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Why do people leave their religion?

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MyTeamIsOnTheFloor's avatar
(@myteamisonthefloor)
Honorable Member

I never left my religion - I have left a couple of churches.  


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Posted : 07/19/2026 5:09 pm
Stollcpa's avatar
(@mommyshine5220)
Trusted Member

Posted by: @bradstevens

This guy tracks data about religion and writes about it.  Lots of data in the article below, lots of ways to interpret it. But I found this thesis interesting:  among people leaving religion--obviously up a lot over the last 50 years, the people leaving their religion was a political act--driven by differing political worldviews--further in the past. Over the last few decades, though, it looks like young people are leaving less and less for political reasons, they just stop attending. His framing:  The first wave left with conviction. The second wave just drifted out the door.

https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/the-first-wave-left-with-conviction

I'd be in the older cohort. I'm not sure I would count--I was raised Catholic but was an atheist by age 12 (in a time when atheism was nowhere near as accepted as now).  But I have lots of friends who were also raised Catholic and who say they left the church at various times for "political" reasons, although I suspect their faith had already dissipated before that, and that for a long while, they just associated with Catholicism out of habit or tribal affiliation.  

The hypocrisy drove me away. Unfortunately I had to deal with it far to often in my practice.  

Since I’ve sold my practice and only work for 4/5 clients I really miss one old Amish fellow that would come in for an appointment every year. The last several years, as he was leaving I’d always tell him how much I admired that he lived his faith. 

 


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Posted : 07/21/2026 11:41 pm
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