We
concentrate on the Roman Catholic Church because it is one of
the worst for inflating its numbers by counting everyone who
was ever baptised without taking into account current
attendance, and because leaving membership in many
fundamentalist and cultish Christian groups is fairly easy.
For instance, if you are a Mormon, you can simply send a
clearly worded letter to your local Mormon bishop asking to
have your name erased from the membership records of the
church, and it shall be done.
The
Roman Catholic church apparently does not excommunicate its
members easily. They say that the reason for this is to leave
the way open for reconciliation. However, their thinking is
based on irrational belief and is motivated by fear, and they
assume that you are the same. They believe that you will
react as they do to the fear of death, and wish to deny
reality and embrace an illusion. Even more importantly, by
never giving up a member, the church is able to claim
millions as members, who do not accept its doctrines, who
never attend, who never contribute money or time and who are,
in fact, opposed to what it stands for. This greatly enhances
its power. If you were ever baptised a Roman Catholic, and
have not been excommunicated, you are still being counted. If
you do not wish to contribute to the power of the Roman
Catholic church, you may want to get yourself excommunicated.
Also,
think of the publicity that there would be in only 5 or 10%
of the world's billion or so Catholics decided to leave the
church permanently, by way of requesting excommunication.
This is what I hope will eventually happen.
Why
should I get excommunicated? Three good reasons.
The
Roman Catholic church is misogynistic.
Although
they may talk about 'cherishing' or 'adoring' womanhood, they
mean a master's appreciation of an obedient and docile
servant. They do not believe that women are the equals of
men. The church funds and works for anti-woman legislation
around the world. The Roman Catholics and the Mormons were
the primary sources of the funds and lobbying which helped
defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in the United States. The
church has crippled international development, especially in
the neediest countries, by refusing to allow any form of
birth control to be discussed. Ireland and other Catholic
countries have done the church's dirty work by blocking
international meetings unless all countries submit to
Catholic doctrine in matters of birth control.
Historically,
the church has fostered wife abuse by promoting cultures
where any marriage, no matter how bad, was better for a woman
than living alone. The Pope has just issued a statement that
the Church will never ordain
women as priests.
The
Roman Catholic church is homophobic.
In
fact, it's worse than that, the proper description of its
position is 'pro-natalist'. Any form of sexual behavior that
doesn't raise the birth rate is forbidden. Sex as an
expression of love and sexual activity for simple pleasure
are prohibited or subordinated to the production of little
Catholics. Even within marriage the loving exchange of
pleasure is a sin. The church will also refuse to marry
couples if the union cannot be fertile, which has caused
untold anguish to couples wherein one partner was handicapped
or otherwise infertile. Through the ages, of course, men have
had little trouble getting their pleasure from sex. The
burden of this policy falls on women, whose bodies and health
are destroyed by endless childbearing. Homosexuality is
completely prohibited and is condemned with unusually intense
loathing and disgust. (Although priestly pedophilia was very
lightly punished, if at all, until recently.) The church has
never objected to any punishments, up to and including death,
which a society has wished to impose on homosexuals, quite
the opposite. the Church is lobbying against civil rights
legislation for homosexuals, and is attempting to influence
its congregations to deny homosexuals equal human rights with
other citizens.
The
Roman Catholic Church is antidemocratic,
authoritarian and intolerant.
Americans,
Canadians and others from secular or otherwise non-Catholic
countries may refuse to believe this. However, like every
religion, the Catholic church, when it is in a minority
position, is all in favor of tolerance and democracy.
However, when it is in control, as in Ireland or Poland, it
shows its true colors. The church is much more comfortable
with authoritarian right-wing governments and has
historically allied itself with them. If the people in
so-called 'Catholic' countries who do not accept the
homophobic, misogynistic and intolerant doctrines of
Catholicism would take the step of leaving the church,
especially in a positive direction towards humanism, the
church's power to do harm would be greatly lessened.
Historically, the church saw Mussolini and Hitler as bulwarks
against atheistic communism and actively supported the
fascist Spanish dictator Franco against the democratic
republic. Hitler, although a Catholic, never committed a
grave enough sin to merit excommunication. Such an action on
the church's part might have saved millions of lives.
I
don't accept the church's position on birth control, or on
abortion, I don't believe in the prayers, the miracles or the
theology, and I haven't been to church in ages except for
weddings and funerals. I am no longer a Roman Catholic. I
don't want to be counted as a Catholic. How do I get
excommunicated?
As of
1983 there are nine canons under which excommunication can
take place. Five of them only apply to
priests or bishops. One of the others is physically attacking
the pope, and criminal acts can hardly be recommended.
Another is 'violation of sacred species', normally called
desecrating a consecrated host. It is hard to imagine doing
this without committing a criminal act; and it would
certainly deeply offend almost everybody. Next to last is
'procuring of abortion'. Excommunication for this is supposed
to be automatic, but it only applies to the doctor and the
woman involved. I am told the church does not seek out such
cases. In any case one would hardly choose an abortion solely
for the sake of excommunication. It may pay to mention any
active work you have done on behalf of making access to
abortion safe and legal, and any work you have done help
women procure abortions. Recently, the church mentioned that
it does consider such work to be and excommunicatable
offence, but that it will not seek offenders out. Thus, by
contributing a small amount to an organization, like Planned
Parenthood, or Global Population Concern, or helping out at
any women's medical clinic which offers contraceptive and
abortion services, you can easily make yourself eligible for
excommunication. Otherwise, there is canon 1364, ©1 Apostasy,
heresy, or schism. This involves automatic
excommunication, if you can convince the church that it
applies to you. The most common usage of this canon is when a
former Catholic embraces another religion. Obviously, if you
are now a Muslim, a Mormon or a Jehovah's Witness, you are automatically
no longer a Catholic. It is your task to convince the church
that you, as an atheistic secular humanist, (or whatever) are
in the same 'non-Catholic' category as a Muslim or Buddhist.
