Leaving Religion in Botswana
Religious context: Christian majority (~79%, Protestant plurality) with significant African Initiated Church presence.
Personal advice, not therapy. Email is free.
The Shape of Leaving in Botswana
Botswana is evangelical Protestant as a country. The dominant religious context is: Christian majority (~79%, Protestant plurality) with significant African Initiated Church presence.
Protestant and evangelical deconstruction in Botswana usually involves a tighter community than the cultural Catholic version. Sunday is part of the social architecture, the small group is part of the friend network, and stepping out is felt by everyone in the church within a few weeks. The pillar page on evangelicalism and the page on finding friends will be especially relevant.
Leaving in Botswana mostly costs you on a family scale rather than a community or legal scale. The conversations are real and sometimes painful, but the wider society is not configured to punish unbelief.
Pillar Pages for Botswana
Which tradition you came out of matters more than what country you are in. These pillar pages are written specifically for the religious traditions most present in Botswana.
Leaving Evangelical Christianity
For people deconstructing from American evangelical Christianity, non-denominational megachurches, Southern Baptist, and conservative Protestant traditions. Honest writing about losing your faith, your tribe, and the certainty you used to have.
Leaving Pentecostal & Charismatic
For people leaving Pentecostal, charismatic, Word of Faith, IFB, or Apostolic churches. Speaking in tongues, prophetic words, faith healing, demons under every rock — and what it does to a body to come out of all of it.
Topics Most Relevant in Botswana
The texture of the family rupture, the guilt, and the rebuild varies by country. These after-leaving pages tend to be the most useful for people from Botswana.
When the family stops calling
For people whose family has cut off contact, formally or quietly, after they left their religion. The grief, the confusion, and what to do when the people who said they loved you stop showing up.
The guilt that does not switch off
For people who left their religion and still feel guilty for things that used to be sins. Why the guilt persists, what it actually is, and what reliably helps it loosen.
Finding friends after the church
For people who lost their friend group when they left the religion they were raised in. Honest writing on how adult friendships actually form, and why the loneliness after leaving is not permanent.
Cities in Botswana
75 cities in Botswana. The texture of leaving is often more local than national \u2014 leaving Catholicism in Salt Lake City is not the same as leaving the LDS Church in Salt Lake City, and city-level context matters.
Gaborone
208K
Francistown
90K
Molepolole
63K
Selebi-Phikwe
54K
Maun
50K
Serowe
47K
Kanye
45K
Mahalapye
44K
Mogoditshane
43K
Mochudi
37K
Lobatse
31K
Palapye
31K
Ramotswa
21K
Thamaga
21K
Mosopa
20K
Letlhakane
18K
Tonota
18K
Janeng
17K
Gabane
13K
Ghanzi
10K
Kasane
9K
Orapa
9K
Kopong
7K
Letlhakeng
7K
Tshabong
7K
Otse
6K
Shakawe
6K
Metsemotlhaba
6K
Rakops
5K
Lenchwe Le Tau
5K
Mmopone
5K
Nata
5K
Gweta
5K
Mathambgwane
5K
Hukuntsi
4K
Kang
4K
Bokaa
4K
Sefophe
4K
Ramokgonami
4K
Masunga
4K
Maunatlala
3K
Manyana
3K
Mopipi
3K
Sua
3K
Sebina
3K
Moijabana
3K
Letsheng
3K
Mookane
2K
Ratholo
2K
Kalamare
2K
Mmathubudukwane
2K
Werda
2K
Machaneng
2K
Khakhea
2K
Dukwe
2K
Khudumelapye
2K
Mathathane
2K
Lehututu
2K
Tobane
2K
Mogapi
2K
From Botswana? Tell Me What You Grew Up In.
What you were raised on. What started cracking. Where you are now. Be as specific as you can. I read every message myself and reply within a day or two.
Personal advice, not therapy. Email is free.