She seems to be struggling for affirmations for her beliefs to help her, which you, nor anyone else, can give her.

Too bad, but many people are this way.

I feel bad that she’s sick.........it’s very unfortunate. But there’s a fine line here. I would say that I don’t agree with your beliefs, you may not agree with mine, but that should never get in the way of your friendship. It’s really very sad nowadays that political differences, and because of one fuckin’ loser like chumpdick, that families have been destroyed.

Religion is a seductive, addictive fantasy. It is insidiously adept at maneuvering people into a position where they can’t afford to admit they’re wrong. And if you can’t afford to admit you’re wrong then you won’t admit you’re wrong, especially when you’ve been trained up to believe that you were fortunate enough to have been born into the One True Religion as opposed to all of those outside your bubble (or cloud) who clearly have been deceived. As for myself, I want to know the truth regardless of how I feel about it. You too, I think.

Sounds like she is psychologically projecting her own short-comings and insecurities. Sad.

You did right, she's deaf to the realities of others.

I used to have the energy to set folks straight on those counts, since like you, I'm no longer Catholic, nor dependent on a man. I'm not around a lot of strangers these days, so I haven't had to expend that energy lately.

When folks talk to me about their catholicism, I often identify with them saying I was raised catholic, but have grown away from religion and now have a more worldly outlook and am more of an atheist or agnostic free thinker, a humanist. Like your experience, sometimes they don't always hear where I am, but I tend to drive it home explaining that I'm now a humanist minister and that's how I make my living, and so then they ask me about humanism, which I'm happy to share about. I'm learning that explaining what I do believe instead of what I no longer believe seems to work as a bridge to see where we meet.

I'm a believer that there are answers to choose from everywhere, and that my answers don't come from church or a supernatural deity, but from what I've learned and am learning all around me, trusting in the science and making good decisions. I'm pretty healthy, so I'm doing something right. Most of my healthy friends think like me, the unhealthy ones are the believers in magic beings. That doesn't prove anything, but I find that interesting.

Your friend appears to be making two separate points, neither of which you're willing to concede: God can 'manage your life,' and you 'need a man to make you happy.' Bravo!

Fear of death is the origin of religion. Many older folks do find comfort in religion. I don't think that way but I don't begrudge others