How many of you grew up religious?...

[AirRick101]

But are questioning it at some time along the path of life to the point you have a healthy aversion to the religious? You get to to the point having a split identity on what to be? I grew up in a mild Christian family, but was sent to a private Christian school from 3rd grade all the way to junior high, which is when I hit back to the local public school. Christianity has been a biggie part of my life, and I joined my school's Christian club mainly because I was lonely in the new environment and found people whom I could relate with. But I don't know if I found any real friends there. It was really hard to fit in, and began acting like others would want me to so I'll make friends. Hey, looking back, I'd rather have done that than have no friends. Especially after junior year of high school did I begin questioning, gathering more and more knowledge, more reasons to question and stuff like that, and just end up in a place where I'm not exactly sure what I am. Philosophy was my heartfelt passion during all this. I can't fully say if I'm religious, neither atheist. And I find myself to be a fine shade of agnosticism/skeptic/mystic. I'm into supernatural, but it's a lot scarier without that support of Jesus that I used to feel, and can't seem to feel anymore. I begin to meet people who would be labelled as "untrue Christians" but I find them a lot more interesting and easier to relate with than all out religious people. There's still a lot of conflict in me now, I still explore as many belief systems as I can, seemingly never satisfied. Sometimes, no matter how much I explore, I feel as if I gain nothing. And when bad things happen, I partially blame myself by taking responsibility, but also blame God even though I'm not sure if he's the same God I used to believe in, and just wonder where my heart is on the subject. And if those bad things happen again, I wonder if I'm being punished by God, yet condemn myself for that because I'm in the process of questioning a God, and just get really disgusted when I imagine what religious people might answer to me. Ya, so the kind of reply I'm really looking is people who really KNOW what I'm talking about. And if anybody wants to rush things and blurt out that I must confess and come back to God as a repenting sinner, I suggest you go hang yourself on a cross....jk, I'm just taking my time here...

[Tsen]

I'm in a bit of the same boat. I was born and raised LDS (Mormon), but as of late I've taken a step back. I've by no means left the church, I'm only taking quite a bit of time to go through the beliefs and ask myself 'why' rather than just go through with it like I always have. But I guess I'm more on the positive skepticism side of this one--I'm being skeptical about the church, but I'm rereading the entire Book of Mormon as well as the Old and New Testaments, just to check through all the history, reasoning and specifics of them. I can't say what my current take on it is... Eventually I'll make up my mind. Right now I'm taking the role of a mostly passive observer, just watching and learning, but not taking part as much as I used to.

[Roller]

I guess my family was never religious, and neither of my parent's families are practicing Christians, so I was never taught much religion by my family. The first school I went to was in a small country community, and they demonstrated to me a kind of ugly Christianity - not as bad as some places I guess - that really made me hate the place. The community was extremely narrow-minded and conservative, which left me with an endearing bitter taste in my mouth when I remember the place and how much of an outsider I felt. I then got sent to a Private Christian boarding school, which sounds a bit old-fashioned, but is far from the stereotype boarding school you see in movies. One of the most influential things about the school is that they made a serious, genuine attempt to imbue all of us with morals that we could pride ourselves with, morals that stemmed from Christianity, but went much further than that, and showed me a side of Christianity that I admire. Because we were a Christian boarding school, they used to use us boarders as a rent-a-crowd and during our regular Sunday evening Chapel services they would sometimes send us to gatherings I can only describe as 'happy-clapper" gatherings. At one of these youth gatherings I felt physically sick at the kind of brain-washing I was seeing - it was a good show, good Christian bands etc, but as soon as the people in the audience started waving their arms etc we all got a bit freaked out and decided we'd rather not be there. We went out into the foyer of the place and went to leave but found that they had blocked the doors and would not let us out, which shocked me a lot. They then told everyone in the foyer that they had to go back into the hall because the foyer was being used for another function etc. they then shut the hall doors behind everyone, keeping them inside just as they were calling everyone for donations and passing around the collection boxes. Meanwhile the rest of us had refused to enter and discovered that the line about the foyer being used for another function was in fact a lie. It was a weird feeling at that place, I mean true, we all went to a Christian school, but to be forced to watch something we found uncomfortable and then being tricked in an effort to get more money was not something we appreciated. It showed me another side of Christianity that made me feel sick, being manipulated like that felt almost like a kind of mind-rape. So that's been my experiences of religion until now. At the moment I guess I'm just keen to see more of the world before I decide whether there's a god or not. I fail to see how people that hve simply grown up being told there is a god can truly 'beleive' in it. If I ever become religious, the chances are that it will be Buddhism though, as it is the religion that makes the most sense to me and hangs true with my veiws and thoughts of the world so far.

