u/Jorge_Reynoso112

I ran across a TikTok video by a Spanish Catholic creator claiming that because the Church historically funded schools and charities, we should overlook its dark side. He literally wrote that clerical abuse is just a "minority of cases" and claimed that priests and nuns "always want what's best for you and will always welcome you." It’s mind-blowing how apologists brush off systemic abuse like it’s a minor inconvenience, while completely ignoring the psychological harm their doctrine inflicts daily. I’ll never forget confessing to a priest as a teenager that I masturbated, only for him to rattle off Catechism quotes condemning a completely healthy, natural biological function. Why? Because self-love doesn't generate new baptisms, future tithes, or new indoctrinated clients for their guilt industry.
The Church creates a toxic cycle: label normal human nature as a mortal sin, sell you the "cure" through forced guilt, and then pretend to be a safe haven while actively protecting predators behind closed doors.
Give me a evidence-based psychologist or clinical sexologist any day—someone who understands basic biology, doesn't shame human nature, and actually prioritizes safety over protecting an institution's reputation.

The deeper you look into religious dogma, the clearer it becomes that it isn't designed for human well-being—it's designed for strict control. If you don't fit the rigid mold of a submissive, heterosexual, neurotypical worker and reproducer, organized religion actively targets, guilt-trips, or marginalizes you. Here is why religious systems are inherently coercive and dangerous for so many of us:
• Autistic, ADHD & Neurodivergent People: Neurodivergence is routinely pathologized as a "spiritual flaw," a lack of faith, or even demonic influence. Forced sensory overload in services, demands for blind obedience, and the shaming of natural stimming or hyperfixations force us to mask until we burn out.
• Mental Health Conditions: Chronic mental illness is treated as a sin or a lack of prayer rather than a legitimate medical condition, discouraging people from seeking life-saving therapy or psychiatric help.
• Pregnant People & Women Outside Reproductive Roles: A woman's worth is reduced entirely to her womb and domestic servitude. If you choose to be childfree, pursue a career, or need reproductive healthcare, you are framed as selfish or unnatural.
• LGBTQ+ Community: Basic human identity and consensual love are labeled as abominations. The resulting conversion tactics, institutional rejection, and enforced self-hatred ruin countess lives.
• Children & Adolescents: Indoctrination starts before kids can even develop critical thinking skills. Teaching children that they are born inherently broken and threatened with eternal torture in hell is literal psychological abuse.
• Scientists, Academics & Freethinkers: Science relies on evidence, testing, and questioning; religion demands unquestioning compliance. Any field of study that challenges ancient dogmas is immediately vilified or censored. When a system forces you to suppress your biology, your brain structure, and your logic just to be considered "worthy," it isn't moral—it's a tool for coercion.

Invocation for the Rest of a Seeker of Truth

Beneath the cloak of night and the silence of the cosmos, we call upon the guardians of the threshold and of transformation. To Osiris, Lord of renewal and of the fertile earth awaiting beneath the winter: embrace the memory of one who has sown their seeds in this world. May their legacy be weighed with justice, and may their essence find the peace of the eternal return within the great cycle of existence. To Anubis, guide of hidden paths and weigher of hearts: may your scales recognize the honesty of a spirit that sought truth without yielding to fear. Guide their energy across the firmament with the same gentleness with which you protect travelers of the mysteries. To The Morrigan, sovereign of endings and inevitable changes: you who understand the value of intellectual battle and the weight of challenging dogma, grant deep rest to this warrior of the word. May their struggles cease and give way to stillness. To Hel, guardian of the realm where souls rest after their time on earth is done: open the gates of your abode of calm and sanctuary. Welcome the one who lived on their own terms, offering a serene refuge—free from the disputes, the noise, and the passions of the world of the living. May the fabric of the universe receive their energy back into itself. May the earth hold their memory with respect, and may silence forever extinguish the echoes of those who sought to judge them. May they rest in peace.

