Symbolically leave the Catholic church (or any other church) in 3 easy steps

1. Enter your name in the comments section below
2. Include a message of your reason for defecting
3. enjoy your freedom!

In Ireland there used to be a way to formally record that you were no longer a Catholic and require the church to record that fact. Over 12,000 people started this “Declaration of Defection” process. But in April 2011 the Catholic Church changed church law and removed the option to record formal defections.

Cormac Flynn, Paul Dunbar and Grainne O’Sullivan were the pioneers of CountMeOut.ie who took on the church and we salute them. They closed CountMeOut.ie after church law was changed to frustrate people trying to record their defection. Atheist Ireland took over the project and maintains the data under the title NonMe.ie.

NotMe.ie believes that if people tell the church they have defected then it should take a reality check and listen to them and correct their records. Young infants do not have a choice when they are baptised but adults have the right to set the record straight.

NotMe.ie lets you informally and symbolically leave the Catholic Church (or any other church). It has no impact on the Catholic Church’s view of your religious standing but is a way to identify as not Catholic.

This symbolic gesture supports the idea that the Catholic church (and other churches) should be accountable and should respect the rights of people who do not want to be associated with the church. It does not signify or support atheism or humanism, as many religious people also reject the Catholic church (or other churches) and/or support church accountability.

You can follow these links to read the reasons of more than 2,000 people who have signed up to date.

Names 1-500 | Names 501-1,000 | Names 1,001-1,500 | Names 1,501-2,000 | Names 2,001-2,500

Just leave a comment below with your name and your reason for defecting, and we will record it on this website. If you want to remove your name, send us an email and we will do so.