Is any way to leave the Catholic Church in the eyes of the Catholic Church? Or are you just a lost Catholic? Which religions regconize the ability of members to stop being a member of the religion? Can Buddist stop being a Buddist? How about a Methodist?
According to zev_steinhardt a Jew can’t be a Jew under Jewish law.
And clairobscur says the same about Catholics
can’t stop being
You can try to get excommunicted, but that’s not at all easy to do. A few centuries you could have been a heretic and been executed, and that surely would have severed any ties, but we don’t do that anymore.
The Catholic church believes that the sacraments of baptism and confirmation leave an indelible mark on the soul. Once these sacraments have been validly conferred, there is no way to erase them.
Even excommunication does not permanantly disassociate a person from the church. Excommunication is a legal sanction, imposed to cut someone off from the church and the sacraments as a warning and hope that the separation will lead to repentance and a desire to reunite. It’s not permanant; some types of excommunication may be lifted by a local priest, while others require a more formal legal process, but none of them are irreversible.
The Master speaks on excommunication and trying to become an ex-Catholic in the eyes of the Church.
wHOOPIE! I don’t have to worry about Pascal’s wager! My soul is forever marked! Meat on Fridays! Sundays spent sleeping in! Tithe? Never! I’ve always considered myself somewhere between an agnostic and an athiest in my adult years (Go ahead, burn a question mark in my yard) This settles it.
Doesn’t seem fair, but I’ll take it.
I’m an ex-Methodist (converted to Judaism). I have no idea what the Methodist church classifies me as, or what they would ask me to do if I wanted to go back.
Of course, the question of what to do if all the air molecules in a room I’m in suddenly rush into the corners of the room is more germane to my life than those questions- I think that’s more likely to happen than me deciding to go back to Christianity and, specifically, Methodism. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with it- it’s just not for me.
I thought that’s what Unitarians did to people who left their church.
In the United Methodist Church, your most recent local church should remove you from the roles during the first Charge Conference after two years without contact from you. If you want off the list sooner, you or your rabbi can write to them and they will almost certainly comply.
Methodists don’t attribute any special spiritual status to being a Methodist, so all that means is that you won’t be counted for statistical purposes and if you return you won’t be eligible for any church offices that require membership in a church for a set length of time (until you put in that time again). (Obviously you won’t be eligible for any church offices before you return or if you do not return, either.) Good luck trying to get them to stop sending you the newsletter, though.
If you were to return, you would probably join by “profession of faith,” meaning only that you wouldn’t be transfering membership from another church, but you wouldn’t need to be baptised either. After all, the requirement for baptism is that it have happened, and you can’t make it unhappen without a time machine.
And then no more acting for you!
I kid, of course. Yes, I know you meant rolls, but it’s a fun typo nevertheless.
Why does the opinion of a bunch of people you’ve chosen to distance yourself from matter, anyway?
I noted the following statement in Cecil’s column :
Actually, it’s dubious. An anarchist organization in France tried to have his member’s names removed from baptism records, and both the loc
I noted the following statement in Cecil’s column :
Actually, it’s dubious. An anarchist organization in France tried to have his member’s names removed from baptism records, and both the local churches and the catholic hierarchy denied the requests. They eventually managed to get this done, but only after going to court, and only because France has very strict laws about nominative databases (including mere hand-written lists).
So, I doubt one would have much success trying to have one’s name crossed off said rolls.
This is true. It’s also something that seriously pissed me off a few years into high school, because it was only then that I began questioning my “faith” and they’d basically railroaded us into taking Confirmation at 13, so I was, in the eyes of the Church, already marked forever as Catholic. I know it sounds silly, but I was seriously upset that they’d basically tricked a bunch of kids (Catholic school kids, at that, most of whom didn’t even know the first thing about other religions or beliefs) into accepting this permanent sacrament. There was one kid in my class who refused to take Confirmation. At the time, we more or less looked at him as a troublemaker and seriously bad, but now I kind of admire his guts in standing up and saying he wasn’t ready for this yet. I wish I’d had that kind of courage at the time…but life would have been unthinkable in our house if I’d done that.
One of the (many) reasons my ex and I split was because she was Catholic. Sorry, but I can’t deal with those requirements.
("You gotta make some weirdo moves–“crossing yourself?”–when you pass in front of that statue? Man, that’s dumb. So what’s God gonna do? Hit you with a lightning bolt? No? Then why bother? He doesn’t hit me; I belong to a Christian church, too. Can the crap, darlin’, I do too. Tell me I’m wrong. You gonna admit that Catholicism is the Only Way to God? Okay, then prove to me that God will strike you dead if you don’t drop to your knees and profess some damn stupid crap that’s in your missal? Maybe the “Hail Mary” or some similar damn stupid ritualistic reading. You can’t? Then don’t tell me that you honestly believe that you’re “eating the body and blood of Christ.” What are you, a cannibal? Get the hell out of that cannibalistic church. Oh, it’s a weekly ritual? So you’re a cannibal?)
sigh I know better; really I do. But with all due respect to Roman Catholic friends on this board, this is how I was forced to view the RC church–as an entity that was stuck in the fourteenth century. My ex, who was university educated, and likely knew far more than a cleric did in 1389 AD, was willing to hand over her rights and education to that 14th century cleric. Thank you, ex. Way to put a positive light on Christianity.
Leaving the Mormon church has not been easy.
Because of the hassle factor, I haven’t formally resigned, although I don’t consider myself a Mormon. They’ve got my membership somewhere, and it would be too much of a bother to track it down to resign.
For those who want to resign from the Mormon church there is an activist in Utah who will help
Hollands most famous ex-calvinistic, ex Reformed Protestant (writer Maarten 't Hart) says that once he has publicly dissed that particular belief, he’s supposed to be out. And that the official take is that once you are out, you can never ever get in again, even if both he and his churhc officials would *want *to welcome him back.
So, very different then Catholics.
Hollands most famous ex-calvinistic, ex Reformed Protestant (writer Maarten 't Hart) says that once he has publicly dissed that particular belief, he’s supposed to be out. And that the official take is that once you are out, you can never ever get in again, even if both he and his church officials would *want *to welcome him back.
So, very different from Catholics.
What’s the Straight Dope on Churchs getting government grants and other perks depending on the amount of people on their membership rolls? Could that play a part in not wanting members to unsubscribe?
Oh, get off it. You’re really kicking a dead horse. Leaving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is easy as pie. Just get up and walk out. What do you care if they still have you on their membership rolls? Do you consider yourself a member? No? Then you’ve left.
If a person is baptised and confirmed in a church but never believed in it how can one be said to be that denomination? It seems to me that what a person believes should dictate it’s faith and if it goes to a certain church it should be because they believe it’s doctrines,other wise it is just a farce.
I understand that in some Muslim countries they can kill you if you do not claim to believe in their religion.
Sadly, all religions were man made, the writings were by humans and humans decided what was inspired by God, so no one should be worried. In the past theatening people that they had to believe or would not be saved, but that doesn’t work so much nowdays.What ever was written, claimed, or was taught is of human origan so it just depends on what human we choose to believe.
Monavis