Kaitlyn Nickel left the church years ago because of her personal beliefs. Leaving the church required more than she bargained for. Photo by Dean Huffman.

Society has been run on the idea of religion for centuries, but separating from religious practice altogether can be complex and difficult.

Irreligion is the lack of religious faith and is also known as atheism. According to a census conducted in 2011 by Statistics Canada, 23.9 per cent of Canadians identify as irreligious or atheist.

The lack of belief can also be caused by people separating from their current religious practices.

Kaitlyn Nickle was raised under The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Lethbridge.

She recalled it was not her biological parents who influenced her beliefs.

“My biological mother wasn’t active, but my grandma would take me and my siblings to church every week. When my biological mother could no longer care for us, my grandma ensured that my siblings and I were adopted into an active Mormon family.”

From the point of her adoption the Mormon religion became her main belief system. She attended all church activities for many years.

Eventually Nickle realized she no longer wanted to participate in the religion. She claimed to feel out of place and no longer fit the church’s ideal.

“I recall having several lessons in church about the freedom of choice and why it was important to choose the church over other worldly things. Yet I never felt like I had any freedom of choice. My freedom was taken from me by the church. I didn’t fit inside their mold and I didn’t want to.”

The idea of leaving was not foreign to her but cutting ties was difficult. Her adoptive parents had legal guardianship over her and demanded that she continue her religious studies until she turned legal age.

“My parents were very strict, so as long as I was living under their roof, I was to attend every single activity and church meeting. If I had had a choice, I would have left the church when I was around 12. Instead, I stopped practicing when I was 18 and had moved out on my own.”

Despite having to wait five years to wiggle her way away from the Church of Later-Day Saints, her adoptive parents refused to take no for an answer.

“My parents did not approve and were disappointed. They constantly invited me back to church with them or sent sister missionaries to my house all without my knowledge or permission. Over time I started to push back and refused to attend church ever again. I even resigned from the church and had my name removed from their records.”

Nickle has been separated from the church for some time and her grandmother passed away before she left. She said she is unsure of how her grandmother would react to her separation, but said she is grateful for her power to make her own decisions in life.