Raised Quiverfull: Coming “Out”

For those who are no longer Christian, are you “out” to your parents or siblings? If so, how did you do it and how did they respond?

Joe:

I am out to everyone and their grandma.  Most of them roll their eyes.  Others have followed in my footsteps.  Some mock me behind the scenes.  Some even confront me with an audience.  Regardless, I still love them all.

Latebloomer:

I still consider myself a Christian, although I’m so liberal in my opinions that many Christians would not want to share the label with me.

Libby Anne:

I’m not longer Christian, but I’m not out to my family, whether parents or siblings. Except for one sibling, that is. Coming out was really hard because I didn’t know how my sibling would respond. When I told my sibling I didn’t believe in God, my sibling asked what I DID believe in. On impulse, I told my sibling that I believe in love. My sibling responded by saying “then I guess we believe in the same thing.” And this sibling has never given me a hard time about it, which has been awesome.

Lisa:

I do not know what I am at the moment, and I do not discuss beliefs about faith with my parents.

Mattie:

I’m still a Christian, but I was the first of my family to move beyond the abusive church we were part of, and after I went Anglican, the rest of my family followed about two years later.

Melissa:

Yes, I have been open about my journey out of Christianity. I mostly hinted at it for over a year, and then said right out that I wasn’t sure I believed there was a God anymore. My family took it pretty calmly, although in recent months they found my blog and haven’t been that happy about it.

Sarah:

Although I would not call myself a Christian at this point, I have not discussed it in any capacity with my parents. I’ve talked about it a few times with some of my older sisters, but I find that it is deeply personal to me, and very hard to talk about; even to my husband. This has been hard on both of us since he is still staunchly Christian.

Sierra:

I’m not really a Christian anymore, but I might as well be. I still believe in spirits, if not actually a monotheistic God. I consider my relationship with the divine one of friendship rather than subordination or worship. My spiritual life is much more about connecting with the earth and cultivating a spirit of kindness than any kind of dogma. “Coming out” to my family or friends about that would make no sense. Besides, I still believe most of what I did before about living: I find Jesus’ words inspirational even though I’m no longer fixated on his death.

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