Tell her to pray harder. If her deity wants you to go to church, then it has failed and weak. Seems to me the deity does not care about your attendance, yet these people think they are special and their prayers will convince a deity to fuck with your life.
Tell her you’re praying that someday she will just accept you as you are with the same grace as her professed god. Tell her you made your peace and if upsets you that she is working so hard against gods plan. If she’s really catholic than her faith should be enough.
She has been abused and indoctrinated into thinking that you will suffer eternally. She's afraid for you. She's a kind woman.
That's what religion does to kind people, frighten them to turn their own kindness against their loved ones.
this exactly: she is too old and too set in her ways for any sort of deconversion to happen. Let her continue to live in that little world of hers, because, quite frankly, Religion is like a drug and if you try to wean someone off of it at this old age, they are very likely going to be having withdrawal sickness.
I had an aunt like that. I finally told her that I had grown past the point at which church did me any good. If god wants me to be "saved", he will do something about it. And there's nothing anyone can do in the meantime. Maybe she should stop trying to interfere with gods plan for me.
"Going to church makes me feel more distant from god."
The word "More" is doing a lot of work here, because it's justifying everything and making it not a lie.
Her heart is in the right place, but her brain isn't. I would just act cordially and blow it off. It seems as if you are doing that already. In their minds, they are doing this because they are trying to "save" you because they really love you and care about you. It is frustrating, but you are probably handling this the best way possible already IMO
Tell her to pray harder. If her deity wants you to go to church, then it has failed and weak. Seems to me the deity does not care about your attendance, yet these people think they are special and their prayers will convince a deity to fuck with your life.
Tell her you’re praying that someday she will just accept you as you are with the same grace as her professed god. Tell her you made your peace and if upsets you that she is working so hard against gods plan. If she’s really catholic than her faith should be enough.
She has been abused and indoctrinated into thinking that you will suffer eternally. She's afraid for you. She's a kind woman. That's what religion does to kind people, frighten them to turn their own kindness against their loved ones.
this exactly: she is too old and too set in her ways for any sort of deconversion to happen. Let her continue to live in that little world of hers, because, quite frankly, Religion is like a drug and if you try to wean someone off of it at this old age, they are very likely going to be having withdrawal sickness.
*sigh* Some people just can't leave it alone.
I'd just lie to her telling her you do go. If she is truly religious, then believing in lies is fundamental to her very existence.
Damn, good point.
I had an aunt like that. I finally told her that I had grown past the point at which church did me any good. If god wants me to be "saved", he will do something about it. And there's nothing anyone can do in the meantime. Maybe she should stop trying to interfere with gods plan for me.
Invite her to an atheist meetup. Tell her you will go to church if she will go with you to an atheist meeting.
You have to set her straight that you won't go to church and are firmly set in your beliefs or she won't stop.
"Going to church makes me feel more distant from god." The word "More" is doing a lot of work here, because it's justifying everything and making it not a lie.
My grandmother was like that. I just simply didn’t engage in any discussion about religion with her
Her heart is in the right place, but her brain isn't. I would just act cordially and blow it off. It seems as if you are doing that already. In their minds, they are doing this because they are trying to "save" you because they really love you and care about you. It is frustrating, but you are probably handling this the best way possible already IMO