I've been grappling with this
I've noticed that all of my friends who claimed to be the most religious or spiritual - that is, the ones who followed or preached a certain religion, who attended church or mosque, followed buddhism, or who were deeply involved in spiritual practices and esoteric learnings, have been unsupportive and unempathetic to my situation since I because extremely unwell and mostly bedbound at the end of last year. My life changed a lot, and suddenly I couldn't cook, work, wash my own hair, travel. I had to move out of my apartment. I discovered that I would need surgery.
Every single one of those self-reportedly pious, connected, "deep", "wise" friends either ghosted me, distanced themselves, or told me I was an inconvenience for having different needs while recovering or gently asking for more support temporarily.
Some of them were ones I'd known a year or two, others were ones I had known 10, 15 or 20 years.
On the other hand, all of the friends who have been most supportive, helpful, empathetic, selfless, visited me or regularly checked up on me, and showed deep understanding and stable presence have been atheist, pro-secular, or don't believe in spirituality or "something else beyond", unlike me.
Does this mean something? Or is it coincidence? It is an interesting pattern.
Posted Jun 3, 2026, 11:57 AM UTC