PK here. Brother became an atheist before I did and over the years was there to give me direction as I found my way out of Christianity. My sister and her whole family still integrate church tightly into their lives. I think all in all my brother and I had a pretty easy experience getting out of the church while keeping relationships in tact, though his experience was more rough than mine. I think most people who were raised by church leaders have a much harder time keeping their relationships with their family while diverging their beliefs.

One of my main strategies to keep relationships happy was to redirect any conversation away from religion into the human experience, and to focus on shared joys and avoid any topic where there was disagreement. I got really good at this, though there have definitely been times where I’ve had to find an excuse to get up and leave the room. I don’t expect that we will ever agree on everything, and I’d rather spend my family time in happy discussions rather than trying to resolve differences, so I just accept the differences and focus on the shared joys.