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Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.

How Do I Respond to Atheists and Secularists Who Say Catholicism Is “Uptight?”

Question:

Some of my close friends are either atheists or caught up in our materialistic, self-pleasing society. They tell me that Catholics are "too uptight." How can I possibly defend myself against people who have no real faith at all?

Answer:

Could it be that your friends are uptight about the fact that Catholics consider themselves accountable to someone bigger than themselves—and what that might say about them? What if Catholics are right? This could make non-believers very uptight if they let themselves dwell on it much.

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