Personal Note:
To be honest, Ateodigital (Asdrubal Valenzuela) was one of the first creators I started following when I first began questioning Christianity and its dogmas. He was a huge voice against religious fanaticism and a strong advocate for critical thinking. Even though he questioned Paganism and our Gods too, I never took it personally. Seeing the toxic reactions and hate online from fundamentalists celebrating his death really highlighted the difference in mindsets for me. As Pagans, we can offer prayers for the dead regardless of whether they shared our beliefs. We don't celebrate someone's death just because they thought differently than us. May he rest in peace.

He was one of the very first content creators I started following when I first began questioning religion, dogma, and traditional concepts of God. His sharp focus on critical thinking and active stance against religious fanaticism was a huge part of my own personal journey. It’s disheartening—though unfortunately not surprising—to see the wave of comments from religious zealots celebrating his passing, claiming he’s now in "hell" or alleging last-minute deathbed conversions. Asdrúbal actually addressed this exact phenomenon before he passed, leaving a message stating clearly that he lived according to reality and wouldn't be making any "celestial emergency calls" at the end. His daughters also shared a heartbreaking tribute confirming his death while calling out the hypocrisy of those claiming to speak for God while spewing hate. I know Asdrúbal had his own critiques of Baruch Spinoza’s vision of God—he viewed pantheism essentially as "nature with marketing" and argued that a God without intent or mind is indistinguishable from no God at all. While I personally hold a different perspective on Spinoza's Deus sive Natura and see the universe through a pantheistic lens, I always respected Asdrúbal’s relentless consistency and intellectual honesty.
Under Spinoza's view, there is no physical heaven or hell, no divine judge, and no afterlife tribunal. When we die, our individual consciousness ends, but the matter and energy that made us up simply rejoin the infinite whole. Asdrúbal didn't go to hell or face judgment. He simply returned to the natural universe he was always a part of. A person can pass away, but the need for critical thinking never will. Rest in peace, Asdrúbal.

Acabo de enterarme ayer que Asdrúbal Valenzuela, conocido como @ateodigital en TikTok, falleció de repente el 7 de julio. Tenía apenas 40 años. Literalmente subió su último video el mismo día que murió, o sea que fue totalmente inesperado. Cuando empecé a cuestionar el cristianismo y a desaprender los dogmas religiosos, él fue de los primeros creadores ateos que empecé a seguir. Era un activista buenísimo, de verdad, en contra del fanatismo religioso, y un montón de promotor del pensamiento crítico y de la lógica. Su contenido le ayudó a un montón de gente a transitar la deconstrucción sin sentirse tan sola. Sus hijas recientemente subieron un video en su página confirmando su fallecimiento, explicando cómo él pregrabó un mensaje para cuando le tocara—específicamente diciendo que no iba a arrepentirse ni a rogar por una intervención divina. Pero claro, los comentarios “amorosos” de los cristianos no tardaron en aparecer. La gente se volcó al instante en las publicaciones celebrando su muerte, diciendo que ahora está ardiendo en el infierno, o insistiendo en que seguramente se tuvo que haber arrepentido en su lecho de muerte. Ya pasó un mes completo desde que murió, pero enterarme apenas ahora pega durísimo. Descansa en paz, por una voz increíble de la razón y la empatía. Marcó una diferencia enorme para muchos de nosotros.

