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This came to mind, though she's not a psychologist: If you know someone going through it, good chance this talk will be relatable. The transition from Catholic to Atheist is long in my past, so I'm more interested in people's thoughts/experiences with the social context of being a member of this particular oppressed minority. Especially at work. I avoid the subject at work, and when asked try to leave it at "I'm not religious". But there's always some nosy parker. I once had an outside consultant I had barely met tell me, intending it as friendly advice, that the only thing he knew about me is that I'm an atheist and that I shouldn't let people know that. He was from a communist country and hadn't been raised with religion, so he was speaking as one atheist to another. "Just tell them you're spiritual". Up to that point I'd only had one person quiz me about my religion, starting with "where do you attend church?"; suffice to say she was not about to take "I don't" as a final answer, and she was one to make the most of her time around the water cooler. And I didn't even use the "a" word. This was years ago, and I didn't stay there very long. Nevertheless, it rankles.

I was raised with religion. Over time, as I developed and become more intellectually independent, I outgrew it. For me, there has been no grief, only relief. I'm tempted to say the grief happened when I believed. Life as an atheist is considerably more laid-back and enjoyable.

I'm no psychologist, but it is fairly common knowledge that grief is a natural part of life, if we conceive of it broadly as going through the process of psychologically dealing with loss. Loss is natural and ubiquitous if one is alive, growing, or changing... all the time one loses one's former self to become something new , something more (or different), a process of being is not static - it is a process of becoming. We transform from a dependent child to an adult, we learn to accept that Santa Claus is a fiction, as an adult we accept "the highschool years" as a part of our ever evolving lives and not its definition, and we must learn to make the transformation through old age and decline as well... These transformations and the subsequent introspections of the differences of self, require a process to fully deal with. We are aware that those who do not properly process these changes, as with those who do not properly process the death of a loved one, have psychologically unresolved issues... which can and will be problematic, until they are properly processed and there is closure and acceptance of the reality of that particular loss or change on a deep psychological level. One of the biggest psychological transformations a person can go through is to convert from an adherent of the religious/supernatural/mystical to a complete atheist. This is no trifle... it is a fundamental shift of a world view, indeed a view of the universe, all of existence, its relation to the self and the very definition of self also. Is anyone aware of any authority, academic, or psychologist who delved into, contemplated, and/or wrote substantively on the subject matter of the psychological process of Grief necessary for fully completing the transformation from religion to atheism in a psychologically healthy manner?

I’m sorry Nicky but IMHO you really are missing the point here. Obviously the loss referred to is NOT literally the God’s absence. The purpose of the post is to discuss psychological loss and how people adapt and /or grieve. It’s obvious that being lied to and mislead for years about something and then learning the truth about the nonexistence of that something is not metaphysically a loss of the thing... the thing lied about was never there... but it IS a type of psychological loss. Imagine you are married to a business woman for 15 years... you have a family and you see her and your sons as the center of your universe... your very life’s worth tied up in a wonderful family you are profoundly proud of and in love with. Imagine you find out that in fact she has been living a double life, that she has another family she has been visiting during her so called business trips, another husband and adopted children... you come to know she has treated them as she has treated you... with complete dishonesty.. it is a betrayal of the highest order and puts you in a psychological tail spin... Your love... your family... your life... as you experienced and loved them to be ... are a sham. Did anything metaphysically in fact about what she was, what your family was, what you were, change upon your learning of her deception? No, only your misapprehension of them. This is a psychological loss of the highest order ... and if you are to live through it .. you need to deal with it. In the same way, being mislead and lied to your entire young life by ALL close to you, your teachers, your friends, you extended family and your very parents.. regarding the existence of God or an afterlife of any kind... is a profound psychological injury and deception which amounts to a phaychological loss of the highest order upon discovering the truth. If you are not interested in participating in the discussion of psychological loss I totally understand.. not everyone is interested in the same things. Cheers!