Why People Quit Religion and How They Find Meaning Again

[HappierNow]

From the Greater Good Magazine:
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/articl ... ning_again

[Hagoth]

Good article. He needed a fifth category, the one that applies to many of us. Some people leave their religion because they come to realize that it is a fraud.

[2bizE]

This was a great article. It seems to not be specific for one type of religion but rather for people of all religions who lose faith.

[Ghost]

That's a good summary of the experience. I sure identify with a lot of it, including the part about hiding the extent of my heresy in some relationships.

The article mentions cases in which someone holds religious teachings up to some external standard and finds religion lacking. (It mentions progressive ideology, for example.) Does someone in that situation ever examine the standard that they are judging the religious teachings against, or just chalk it up to conscience or intuitively see those things as correct and leave it at that? (I'm always fascinated on where people decide to end their questioning once on the path.)

Another thing that stood out to me is the use of the word "find" when talking about meaning. I think a lot about inherent vs. created meaning, and have concluded that the latter is all I have. Except when I temporarily step back from the deconstruction and let myself just go along with culture and tradition to the degree that I have to if I want to function as a person in a society.

[stuck]

It's encouraging to know that this is probably a trend and hopefully it will continue to be increasingly common so that those who are still in will have more empathy for us. And like he says, I suppose we need to have empathy for the believers.