I love Jesus- and I left the church over a year ago. Here is a thread of all the reasons I left. Please do not read and allow it to further your anger towards Christ/ the trinity. Because this is strictly a critique of my experiences with formal church, not my spiritual journey.

1. Deeply rooted homophobia. The saying “hate the sin and not the sinner” is deeply problematic. There is no room for hate in my heart, and I refuse to further the narrative that there is no room for the lgbtqia+ community within church and the gospel. Because there is.

2. Ignorance and complacency towards issues of police brutality and the constant murder of BIPOC. In general- I witnessed leadership that was too focused on stability than standing up for what is right. Following Jesus is NOT comfortable. Preaching on sundays is NOT comfortable.

2. Cont- a majority of my peers within church do not see any problem with the inherent racist structure within the US and do not make space to allow minority groups to voice these issues. The average structure of churches (leadership and all) neglects allyship and advocacy

3. Lack of space for people who have been through shit or do not fit a specific mold of what a “good Christian” looks like. I never felt comfortable to be my whole self at church, even though the mold was designed for me- and to benefit me. Cont

3. Cont- Churches are full of cliques and bullying. Only this bullying hurts on a much deeper and traumatic level when it concerns not only social status but also salvation. Bullying is everywhere- but churches must actively work to dismantle it to create a safe place for all.

4. This is the one that encompasses many of the others. There is no safe space for questioning. People are not God, and yet they get weirdly judgmental and jumpy if questioned about the way things are structured. Most people when presented with “dos and donts” regarding (cont)

4. Their eternal salvation/ damnation would like to be able to ask why it is these things are good vs bad. And what makes them good vs bad? In my experience many “sins” were actually skewed interpretation to benefit white patriarchy.

5. The obsession with white saviorism. This was something I was taught at a young age through catalogs at Christmas time where I could buy a donkey for someone I had never met overseas. And yet- the same people doing this will not step up and question a system (cont)

5. Rooted in mass incarceration and the exploitation of minority groups (who are incarcerated at rates much higher than whites) and the overall criminalization of black men and women.

6. “Patriotism” on Sunday’s. Or any day of the week. When I saw people at church choosing to be “patriotic” and literally saying “‘murica”, and also people blindly ignoring their privilege of wealth and whiteness.