In the areas closest to my heart, my conclusion is that the Catholic Church has improved its public relations much more than its actual substance. Like many ex-Catholics, I pay careful attention to the words of Pope Francis. I left the church when I came out as a lesbian in my mid-20s and Pope Francis’ […]
Thomas Aquinas once said that “to one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” I read once that revealing an atheist or agnostic religious affiliation is a kind of coming out of the closet. On one rainy Sunday afternoon, having reached the age when children start to […]
I’m not sure I’ve ever been in the explicit position of being denied something because I don’t believe in God…until now. When the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) changed their rules to allow gay scout leaders last summer I was cautiously elated. As the mother of a 9-year-old boy who would enjoy and benefit from a scouting […]
“If I were the kind of person who could believe, I would believe.” I have been an atheist—at first, secretly, from about age 12, and then openly from my mid-20s on—long enough to know that there will always be times when I wish I still had God. I feel the absence of faith most profoundly […]
His latest statement does not undercut his previous messages on LGBT families: The church has never wholly embraced gays and lesbians. Pope Francis made a statement yesterday that seemingly undercut his previous messages on LGBT families and individuals. “Children have the right to grow up in a family with a mother and father,” Pope Francis remarked […]