In your favor is a nineteenth century ruling which stated
that ":those who make a public renunciation of all
religion may be subsumed under this category
[apostates]." You will need to write a letter to your
current parish. It should include the necessary information
to meet all of the criteria for deserving to be
excommunicated. You may also present this to your birth
parish, if this is convenient.
The
Church's criteria for meriting excommunication
The
church is patronizing to atheists. They can easily recognize
another superstition, but, being unfamiliar with rationality,
they have difficulty accepting the decision to renounce all
mumbo jumbo. They have, however, officially established these
criteria for judging all cases of excommunication: You must ACT.
Mere thought is not enough. You should be able to cite
memberships in freethought and humanist groups. You should be
able to cite actions you have taken, such as, letters
written, demonstrations attended, meetings attended, magazine
subscriptions, etc. As well as negative actions, like not
attending church, not giving them any money, time or thought
for years. You must be PERSISTENT. This must take
place over a long period of time. If at first you don't
succeed...Cite long commitment, and keep trying and keep
writing. You must be CONTUMACIOUS. As in: I am firm,
you are contumacious, he is pig-headed. Do not waver or
indicate any hesitation. It is not necessary to be impolite,
but do not be unclear in your condemnation of Catholicism in
order to avoid offence. You must be AWARE that this
involves excommunication. For them, ignorance of canon law is
an excuse. State in your letter that you are aware of this,
that you know what the consequences are and that this is what
you wish to happen. You have to BE A ROMAN CATHOLIC.
Obviously. In your letter, make them aware of this by telling
them the parish where you were baptised and the date. Many
people, hoping for some kind of heresy cachet, have inquired
about getting excommunciated, even though they are not
currently memebers of a church. No, you can't.
THEY
HAVE A DUTY to other Roman Catholics
Your
mental state is something that no one knows except you. You
are the only expert on your own non-religious status. They
have a duty to inform other Roman Catholics about this change
in you so that they do not mishandle their dealings with you.
In terms of marriage, communion, death and so on, you should
be treated as a non-Catholic. If they fail to do this, they
are not dealing fairly with the Catholics in their charge. So
far, most cases have gone smoothly. Using the citations in
this article seems to impress them with the idea that you are
serious, you know what you are talking about, and that this
is not a "spur or the moment" whim. If, however,
you meet resistance, there is some heavier ammunition below.
Fill out the handy form below and send it in to your local
priest. This may only get things started. Be prepared to
continue for a long time. Remember: each person who does this
makes it easier for the next person.
I am an
atheist.
I
hereby renounce all the trappings of religion.
I
renounce all blessings, benefits, graces, sanctifications,
and advantages supposedly conferred on me by any religion or
by any religious act done by me or on my behalf in the past,
present or future.
I
condemn as monstrous the idea of original sin, and renounce
any baptism done on my behalf to wash it away.
I
reject as ridiculous the idea of an atoning sacrifice and
spurn its presumed benefits.
I do
not believe that any god, supernatural realm or afterlife
exists, and will not act as if they did.
I do
not believe that any book, building, place, person, thing or
action is holy and will not pretend that they are.
I do
not think that praying is anything more than talking to
oneself and will not make believe that it is.
I do
not believe that any person is more sanctified than any
other, or that any human being should be elevated above
another in any way, due to ancestry, race, gender,
occupation, belief or for any other reason and will not feign
that I do.
As a
principled and rational person, it pains me that someone,
somewhere may be counting me as an adherent of an irrational
superstition which has done and is doing irreparable harm to
humanity and with which I profoundly disagree. Please remove
my name from the records of the church, and record that I am
no longer a Roman Catholic. Please send me confirmation of
this action. Please do this as soon as possible.
Signature___________________________
Suggestions
for getting in the mood (optional)
Remember:
BLASPHEMY IS A VICTIMLESS CRIME
indulge extra during lent.
attend blasphemous plays and movies
buy The Satanic Verses, Infidel, The God Delusion, The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, God is not Great and others.
write to a Bangladeshi embassy supporting Taslima Nasrin and to the EU supporting Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
laugh at sacred things. unsettle the faith of anyone you can
foster reason, critical thinking and self-esteem in children
promote the taxation of churches
promote feminism and access to abortion and contraception
promote separation of church and state
fight creationism and coercive religion in public life
Public Prayer -- Don't Stand for it!
promote human rights for all
eliminate blasphemy from the criminal code
avoid charities that waste money on religious indoctrination
study real biblical criticism and actual ancient history. study clear thinking
Read books by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, Carl Sagan, Bertrand Russell, Taslima Nasrin, Daniel Dennett, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and many, many more.
Subscribe to your local atheist/rationalist/freethinker/humanist organisation
Article thanks to:
International Atheistic Secular Humanist Conspiracy [Canada Division]
Brought to you by Greg Erwin,
Former Vice President, Humanist Association of Canada
with inclusions from Lee Holmes
Web Editor
Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc
Hi,
I'm in the UK, so the process might conceivably be different in Australia, but I'm in the process of having my formal renunciation of faith accepted.
All you do is find the diocese of the parish you were baptised in, contact the Chancellor of the Diocese, and explain that
you're not Catholic and wish to make a formal renunciation. A note is then made in the baptismal register that you have formally renounced the faith. No excommunication necessary, and very simple.
All the best
Karen