I QUIT! The Importance of Resigning From Church (With FREE Offer!)

Frank and I have been talking about church resignation. On episode 142, I interviewed Kyle, who was participating in a “mass resignation” from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (you know- the Mormons!). While the event itself was underwhelming, I was incredibly moved by Kyle’s honesty, his integrity, and his bravery. He talked about the journey that led him to leave his faith behind, and the very real fear he felt that his intensely religious family would abandon him when they found out.

For Mormons, this is not an uncommon experience. The decision whether to resign from the church is often a hand-wringingly fraught one. The risk of losing one’s family is only one part of the issue. Equally difficult is the fact that you’re formally and (somewhat) irrevocably severing your ties to what you’ve been told your whole life is God’s one true church. The only way to heaven. The key to eternal happiness. It’s a psychological minefield.

After a lot of discussion, we here at TGIA have decided that those are exactly the reasons why you absolutely should resign from your church. The psychological hold that churches have on their parishioners isn’t always as intense as that of the LDS church, but it’s there. Even if your former church has plenty of space for “lapsed” or even non-believing members, and you don’t feel any psychological connection to them at all, TGIA feels that you should still resign. While a clean break from your former spiritual affiliation may not be necessary for everybody, there really is something to it. We’ve decided you don’t get your full “Atheist Card” unless you’ve done it.

With that said, we’re offering this very real incentive:

If you officially resign from your former church and let us know, WE’LL SEND YOU AN ACTUAL, HONEST-TO-NO-GOD ATHEIST CARD!

That’s right! You’ll finally be an official, card-carrying atheist!* How exciting is that???

We also want to read the letter you send, hear all about the aftermath (good and bad), and be there for you as a community as you take this step. Just head over to the contact page, and start yourself on the road to having one more thing taking up space in your wallet/purse.

More to come (including a look at the design of the card itself)!

In the meantime, however, the ex-Mormon community has some great (if overly intense) resources to get you started. It’s geared toward the LDS church, but you kids are clever and can make modifications for whatever church you used to be a part of:
http://www.mormonresignation.com/resign_legalrights.html
http://www.mormonnomore.com/

Happy resigning!

*Obviously, nothing we do could actually make your atheism any more or less legitimate. This is just ’cause we like to have fun, and thought you might enjoy it.

9 thoughts on “I QUIT! The Importance of Resigning From Church (With FREE Offer!)

    • You’re damned right, you can! Send us the letter you sent, or the one you received, or just tell us the story of your experience, and the card can be yours.

      • Id like to QUIT this modern day “religion” though never actually involved just researching them cause my “christiam” aunt just shot herself-self explanatory

  1. good afternoon!

    i enjoy listening to your podcast at work. recently, my earbuds broke so i have you guys loud on speaker and have forced my co-workers to listen to your ‘cast. i’m in construction in south florida so the reactions are interesting. the good thing is that i am the most senior guy on the site so they really can’t complain. its nice to be able to tell a bunch of hard-working, talented, country-music-listening guys to keep their music down so i can listen to an atheist podcast AND have them obey.

    anyway, i have been an atheist since i was about 10. my parents attempted to raise me catholic and failed. i refused to get confirmed and no one forced me into professing a lie i did not want to speak. sadly, i was in catholic schools until i was 18. my high school was an all-boys hell i choose to not remember. there was a child molester priest in my grammar school but luckily, i was never touched even though i was an alter boy.

    now i am in my mid 30’s and have a beautiful godless toddler. when she is with me i do not bring up any religion and always try to explain things to her. i have a version of twinkle twinkle little star i sing to her that will help when she learns about astronomy because it answers the question: twinkle, twinkle, little star, what are you? i suspect my ex does the same because she was an atheist when we dated and decided to have a kid together but i have no proof. as far as i am concerned, my kid is a godless heathen and is very happy being that way.

    anyway, i would like to get an ID for myself AND my 3 year old. i would be proud to state that my daughter, lexi, and i are card-carrying atheists. btw, instead of printing out cards, why not make a template so we can add a photo to it. make it like a driver’s liscence so we can have it look like an ID and not a gift-card.

    hope all is well guys!

    thanks for the great podcast!

    peter

  2. I talked to my pastor about leaving the church and Christianity a year ago. We ended amicably, but when he asked if he could still have me listed as a member. I didn’t know his end game, whether it would make me more likely to return our for tax evasion purposes. I didn’t ask and just said sure – to me it feels like the church is propagating another lie by listing an active atheist as a member.

    What I mainly want now is an excommunication letter. I’m very vocal on my facebook with my family and friends in the church having full view.

    The idea of hanging a framed excommunication letter is the only thing keeping me from officially leaving.

    • I remember having such a feeling… If you do get ex’ed let us know! I’d totally post a picture of you with the letter on the site!!!

  3. Ah yes, the “I’m alright because I , but your a filthy white male because some other white male said stupid things and you should feel guilt” argument.

    So very well reasoned.

  4. Oh joy!!! If you leave your church you get…… (drum roll please) A DUMB CARD!!!! How anti climatic! Wow, you made a post about how important it is to leave your church, huh? Well, im proud of being Mormon! See my other comments on Frank’s patriarchal blessing, they’re great. But wow, you two are REALLY motivated to steer others away from the Church. I know one other person who does that too, Father Hell himself! Let’s see how this is going to turn out in the end. I know! You ALL loose!

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