I used to love going to church. Going to church activities. Going on holy days. I went to catholic school from 1st grade through my freshman year in high school. I loved religion class. And all that.
I was very active in my church youth group. I went to many weekend retreats. Prayed. Went to church weekly.
Going to college, I didn't attend church that much. One because I was busy, two I was too lazy to get up to be honest, and three I had no one to go with. After college, I wanted to get back to church, but did not want to go alone. It was always a family event, but at the time Nick did not want to go to church with me. He wasn't raised to enjoy church (and was raised in a very formal old church) and was not used to the more relaxed less than 1 hour mass.
Evie was born, and I wanted to get back into it. I loved being raised around religion. Wanted to get back into it. It teaches so many good values that I want to pass on to her. We started going again. We went to a class to get her baptised. She was baptised and we still went to mass. I took her to holy days during the week too. I even nursed her in the pew at church! But then with a kid in daycare, she got sick. A constant cold, ear infections, stomach bugs, etc. So we kept not going since no one wants to deal with a sick kid cranky and crying constantly in mass (yes I wish they had a cry room, I would go in there so she could run around or cry without me trying to keep her quiet). Currently I cannot imagine how I am going to keep her still for a mass.
But also there are other things bothering me about the roman catholic church. I am a firm believer of separation of church and state. And the things going on in politics, due to the election and health care, are just pissing me off.
The right to choose
Yes you can be pro life. But you can also be pro choice at the same time. Meaning that you can believe that a woman can decide her own choice, but you would prefer that they choose life. These politicians with their insane thoughts that an embryo is more valuable than the life of a mother is so insanely bad. If a mom is having a second, third, or whatever kid. They choose the life of the kid over the mom, what is the family left with. A single parent and no mom. Um. NO. A rape scenario, I am sorry but I doubt few women would want a reminder daily of that. There is enough psychological things going on there that they don't need to deal with pregnancy too. Now another thought I do have on things, is that if the child can be born safety to the mother and child and could survive on its own (after viability which if I remember is 24 weeks) then yeah probably abortion is not the best idea.
Birth Control and Insurance
Also I am sorry, just because you don't believe in birth control and would not use it does not mean you need to impose your belief on me! I have the choice to have kids or not. I am not going to do natural family planning and have 9+ kids. We cannot afford that nor do we want that. And there are so many other factors other than preventing pregnancy that birth control help. It helps women function normally (lighter periods, insane cramping). It helps women regulate their cycle. Here is a great article about this. Men stop fucking around with women's lives!
Gay Marriage
Seriously. This is a social issue. Yes your religion does not agree with the acts of gay couples. OK, keep that to yourself and those of you who think that way. But DO NOT try to prevent a happy couple from living their lives together. For the past year I have been comparing this to the cival rights struggles for de-segration and equal rights for black and whites. It is going to be something that our kids look back on and say "mom and dad, why were people acting that way back then?". I am all for a certain religion being against marrying a couple if they don't want to. But to prevent it for all, NO.
Also on this issue, if the church wants to agree with this idea, and I am fine with it. If we want to define marriage as something that happens in a religious ceremony and civil union as something that happens outside of religion (judge, justice of the peace, etc) then I am fine with that. But that definition would have to work for gay and straight couples. As long as a gay couple has the same rights as a straight couple I am 10000% fine with it.
What really bothers me is that I am a fan of my current church on Facebook. Before they have posted things of do not support this bill in relation to abortion and birth control. DO NOT IMPOSE YOUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS ON PEOPLE OF OTHER RELIGIONS!
And I was talking to my best friend over the weekend while she was visiting. She is Jewish and was explaining their beliefs on these issues when I was saying how I am so gone from the church currently because of these social issues. And a lot of the things she was saying I agree with. Makes me consider looking for a new religion...
