I feel like I'm letting my grandmother down

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For about two weeks, I stayed at my grandmother's place in town to look for work. While the job search didn't exactly go as I had hoped, I enjoyed staying at their house and simply being able to relax. I spent a good amount of time talking to both of them, and I noticed one thing; even though my grandmother knows I am non-religious, she would always bring up things about how she's praying for me, and how God loves all his children, etc. I know she means well, and she doesn't go all fire and brimstone like "you're going to Hell for being a nonbeliever", but at the same time I feel like I'm really letting her down for not believing in or practicing Catholicism. I mean, she is the textbook definition of a "good Christian", and she's nothing like the commonly perpetuated stereotypes of "bible thumpers" or whatever. I just find Christian beliefs to be kind of a hard thing to swallow, as they don't make sense to me. I mean, parts of the moral code do, but the more supernatural/spiritual elements don't make sense to me. I know part of being a Christian is accepting things that don't make sense, but I just don't work that way.

TL;DR: My grandmother is a super-nice Catholic, and I feel like I'm letting her down for being an atheist.

Are there things about Catholicism or Christianity generally with which you do agree? I don't mean doctrine, maybe just its attempts at helping the poor, or building communities. If you had a few points of agreement to share with your grandmother, while reminding her (if necessary) that you aren't religious, she might feel that you and her agree on a few things "related" to something that is important to her. It might be that she is simply trying to find ways in which she and her beliefs are relevant to your life without converting you. Just an idea.

Just be a good person and you can't let her down.Its sweet that she cares for you,just love her back.Maybe there are some books in the bible that you find interesting,like proverbs or psalms,you could talk about those things with her.

hi, atheist here,

you can't force yourself to believe nonsense. let your grandma know you appreciate her. i haven't told all my christian friends that i'm no longer one of them. don't want them worrying over my non-existent eternal soul. your grandma already knows, though. just treat her and others as well as you can.

Thanks for the input. I honestly still don't know what to do though. I remember another thing she told me was that the pope made this declaration a while ago that anyone, regardless of denomination, who had faith would get into heaven. Now, I don't believe in an afterlife, but I just feel like by not having faith, by pretty much ensuring that I won't get into "heaven" if it ends up being true, that I'm letting my grandmother down.

I should clarify that I'm really more of an agnostic than a hardline atheist, and that while I don't believe in a deity or souls or the afterlife or the supernatural, that I also believe I could very well be wrong. Odds are, I'll only find out when I die, and if it ends up being true, and I end up going to Hell for being a heretic, well, I'll have to score some brownie points with Satan. Hopefully Hell is just nothingness like what the pope mentioned in another declaration recently, because if that's the case, I'm perfectly OK with that. It would be just like I imagined death to be in the first place.

Again, I don't actually believe in any supernatural stuff, but I'm open to the possibility that I could be wrong.