The Day I Left Christianity
I held on, for far too long, to the faith and community that kept me complacent. It was time to let go, to experience life without my safety net.
“Any real change implies the breakup of the world as one has known it, the loss of all that gave one identity, the end of safety…”
— James Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name
As I reflect on my past, the deathly fear of change remained a constant struggle. I had this inexplicable urge to play it safe and stay within the confines of what I knew, the Christian church.
I grew up in a religious home. Every night after dinner, my Nigerian father read from the same thick tattered burgundy New American Standard translation of the Bible he owned since the ’80s. His approach was never militant, neither in his reading of the text nor in his closing reflections. His belief felt sincere. At times, these nightly readings felt like bonding moments. Some of what we read troubled yet fascinated me as a child. Old Testament law and New Testament apocalyptic imagery filled my young impressionable mind with haunting fear and awestruck wonder.
All of this led to an interest in the spiritual life, which later, unknown to me, became an unhealthy obsession. I had this strict and…
