going to church at all?

In general, all the reasons why people stop going to church can be organized into several groups. For example, the Christianity.com web portal identifies five main groups of such reasons for people to stop attending religious institutions:

1. They are out of the habit.

2. They are scared to go back.

3. They are upset or bitter.

4. They are embarrassed.

5. It is not a priority for them.

By and large, all the stories told in this collection can be classified into one of these groups, right? Well, and some are actually a combination of several reasons at once.

Of course, we shouldn’t forget about the pandemic, which has not only hit the global economy but also affected organized religion around the world. "In the year 2020, many governments around the world put out a mandate to churches and other religious groups to close their doors in response to a new virus circulating the globe," pastor Robert Hampshire says in this dedicated article on Christianity.com.

"Fast forward two or three years, and most people have moved beyond being constantly worried about the negative consequences of getting together to sing, pray, and study."

However, some sociological studies disagree with this - for example, comparing 2019 and 2022, the authors of this study show that the percentage of Americans who used to go to church regularly decreased by only 2%, and those who went occasionally, also by 2%.

In any case, this list is in no way an attempt to attract people to churches, nor an attempt to turn them away from organized religion. We were simply curious about why people are disillusioned with what for many generations was almost the cornerstone of their lives.

By the way, if you have a similar story under your belt, we’d also be very interested to know about it, so please feel free to share it in the comments below as well.