Story of the Day: Former Jehovah's Witness Furious after Friend Invited Her to Catholic Church

Religion is supposed to help foster love, but it has also created conflicts throughout history. This is a story of two friends whose relationship soured because of religion.

Bernadette, 19, was raised in a very religious household, being the daughter of Jehovah’s Witnesses. She started to question their religious beliefs a year ago after she entered college.

Just last month, she stopped believing in her parents’ faith altogether. This has caused a conflict between them to the point that her mom would refuse to speak to her.

A CATHOLIC FRIEND

Bernadette’s best friend Penelope had been her go-to person when she was feeling down. She would confide everything in her. Incidentally, Penelope is also quite religious.

Penelope is a Catholic, and she would not miss Sunday masses. Although they have different religions, they both have been respectful of each other. They would refrain from talking about religion at all.

HER FRIEND'S RELIGIOUS INVITATION

But when she started telling Penelope about her diminishing belief in Jehovah’s Witness, the latter would invite her to her church. Each time, Bernadette would decline politely.

Bernadette was so frustrated over religion that she felt her friend was being overly insensitive.

But when Bernadette called Penelope to unload her feelings because her mother would not pick up her calls, things went differently. She was sobbing while confiding in Penelope.

She told her that it was hard to accept her mom would disown her just because she would no longer subscribe to her religion. That was when Penelope made a remark that Bernadette found offensive.

AN INSENSITIVE GESTURE

Penelope told her that something like that would not happen if she went to a Catholic church. Bernadette was so frustrated over religion that she felt her friend was overly insensitive.

Angry, she told Penelope she would never go to the Catholic church and that she was done with religions and ended their call without giving Penelope a chance to respond.

After their exchange, Bernadette now felt a wave of guilt. After all, Penelope was her best friend. But she could not help but feel bad too over Penelope’s constant attempt to recruit her to Catholicism.

In your opinion, was Penelope being insensitive? Was Bernadette right in her outburst? Tell us in the comments. In the meantime, check out this other drama between friends.