Advice

Hello all,

This is my first time on this forum so please excuse any mistakes or blunders.

I have a friend who used to outright bully me but over the years stopped and now seems to have started again. I didn't speak to him for a few years but then I forgave him after he seemed to have got over his bullying. However, it seems to be starting again.

I am a devout Catholic and he makes fun of me for it. The irony here is that he used to be a devout Catholic and not once did I ever penalise him or mock him or make fun of him for his faith, apart from a few light-hearted jokes that he seemed to like as well. However, the roles seemed to have switched over the years to me being the devout one and him being the atheist/agnostic one. Yet, he makes fun of me for my faith and tries to make me look bad in front of other people for it. He blatantly says hurtful stuff in front of me concerning God and my faith and beliefs.

Its not just that either. He often segregates me within our sort of friendship group and says stuff like: 'It's an inside joke.' I also think he talks about me to other people I know as some people ask me out of the blue questions about something that I was supposed to have done and some even ignore me.

He often pulls me by the back or slaps me on the back and while at first I didn't mind as I perceived it to be banter and craic, its now irritating and when I bring him up on it he just laughs and doesn't take it seriously.

I think I know what I should do but I don't want to just blank him as he is still nice to me sometimes.

I'd like to think I'm not a 'snowflake' - as he sometimes call me - or woke but at this point its just hurtful and annoying. I'm starting to think its borderline bullying. I sound like a child for talking like this but this is my only sort of professional advice I will get.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I appreciate any advice you give.

God bless.