I keep running into a disturbing trend on TikTok involving Christian influencers pushing apps like "Creed Bible App." In these videos, creators literally ask a cartoon AI sheep on a tablet screen whether normal, harmless aspects of human life are "sins."
They put everything into the exact same bin of theological judgment: private consenting acts, basic choices like not having children, attending an LGBTQ+ event, associating with atheists, playing video games, listening to certain music bands, and even asking if having ADHD or being neurodivergent is a sin. This trend highlights a massive, dangerous defect in religious thinking: the inability to distinguish between victimless, biological human traits and actual crimes.
When you gamify morality through a digital mascot that rubber-stamps everything as a "sin," you trivialized ethical reasoning. For those of us who are autistic or neurodivergent, this kind of constant, arbitrary rule-making is deeply dehumanizing and destructive. Autistic minds thrive on clarity, logical consistency, and cause-and-effect reasoning. Christianity’s obsessively rigid, black-and-white framework—where having a neurological condition like ADHD or engaging in harmless personal habits is placed on the same moral level as actual harm—is fundamentally hostile to neurodivergent health. It turns ordinary existence into a minefield of artificial guilt. Asking a cartoon sheep if being neurodivergent or choosing not to procreate is "sinful" isn't wholesome outreach—it's indoctrination wrapped in cute packaging. It demonizes human diversity, erases bodily autonomy, and proves once again that Christian dogma cares far more about controlling behavior than actual ethics or empathy.

Hello, I am an Orthodox Christian who started frequenting local Catholic Church and considering Catholicism.

One of my main reasons to consider Catholicism was general ethical clarity rather than extreme vagueness of Orthodoxy combined with monastic asceticism crippling into lay life.

Now, after spending enough time researching Catholicism, I read Humanae Vitae and I am kind of shocked. I have never encountered such a restrictive view of any sexual activity in marriage and it deeply bothered me as me and my GF have been getting into Catholicism lately.

Besides extreme limitations of what husband and wife can do together, especially the contraception part, I generally found the justification of Humanae Vitae very unconvincing, more like a document with extensive post hoc rationalization that heavily relies on thomistic scholastics.

I intellectually disagree and also feel unwilling to follow these rulings so I am curious how did you guys handle and whether it played significant role in you becoming ex-catholics.

Leaving organized religion—specifically Catholicism—was a matter of survival for my mental, physical, and sexual well-being. Recently, I came across a video detailing the Vatican’s secret archives and its systemic history of covering up child abuse. Predictably, the comment section was overrun by radical Catholic apologists using the standard defensive script: "Satan is attacking the true Church," "Christ founded this Church (quoting Matthew 16:18 out of context)," and "Outside the Church, there is no salvation." It hit me just how deeply indoctrinated these people are. Most of them are Catholic purely by generational inheritance, not genuine personal conviction, yet they promise to defend a predatory institution "until death." They are locked in a cycle of severe repression, suffering from immense guilt over completely harmless, biological behaviors like masturbation, watching adult content, using contraception, getting a vasectomy, or supporting LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights. What makes this system so dangerous—especially for those of us who process information through an autistic lens that relies on strict logic and proportionality—is the theological doctrine of "moral flattening." Being told that "all sin is equal in the eyes of God" or that "God hates the sin, not the sinner" completely distorts reality. Under this framework, consenting adult choices or simple biological drives are treated with the same ultimate condemnation as actual, horrific crimes that harm others. Growing up around this distorted sense of divine justice actively damaged my mental health. When a dogma teaches that minor, victimless acts are equivalent to severe harms, it destroys a person's ability to gauge boundaries, leading to real-world psychological distress and confusion. The Catholic obsession with restricting sex strictly to heterosexual marriage and procreation isn't about morality—it is about economic power and control. By manufacturing guilt around natural human functions, the Church creates an artificial demand for its own "cure" (confession and redemption). It keeps the flock returning, paying, and remaining compliant.
While Protestantism swaps institutional authority for rigid biblical literalism—making it just as toxic—Catholicism excels at shielding a predatory corporation behind the shield of "divine holiness." Claiming "the men are sinners, but the Church is holy" is nothing more than an excuse to protect abusers and dismiss systemic atrocities. Despite their claims of growth, the numbers tell a different story. In places like Mexico, the percentage of Catholics dropped significantly from over 82% to 76.4% between 2010 and 2020 alone. People are waking up. I refuse to live in self-loathing or accept that enjoying my life, making decisions over my own body, and supporting human rights makes me worthy of eternal damnation. Recognizing religious trauma for what it is—and seeking proper psychological support to unlearn it—is the first real step toward actual freedom.

