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I think is a good idea to create a category about this.--Domingo Portales 20:34, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Confusing

We protestants have a word for people who were raised in religious households but no longer follow the teachings of their (and assumably no one else's) religion: agnostics. Is a lapsed or recovering Catholic simply a euphamism for an atheist or agnostic, or does it have wider applications (say, a former Catholic who now follows Islamic or Mormon teachings)?

Answer :

Agnostic has nothing to do with that ! An agnostic think that maybe God exist or maybe not, but anyway this knowledge is impossible for human being to reach. And therefore, there's no need to argue about "God wants you to wear red pants" or "You shalt not have sex with bananas", and all that stuff. Someone can be agnostic with or without being raised in religious households. And someone can Lapsed without being agnostic.

Atheists don't believe in God.

A lapsed catholic is someone raised as a catholic who decides to stop all the catholic worship (going to church every sunday, etc...) but still believe in God. That's all.

Great question! In the Catholic faith, once someone becomes Catholic, they are Catholic forever. "...Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation."[1] Technically, a Catholic who fails to live the faith could be more precisely labled a heretic, an apostate, a schismatic etc... or labled by the sin the commited (drunkard, murderer, gossip etc...) so the term is a euphamism in that it sidesteps naming the exact fault(s) of the Catholic in question. Elephx4 (talk) 08:01, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Is that a Fact?

The article states that "lapsed" is most often applied to Catholics. Is this really a "fact"? I am a "lapsed Catholic", in as much as I have quit going to church, but I am agnostic when it comes to the concept of a Creator-Created relationship with God. I suppose it's possible, but just can't commit to the idea. I just linked in from the Robert DeNiro article. I wonder how he defines the term. I guess the point is that it is difficult to attach labels to a group of people based on a short article. I believe the generic label for anyone who falls away from a religion is "apostate." Knowing the crowd that scans these pages however, I'm sure there is someone who will argue the use of that term as well. Tim F. TFreckman 16:29, 18 September 2007 (UTC)