We’ve heard of parishioners getting up in arms over their church’s position on same-sex marriage, but this is the first time we’ve heard the flock is angry their shepherd is against gay nuptials.
According to Reuters, thousands of Dutch Catholics are going to the site Ontdopen.nl to find out how to leave the church.
Tom Roes, whose website allows people to download the documents needed to leave the church, said traffic on ontdopen.nl – “de-baptise.nl”— had soared from about 10 visits a day to more than 10,000 after Pope Benedict’s latest denunciation of gay marriage this month.
“Of course it’s not possible to be ‘de-baptized’ because a baptism is an event, but this way people can unsubscribe or de-register themselves as Catholics,” Roes tells Reuters.
Public sentiment in the Netherlands has turned against the Vatican in recent years, not only for its hard line against the LGBT community, but for remaining silent on rampant sex abuse: In 2011, an independent commission reported on tens of thousands of child sexual-abuse victims in Holland since the end of WWII.
Nearly a third of Holland’s population is Catholic, but about 44% don’t classify themselves as any religious denomination.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Dakotahgeo
dering how long it would take for the intelligent Catholics to give their hierarchy (especially the Poop) a good kick in their sh*t-dispensers. More power to the new-born Christian non-Catholics!!
Dakotahgeo
I was wondering how long it would take for the intelligent Catholics to give their hierarchy (especially the Poop) a good kick in their sh*t-dispensers. More power to the new-born Christian non-Catholics!!
connor larkin
RCs or Puritans, there is no difference.
Rick Warren, Pope Bennie, Bishops Eddie Long or Jakes, there is no real faith, hope or love—rather power & money mediated through misrepresentations(mostly lies). The egoists all carry heavy pride, not a drop of real humility as in Archbishop Tutu and Bishop,Spong.
2eo
@Dakotahgeo: Indeed, it’s most pleasing to see people siding with their human bretheren, I wish more would try the same.
Tj
I think this is a VERY excellent idea!!!!!!! If many Catholics worldwide knew how to “de” or “un” Catholisize themselves (if such words do and can exist), that would be great. I myself have not considered myself Roman Catholic for almost a decade, but I am a spiritual man. I don’t believe in organized religions. They are too mind controlling and tell you what you must do and believe for a happier life and afterlife. That is just bull and they know it. I believe more in independent thinking, which is what a spiritualist is.
Anyone know of how exactly to decatholisize yourself by the way? I went to ontdopen.nl but everything is in Dutch and I’d really like to do it. I think all those who don’t want to be Catholic anymore should have these resources. It would certainly send the Nazi-Catholic Church a message and a strong one that they need. The RC Church is a dangerous organization. Not just because of their views, but because of the danger they harbor with their pedophile and nun-raping priests (from what I’ve read about missionary priests and nuns in Africa) who they are unwilling to excommunicate or hand over to the proper authorities. That is really sad when an organization, religious or otherwise, won’t cooperate with authorities in bringing perpetrators to justice. Instead, what do they do? Just move them to a new parish where they can commit the same atrocities. That’s not justice. That’s being an accomplice to a crime, which they are clearly guilty of.
If anyone knows of how or where I can do what the Dutch are doin, please reply to my post, so I can do this as quickly as possible. Thank you in advance.
Natasha
Hi TJ,
My husband i one of those people who finally decided to ‘unbaptise’ at this point. The thing is, in Holland your faith, if your parents provide one, is registered at birth in the central administration. So if you move to another city, the new parish of your denomination is provided with your details and you get a notification and some church magazine or something. This is to stop that. The religion is taken out of the population register and the main point of doing that is that you are not counted as a Catholic anymore, so the church cannot use you in their numbers count. Ontdopen also provides a letter to the bishop of your region asking them to scrap you from their register, but from what I’ve heard they usually don’t. Here is something similar internationally http://www.countmeout.ie/suspension/
Tj
@Natasha:
Thank you, Natasha. I appreciate what you’ve done for me. I checked it out, but from what I can tell, that site seems more for those from Ireland than me, but it’s a start. Thank you very much!
What I should have done was type in the search engine “How do I defect from the Catholic Church?”. I’m pretty smart. I should have known better. LOL Anyway, I came across a site for those interested on how to defect from the Catholic Church; http://www.atheistactivist.org/Defect.html
For those reading, I’m not an Atheist in the truest sense of the word. I consider myself a believer in the things that the historical Jesus said, which is pretty much what Buddha had said. I do believe in a GOD, The Universe, The Creator of All Things, Nature, The Source, etc. or whatever you want to call HIM/HER/IT, but just not the way I’m told to believe by the Roman Catholic Church or any other church for that matter. I consider myself a spiritual man, which is a word corrupted by the RC Church. Spirituality simply means an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being. Organized religions, like Catholicism are mind controlling just like a cult in my opinion. There’s not much room for people who believe in independent thought. Some might even go as far as calling me Gnostic, which comes from the greek word ‘gnosis’ meaning ‘knowledge’. Whatever the words used to describe someone like me, I am choosing NOT to be a mindless zombie for any one or group.
I disagree with the Roman Catholic Church on many levels. First and foremost is that I am NOT an abomination in GOD’S/The Universe’s eyes, but an abomination in the RC Church’s eyes for their own bigoted reasons. There are many others, but the main thing I’ve been finding over my years of research is that the RC Church is hypocritical and contradictory in their doctrine and laws over the many centuries of their existence and I, personally, find that simply wrong. More importantly, I find that they go against what Jesus himself wanted for all of us. They killed in His name as well as GOD’S as other religions do/did “in GOD’S name”. I’m sorry to say to those of other faiths, but Catholicism is not the only organized religion guilty of this. Many throughout history have done this.
Now, with all that said, the reason I am defecting is a simple one. It all boils down to a protest to the RC Church and as part of the protest, I want to take away some of their power because as a member, whether I donate money or go to mass or do neither, they can still count me amongst their ranks. Counting me as a member of their organization greatly enhances their power and I no longer wish to contribute to the power of the the RC Church. I want to take it away from them and I am sure their are many many others who feel the same way, but lack the knowledge and guidance on how to do so. I’m hoping that by going to the site, http://www.atheistactivist.org/Defect.html, will help them to do this.