Hey everyone, I wanted to share a personal update on how I’m handling my altar setup. As someone who is neurodivergent, I realized I was getting way too hyperfocused on trying to collect all my statues at once. I originally wanted to rush through my Kemetic setup by November, but that "now or never" mindset was becoming overwhelming and financially unhealthy. I decided to step back and create a realistic, steady timeline spanning through mid-2027 instead:
Current status: I already have Hekate, Aphrodite, and The Morrigan. I ordered Hathor earlier this month (arrived right on my 22nd birthday!) and just ordered Isis yesterday.
Rest of 2026 (Goddesses): Spacing out two orders a month (early/late month) for Artemis, Nyx, Frigg, Hel, Bastet, Freya, Brigid, Danu, and Eir.
First half of 2027 (Gods): Taking the same bi-monthly approach from January through May for Osiris, Odin, Lugh, Horus, Thor, Ra, Thoth, Loki, Anubis, and Heimdall. This way, everything will be fully ready by June 2027. It's going to be a long journey, but pacing myself lets me enjoy the devotion process without killing my budget or burning out. Has anyone else had to intentionally slow down their practice or altar building to manage obsession or finances? Would love to hear how you handle pacing!

Hi everyone! Im new to Norse paganism and wanted to make my first post here. My name is Jorge, I just turned 22 yesterday. I formally left catholicism a few months ago after Holy Week, and ever since I been really drawn to neopaganism. Norse paganism in particular has been calling to me. Im still very new to all of this and trying to unlearn a lot of catholic stuff. Freyja has been a huge focus for me, especially to heal from all the sexual repression I grew up with in the church. Im also really drawn to Odin, Thor, Eir, Loki, Frigg, Freyr and Hel. Since im just starting out, what are some good steps or things I should keep in mind? Any book recommendations or advice for beginner practice would be appreciated!

I keep seeing anti-choice accounts on social media sharing clips from the movie Unplanned like it’s a factual documentary, slapping emotional music and Bible verses (Psalm 139) over it to guilt-trip anyone considering an abortion. For those who haven't seen this specific clip floating around, it shows a heavily dramatized ultrasound scene where a 13-week fetus is supposedly "fighting for its life," squirming away from instruments, and "feeling pain." The caption literally says, "Watch this before having an abortion 😭😭," followed by endless emotional manipulation.
It honestly makes me sick how far they will go with spiritual gaslighting and medical misinformation to scare people. Let's break down why this whole narrative is pure fiction:

1. That’s not how 13-week fetuses or early procedures look or work. Over 90% of abortions take place during the first trimester (up to 12 weeks), usually via medication or vacuum aspiration. The fetus doesn't have the neurological development to feel pain at 13 weeks—medical consensus agrees that cortical circuitry for pain perception isn't even wired until around 24 weeks.
2. Dilatation and Evacuation (D&E) isn't a routine early-stage procedure. D&E is an advanced medical procedure typically performed later in pregnancy, often under heartbreaking circumstances like severe fetal anomalies or when the pregnant person's health is at critical risk. Painting it as the standard, gory procedure for everyday early abortions is dishonest.
3. The hypocritical moralizing. It's always ironic when religious anti-choice posts quote scripture to claim God considers every fetus off-limits, completely ignoring that biblical narratives themselves depict the destruction of firstborns or entire populations, pregnant women included. The cherry-picking is wild.
   How many times do medical professionals and advocates have to repeat basic embryology before these propaganda clips stop getting regurgitated? It’s pure fearmongering designed to take away bodily autonomy through shame rather than facts.

