Making the Cut — Part 1: I Don’t Believe in God
My separation-from-religion experience
This is the first part of a 6-part series chronicling my journey away from religion. If it offends you, I’m sorry, but you really shouldn’t let other people’s experiences trouble you. This is my experience and isn’t intended to discredit your experiences or beliefs in any way. My journey is mine and your journey is yours. I respect them equally.
Part 1: I Don’t Believe in God
There must be lives that separate from religion easily, as if they were perforated from the beginning. Mine was not one of them. On a wet Tuesday afternoon early in 2011, a friend sat on the couch across from me, her stare brimming with injury as if I had physically attacked her.
“I don’t believe in god anymore,” I repeated. It was the second time I had ever said it. Twice in a row made my lips feel free.
Her mouth remained void of sound; her eyes leaking disbelief.
“For me,” I chose gentle words, “god was only real because I believed it was real. Which means if I stop believing, then it stops being real. Turns out I’m right.”
I knew that four decades of embodying The Body of Christ meant the separation wouldn’t be easy. Wedging my fingernail into the rift…
