How instructive that the Church actually categorizes lack of belief as a sin. I'm an atheist because I do not believe any gods exist. I have not chosen to lack such belief. I simply do lack belief —informed obviously by education, data, and reasoning — and I could no more decide to believe that some god or gods exist than I "decided" to believe they don't.
I did not decide to believe that gods don't exist. Rather, I realized when I was about 16 years old that no evidence supported the god superstitions I had been raised with.
I realized without making a conscious decision. I don't believe I COULD have made a conscious decision. I guess I could have told myself and other people that I continued to believe. But that would have been false.
And that's a sin? Wow.
You know, for many reasons, the Catholic Church and the catechism fill me with disgust. I think the institution is evil, in that it works very hard to persecute and hurt marginalized people and treat women as second class. I think the history of the Catholic Church is foul and ugly.
As a gay man, I know that the Catholic Church considers me to be depraved and disordered, and that the catechism teaches that foul, naked hate speech to hundreds millions of children across the globe.
Before I read your article, however, I didn't realize the church actually condemns me morally because I lack belief in gods.
Just more of their judgmental filth, I guess. Good reason to understand that the Church itself is infinitely depraved. I hasten to add that I understand that many or even most Catholic laypeople do not go along with their Church's cruel moral condemnations and hate speech.
I do wish, however, that they would stand up and put an end to their leaders' depravity.