I just stumbled upon this video by a Catholic "evangelizer" (davidaguilar7745) acting as an angel and various saints like Don Bosco, Teresa of Ávila, and Faustina Kowalska describing their "visions of Hell." Honestly? The aesthetic looks straight out of a cheap B-tier gore horror movie. He goes full graphical detail describing souls getting their eyes ripped out, limbs dislocated, burning in lakes of fire, and being tortured by grotesque demon beasts. But here’s the kicker: after listing all this nightmare fuel, he claims the number one sin driving most souls to this eternal torture is "lust"—which according to him includes using internet "wrong", impurity, pornography, fornication, CONTRACEPTIVES, adultery, and abortion. It blows my mind how arbitrary religious law is. How do you logically equate using responsible birth control or taking care of your sexual health with actual, harmful crimes that hurt third parties? The hypocrisy is unreal. They summarize a literal gore film, enforce cult-like rules to "avoid temptation" (like constantly keeping busy so the devil doesn't get you lol), and then immediately flip the script to say "blessed be God, He loves us so much." If that’s what love looks like, their God is a literal tyrant. Has anyone else noticed this trend of religious creators using straight-up fear pornography to keep people trapped in guilt? It’s so manipulative it’s sickening.

I recently stumbled upon a post from Catholic preacher Ángel Salguero, quoting a snippet from Pope John Paul II’s Love and Responsibility. The post reads: "God created people to be loved, and things to be used, but man has committed the error of loving things and using people." It is a classic piece of moral grandstanding, but when you actually look at how the Catholic Church operates, it is a staggering exercise in psychological projection. The institution doesn't just "commit the error" of using people; it is a structural necessity for their survival. Let’s be honest about the source material here. Quoting John Paul II on "love and responsibility" is a sick joke, particularly when you remember that he was the same man who maintained a long, protective silence while Marcial Maciel—one of the most prolific serial predators in modern Church history—ravaged children for decades. The hierarchy didn’t just "use" people; they sacrificed the physical and psychological safety of the vulnerable to protect the reputation of the institution. The reality is that the Church is the master of treating people as "things." They do exactly the opposite of what they preach:
The Reproductive Assembly Line: By relentlessly lobbying against contraception, abortion, and reproductive autonomy, the Church effectively reduces women to biological conduits. They aren't treating them as human beings with agency; they are treating them as vessels tasked with the "duty" of producing new members for the Church’s demographic supply chain.
The Denial of Autonomy: The Catholic stance on marriage equality and reproductive rights is a direct, systemic attempt to override individual sovereignty. When you define "love" as submission to dogma rather than mutual respect between equals, you aren't loving people—you are trying to manage and categorize them like inventory.
The Commodification of the "Soul": The entire concept of sin is a tool to turn people into instruments. By pathologizing natural human behavior, the Church creates a permanent state of guilt that forces people to use the Church as their sole arbiter for peace. They don't want you to be a whole, independent person; they want you to be a dependent, compliant member of their economic and spiritual machinery.
The irony of a Church official posting about the "error of using people" is palpable. This institution spends centuries perfecting the art of using bodies for labor, using children for cover, and using women for reproductive quotas, all while keeping a straight face and preaching about divine love. They don't love people. They love the power they exert over people. They don't fear that society is "using people"; they fear that people are finally realizing they have the agency to stop being used by the Church.

