Leaving Religion in Colombia
Religious context: Catholic majority (~75%) with growing Protestant/Pentecostal (~17%) movement and a small secular minority.
Personal advice, not therapy. Email is free.
The Shape of Leaving in Colombia
Colombia is Catholic as a country. The dominant religious context is: Catholic majority (~75%) with growing Protestant/Pentecostal (~17%) movement and a small secular minority.
Catholic deconstruction in Colombia usually has a family-and-ritual shape rather than a doctrinal one. Many of you stopped practicing years ago and are now navigating around the baptisms, first communions, weddings, and funerals that the family still treats as load-bearing. The pillar page on Catholicism, the page on the guilt that lingers, and the page on funerals and weddings will probably fit closely.
Leaving in Colombia 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 Colombia
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 Colombia.
Leaving the Catholic Church
For ex-Catholics, lapsed Catholics, and people walking away from the church they were raised in. The guilt machinery, the family Mass, the saints you still half-believe in, and what comes next.
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.
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.
Topics Most Relevant in Colombia
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 Colombia.
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.
Holidays in your old religion
For people who left their religion and now have to navigate Christmas, Easter, Ramadan, Passover, or other holidays inside a family that still observes them. How to be honest without blowing up the family dinner.
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.
Cities in Colombia
160 cities in Colombia. 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.
Bogotá
7.7M
Cali
2.4M
Medellín
2.0M
Barranquilla
1.4M
Cartagena
952K
Cúcuta
721K
Bucaramanga
572K
Pereira
440K
Santa Marta
432K
Ibagué
422K
Bello
393K
Pasto
382K
Manizales
358K
Neiva
353K
Soledad
343K
Villavicencio
322K
Armenia
315K
Soacha
314K
Valledupar
308K
Itagüí
282K
Montería
272K
Sincelejo
261K
Popayán
259K
Floridablanca
252K
Palmira
248K
Buenaventura
240K
Barrancabermeja
191K
Dosquebradas
180K
Tuluá
166K
Envigado
163K
Cartago
135K
Maicao
130K
Florencia
130K
Girardot City
130K
Sogamoso
127K
Guadalajara de Buga
118K
Tunja
117K
Girón
108K
Malambo
102K
Magangué
100K
Facatativá
95K
Riohacha
92K
Duitama
92K
Zipaquirá
91K
Fusagasugá
89K
Ciénaga
88K
Tumaco
87K
Apartadó
86K
Piedecuesta
86K
Montelíbano
85K
Ocaña
84K
La Dorada
82K
Ipiales
78K
Quibdó
75K
Aguachica
73K
Yumbo
71K
Arauca
69K
Sabanalarga
69K
Chinchiná
69K
Caldas
66K
From Colombia? 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.