u/Old-Drink-8984

Hello everyone,

I recently broke up with my girlfriend. She’s a lesbian, but also deeply religious. She’s Roman Catholic, while I was baptized Orthodox Christian.

( It was a lesbian relationship, and it lasted four months )

That being said, I’m personally much closer to atheism than religion. Both of my parents grew up in communist households, so religion was never a major part of my upbringing. I also come from a mixed family my father is Orthodox Christian and my mother is Muslim so I was baptized much later in life.
But even though I’m baptized, I’m an atheist now.

The girl I dated was extremely devoted to religion. She would constantly talk about prayer groups and religious gatherings she attended, especially since the beginning of this year. She grew up in a very conservative village with strong right-wing values, and apparently her parents even sent her to a conversion camp around seven years ago after finding out she liked girls. Ever since then, she seems to have developed this intense need to “give her life to God” in order to suppress or “remove” her homosexuality.

( I have to mention that her family was always very religious )

During our relationship, she repeatedly tried to convince me to go to church with her, attend mass, and even join those prayer communities and online religious meetings they held through Zoom and similar platforms. I never wanted to go, because honestly, the whole thing felt very uncomfortable and almost cult-like to me.

She constantly talked about sin, hell, and how we were “going to hell” because of our relationship. At first I tried to be understanding, because I know she clearly carries a lot of religious trauma and internal conflict, but over time it became emotionally exhausting and honestly quite disturbing.

I know many religious people who simply attend church, mass, liturgy, or Friday prayers without making religion their entire personality, so hearing about these intense prayer communities and gatherings was very new to me.

My question is: what exactly are these kinds of prayer groups and communities? Are they genuinely normal religious spaces, or can some of them become unhealthy or cult-like environments?

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read and respond.

Hello everyone,

I recently broke up with my girlfriend. She’s a lesbian, but also deeply religious. She’s Roman Catholic, while I was baptized Orthodox Christian.

( It was a lesbian relationship, and it lasted four months )

That being said, I’m personally much closer to atheism than religion. Both of my parents grew up in communist households, so religion was never a major part of my upbringing. I also come from a mixed family my father is Orthodox Christian and my mother is Muslim so I was baptized much later in life.
But even though I’m baptized, I’m an atheist now.

The girl I dated was extremely devoted to religion. She would constantly talk about prayer groups and religious gatherings she attended, especially since the beginning of this year. She grew up in a very conservative village with strong right-wing values, and apparently her parents even sent her to a conversion camp around seven years ago after finding out she liked girls. Ever since then, she seems to have developed this intense need to “give her life to God” in order to suppress or “remove” her homosexuality.

( I have to mention that her family was always very religious )

During our relationship, she repeatedly tried to convince me to go to church with her, attend mass, and even join those prayer communities and online religious meetings they held through Zoom and similar platforms. I never wanted to go, because honestly, the whole thing felt very uncomfortable and almost cult-like to me.

She constantly talked about sin, hell, and how we were “going to hell” because of our relationship. At first I tried to be understanding, because I know she clearly carries a lot of religious trauma and internal conflict, but over time it became emotionally exhausting and honestly quite disturbing.

I know many religious people who simply attend church, mass, liturgy, or Friday prayers without making religion their entire personality, so hearing about these intense prayer communities and gatherings was very new to me.

My question is: what exactly are these kinds of prayer groups and communities? Are they genuinely normal religious spaces, or can some of them become unhealthy or cult-like environments?

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read and respond.

Hello everyone,

I recently broke up with my girlfriend. She’s a lesbian, but also deeply religious. She’s Roman Catholic, while I was baptized Orthodox Christian.

( It was a lesbian relationship, and it lasted four months )

That being said, I’m personally much closer to atheism than religion. Both of my parents grew up in communist households, so religion was never a major part of my upbringing. I also come from a mixed family my father is Orthodox Christian and my mother is Muslim so I was baptized much later in life.
But even though I’m baptized, I’m an atheist now.

The girl I dated was extremely devoted to religion. She would constantly talk about prayer groups and religious gatherings she attended, especially since the beginning of this year. She grew up in a very conservative village with strong right-wing values, and apparently her parents even sent her to a conversion camp around seven years ago after finding out she liked girls. Ever since then, she seems to have developed this intense need to “give her life to God” in order to suppress or “remove” her homosexuality.

( I have to mention that her family was always very religious )

During our relationship, she repeatedly tried to convince me to go to church with her, attend mass, and even join those prayer communities and online religious meetings they held through Zoom and similar platforms. I never wanted to go, because honestly, the whole thing felt very uncomfortable and almost cult-like to me.

She constantly talked about sin, hell, and how we were “going to hell” because of our relationship. At first I tried to be understanding, because I know she clearly carries a lot of religious trauma and internal conflict, but over time it became emotionally exhausting and honestly quite disturbing.

I know many religious people who simply attend church, mass, liturgy, or Friday prayers without making religion their entire personality, so hearing about these intense prayer communities and gatherings was very new to me.

My question is: what exactly are these kinds of prayer groups and communities? Are they genuinely normal religious spaces, or can some of them become unhealthy or cult-like environments?

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read and respond.