I recently saw a Facebook graphic from a Catholic preacher quoting John Paul II's Love and Responsibility. You’ve probably seen the quote plastered all over social media: "God created people to be loved, and things to be used, but man has made the mistake of loving things and using people."
It sounds deeply profound and moral on the surface. But when you look at how the Catholic Church actually operates, it becomes glaringly obvious that they do the exact opposite of what they preach. The Catholic Church doesn't love people. It uses them. When you ban contraceptives, outlaw reproductive autonomy, and condemn equal marriage, you aren't treating human beings as ends in themselves. You are treating them as instruments. Specifically, the institution reduces women to biological channels—literal tools—designed to manufacture the next generation of taxpayers and tithers for the faith. Think about the sheer hypocrisy of the Personalistic Norm they love to brag about. They claim that using a person as a mere means to an end is the ultimate violation of human dignity. Yet, their entire theological framework regarding sex, marriage, and family planning is built on that exact violation:
Reducing women to incubators: By denying women the right to control their own bodies, the Church treats the womb as public property belonging to the institution. A woman’s personal dreams, mental health, and financial stability are completely secondary to her utility as a reproductive asset. That is the definition of using a person.
Weaponizing sex for demographic supply chains: They don't validate sex as a healthy expression of love or connection unless it leaves the door wide open for institutional growth. If it doesn't generate another potential body for the pews, it's labeled a mortal sin.
Invalidating queer lives: By banning equal marriage, they completely dehumanize LGBTQ+ individuals because their relationships don't fit into the utilitarian reproductive loop. If you can't be used to expand the church's biological pipeline, you are cast aside as broken or inherently disordered.
The Church loves its own abstract, rigid dogmas far more than it cares about real, breathing human beings. They love the institution, they love the power, and they love the numbers. To achieve that, they treat their followers as capital—commodities to be managed, restricted, and deployed. They project their own guilt onto secular society. They claim the modern world "uses people," while they run a thousands-of-years-old machinery that treats human bodies as raw material for their spiritual empire.

I’m turning 22 in 10 days, and it’s going to be my first birthday without my dad. He passed away from cancer back in March at 54. But honestly? I’m stuck in this horrible wave of mixed emotions. I'm not even just sad—I’m angry, and sometimes I feel a messed-up sense of relief because of how severely he repressed me, screaming at me and forcing his narcissistic, egomaniacal God down my throat. Whenever I tried to look for other concepts of divinity (like Spinoza's pantheism or neopaganism) because Yahweh literally gave me nightmares, his only response was asking if I was joining a satanic cult. Now, my brainwashed mom keeps trying to comfort me by forcing her beliefs on me, saying he’s "in heaven watching over me." I don't even want to argue with her anymore because she’ll defend it until she dies, but her forcing that on me is actively destroying my mental health. As an autistic and neurodivergent person, this religious trauma has me feeling like an absolute monster. I had to fight so hard to detach myself from those dogmas because accepting that God exists means accepting that I’m condemned just for my sexuality, my choices, and my values (being childfree, pro-choice, supporting LGBTQ+ rights, masturbation, etc.). I don't want freedom to be "libertinism"—I just hate being told how to live my life by an ancient book. Even as agnostics or atheists, the uncertainty of what happens after death is terrifying when you have religious trauma. But man, I just want to convince myself that if there is** **something after this life, please let it NOT be the Christian eternal life. And if there is a God, I desperately hope it’s not the genocidal, egocentric Yahweh. I'm currently asking my psychologist to refer me to a specialist in religious trauma because I can't carry this weight anymore. Has anyone else here dealt with family forcing "heavenly comfort" on you while you're secretly just relieved the repression stopped? How do you cope with the guilt?

Hey everyone. I wanted to share a specific, really painful memory that came up recently. It perfectly shows how deeply the fear of hell can mess with your mind, especially when you are trying to navigate everything as an autistic/neurodivergent person.
Years ago, when I was still trapped in that deep Catholic guilt, I literally woke up crying one day out of pure terror. I was so overwhelmed by fear that I begged my mom to pray with me so I would stop masturbating. I kept repeating, over and over, "I don't want to go to hell. I don't want to go to hell." My mom is actually pretty open-minded, so she sat me down and tried to explain the actual health benefits of masturbation, trying to normalize it for me and calm me down. But my brain was so deeply brainwashed by the church's fear-mongering that I couldn't listen to reason. I literally told her that I wanted to castrate myself. I said I would rather go completely blind than keep sinning and risking eternal damnation. I was dead serious. It got to the point where she actually got angry and frustrated with me because she didn't know how else to break through the wall of religious panic I was in. Looking back, it breaks my heart to realize how much I hated my own body and my natural human impulses just because some ancient dogmas told me I was dirty. The fact that a young adult could genuinely prefer self-mutilation over a normal bodily function because of the fear of hell is just sick. Just wanted to vent this out to people who actually understand how deep the psychological scars of the "purity culture" go.