# How to get out of catholicism? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 19, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038 "2015-04-19T13:49:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/1 "2015-04-19T13:49:24Z")
People have said just don’t in anyway participate in it but over the years my dad, mom, myself and my two brothers have come to realize we want nothing to do with it anymore and are trying to see how to officially get out. How do you get your membership revoked basically? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![FayArk1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@FayArk1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FayArk1)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/2 "2015-04-19T14:07:36Z")
> **[How do I go about getting excommunicated?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342313/how-do-i-go-about-getting-excommunicated)** ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/3 "2015-04-19T14:12:01Z")
Become Scientologists. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/4 "2015-04-19T14:34:51Z")
From the viewpoint of the Church, there isn’t. You can’t become unbaptized, excommunication doesn’t actually make you an un-Catholic (and realistically, you aren’t going to get excommunicated anyways), etc. But if you don’t believe in the tenants of the Church, than it doesn’t really make a lot of sense to worry about whether those tenants say you’re a member. Just stop going to mass, and don’t self-identify as Catholic, and you won’t be Catholic anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/5 "2015-04-19T14:42:42Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > But if you don’t believe in the tenants of the Church They must live down in the basement where no one ever sees them, if you have trouble believing in them. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/6 "2015-04-19T14:47:32Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > People have said just don’t in anyway participate in it but over the years my dad, mom, myself and my two brothers have come to realize we want nothing to do with it anymore and are trying to see how to officially get out. How do you get your membership revoked basically? Thanks! Hey Captain! I’ve made you a member of my Ranger Explorer Scouts! Sorry, but I’m in control over who is a member of my club, and you’re definitely in the club. And there’s no way I’d ever kick someone out of my club, so you’re in for life. Does it upset you that I consider you a member of the Ranger Explorer Scouts? No? The Catholic Church is just as much a made-up organization as my club, the only difference is that I’m the only person in the world who believes in my club, and there are millions of people who believe in the Catholic Church. Or to put it another way, the Catholic Church believes you are a catholic, and there’s no way to leave the church. They also believe in all sorts of other nonsense. You can’t get them to change their false beliefs about the other nonsense, so you’re not going to get them to change their false belief that you are a Catholic. But just because they have that false belief doesn’t make it a true belief, even if millions of them believe it. What really makes you not a Catholic is if you say, “I’m not a Catholic”. Who cares if a guy in a funny hat and a dress disagrees? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/7 "2015-04-19T14:53:04Z")
No worries. I’ve got an organization I just made up–the Definitely Not a Catholic Club. I induct people into it more or less at random–just for lulz I’ve put Pope Francis in it–but I also take requests. You, your whole family, and everyone who’s ever served you pancakes is a member of the club. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/8 "2015-04-19T14:54:18Z")
To clarify, the pancake thing only applies to people that have served pancakes to you personally, not to people who have served pancakes to your family. Those people are all in the Will Soon Be Eaten by Chipmunks Club. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/9 "2015-04-19T14:59:25Z")
It’s kinda like the mafia. Once you’re in, you’re in. The way you get out is, well, not so pleasant… ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/10 "2015-04-19T15:05:11Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > From the viewpoint of the Church, there isn’t. You can’t become unbaptized, excommunication doesn’t actually make you an un-Catholic (and realistically, you aren’t going to get excommunicated anyways), etc. > > But if you don’t believe in the tenants of the Church, than it doesn’t really make a lot of sense to worry about whether those tenants say you’re a member. Just stop going to mass, and don’t self-identify as Catholic, and you won’t be Catholic anymore. Oh believe me myself and the rest of family haven’t been there in well over a decade, none of us think of ourselves as being catholic but we like to make things official and not be a member on their books anymore. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/11 "2015-04-19T15:16:46Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > Oh believe me myself and the rest of family haven’t been there in well over a decade, none of us think of ourselves as being catholic but we like to make things official and not be a member on their books anymore. In service of what? You think they’re collecting royalties by keeping you on their yearly membership census? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/12 "2015-04-19T15:23:32Z")
There is no membership book. You’re thinking of the other guy, who does keep a book. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/13 "2015-04-19T15:26:29Z")
Actually, I had a slightly similar experience about 15 years ago. I grew up in a Presbyterian church and was confirmed when I was 13 (went atheist about two months later, with some lapses until I was in my early twenties). Around 15 years ago, I got a letter from that church I grew up in asking me how I should be treated on their rolls: -Please keep me on the rolls! -Please keep me on the rolls and contact me for volunteer opportunities! -Please transfer me to the following Presbyterian church’s rolls, since I’ve moved! Those, IIRC, were the only options. THere was no option for, “Please take me off the rolls, since I’m no longer religious!” Fortunately, I know all about write-in candidacies, so I wrote one in :). Never heard from them again. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/14 "2015-04-19T15:29:30Z")
Well, good news, Cap. You’re not on any books. There are no membership rolls. The closest thing is the church where you were baptized will have record of that. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/15 "2015-04-19T15:32:04Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > Oh believe me myself and the rest of family haven’t been there in well over a decade, none of us think of ourselves as being catholic but we like to make things official and not be a member on their books anymore. Sorry, your baptisms won’t be erased. It did happen - may as well ask to be erased from the records of the hospital in which you were born. Same for your parents’ wedding if it took place in an RCC ceremony, and for the confirmations of anybody in the lot who did receive it. But there is no “membership records” per se, or records of ex-members. Just records of specific events which did happen. You’re looking to become an official [apostate](https://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/heresy_schism_apostasy.htm), but there is no official record of such. The RCC isn’t Homeland Security, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/16 "2015-04-19T15:39:04Z")
Self identify, (to yourself, and to others), as something else, (Agnostic, Buddhist, Druid, Jewish, non believer, etc), and, just like that, VOILA, you’re no longer a Catholic! See how easy that was? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/17 "2015-04-19T15:52:09Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > Oh believe me myself and the rest of family haven’t been there in well over a decade, none of us think of ourselves as being catholic but we like to make things official and not be a member on their books anymore. You are just a few years too late as I read this. It would also help if you were German. (Hey - it worked for Luther in a manner of speaking) > **[Formal act of defection from the Catholic Church](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_act_of_defection_from_the_Catholic_Church)** > > Jus novum (c. 1140-1563) > Jus novissimum (c. 1563-1918) > Jus codicis (1918-present) > Other Try following [http://www.catholicdoors.com/faq/qu286.htm](http://www.catholicdoors.com/faq/qu286.htm) and quite seriously ------ let us know how if goes. I am curious how it would work in practice. ---
**Author:** ![CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainAmerica_1987)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/18 "2015-04-19T15:52:50Z")
I mean look if you were in ISIS and wanted out wouldn’t you want to make it official? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/19 "2015-04-19T16:00:49Z")
> [@CaptainAmerica\_1987](#): > > I mean look if you were in ISIS and wanted out wouldn’t you want to make it official? To whom? ISIS? Fuck no. I’d just stop going to meetings and beheadings. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038/20 "2015-04-19T16:06:04Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > It’s kinda like the mafia. Once you’re in, you’re in. The way you get out is, well, not so pleasant… What, they make you “sleep with the loaves and fishes”? 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-out-of-catholicism/718038.md?page=2)