text: >To me its better than being atheist though.....if I was not catholic I guess I would at the very least be agnostic or spiritual To be clear, atheism wasn't a choice I made. I didn't wake up one day and say "nah, I don't feel like being Catholic anymore." It was just something I became convinced of as I grew older.  I guess my point is that on the most fundamental level, people become Catholic because they are convinced it is true. Likewise, people leave the Catholic Faith when they are no longer convinced it is true. The same is true with any faith or non-faith.