[Goady]

When i was growing up christianity was forced upon me, i was never really given a choice of whether to go to church or to not go. When i was young, it was fine because it was the whole sunday school routine and my sunday school teacher was one of the nicest ladies you would ever meet. As i got older though, i started to realize that maybe all of what i was being taught isnt an absolute truth; and the fact that finding an absolute truth may never happen in my eyes. I started trying to feign sickness or saying i was too tired, but my mom wouldnt have that; she forced me to go regaurdless of what i thought or how i felt. I dealt with this for a while, but then, when i went to youth group one night,(i was around 15 or 16 at the time) i decided that christianity was not my religion. We had a big meeting in our gym, that had been turned into an auditorium for this occasion, and we were young just chatting and doing what we usually did. Well, about a week before this, we got a new youth pastor. I never liked the guy because he couldnt look me straight in the eye when he spoke to me, but i figure "meh why not". The meeting started off pretty simple and quiet, nothing too different from what usually went on. Then people started talking, and the youth pastor got this enraged look in his eye. He yelled at us, saying how we dont belong there if we dont wanna listen and just being generally abusive. He had girls in tears walking out because of his rude and unexcusable manner. I left youth group that night, never to return to that church or youth group ever again. Upon reflection after that event, i realized that i would never be a religious person. People do make mistakes and things even worse than that do happen, but it was more than that that made me turn my back on christianity. So many contradictions within the book that people with "faith" discredit regularly. After all this, ive decided my view on religions and things like that is one of an agnostic nature. I believe there may be some governing force or something thats pulling all the strings, but i would rather contemplate on the meaning of it all than devote myself to one belief or set of beliefs. There are always questions without answers, but i find it entertaining to think upon all the possibilites that could be answers. So that is why i am more of a philosopher than a religion-oriented person. And i suppose thats the result of me growing up religious hehe.

[zerospace]

When I was growing up my father was a Southern Baptist and my mother was a Jehova's Witness. I had the bible preached to me on a daily basis. In church I was looked down upon because I questioned everything. When I was 12 years old I told my parents I would no longer be Christian. By this time they realized I was serious because I had been doubting the truth of the bible was as long as I can remember. I turned to Wicca because it just fits everything I believe in. In my opinion christianity is about politics, power, money, control, masculinity and deception.

[InTheMoment]

I grew up in a Christian environment and went to a private Christian school from kindergarten to the 5th grade. After years of being spoon fed Christian beliefs, I began to question and challenge certain subjects that were brought up during bible studies. Upon asking said questions, I was either given a roundabout explanation or worse...I was quickly reprimanded and/or physically punished for asking such questions. It became painfully obvious, as I grew older, that Christianity was a hoax. Like zerospace said, Christianity manipulates and controls through fear and deception. After some inquiry I've concluded that, for most, belief is a psychological need (though people don't usually express themselves in those terms). It's as if something inside a person's mind or soul (whatever that's taken to mean) demanded that some things out of one's control exist. I'm inclined to believe the Freudian explanation of why we (as humans) created and continue to lean on religion as a life crutch. Freud believed religion developed in response to human feelings of helplessness in the face of a world they cannot control (E.g. earthquakes, disease and death). Just as children have their earthly father to protect them from the common dangers of life Freud believed this need is often carried forward into adulthood and subsequently projected into the heavens creating a 'Heavenly Father' who also protects and cares for people.

[Rakkantekimusouka]

Originally posted by InTheMoment It became painfully obvious, as I grew older, that Christianity was a hoax. Like zerospace said, Christianity manipulates and controls through fear and deception. YES. I was baptised Roman Catholic, but eventually denounced it. Good riddance.

[Tsen]

Man...I had this sickening experience in Seminary today. If you're not familiar with it, it's a program where you take an hour off of school to go and take gospel classes, in this case, Mormon religion classes. I guess I'd better explain some stuff...See, I can't really find too many issues with the actual gospel in the LDS church, but the people drive me nuts. They're so...opinionated. And it's not exclusive to them, either. I went to a Baptist church for a few weeks, and they're just as bad. That's the problem I have with religion. They think it's all about showing each other up and bashing other religions into the dust. That's how it's always been. It's pathetic--like some demented political campaign. My teacher got up today, and went on this huge campaign about the original sin. Now, just so you know, according to the LDS religion, the original sin happened so that we could all exist. It was a transgression on Adam's part, but we're not blamed for it, and we won't be punished for it. Some other Christian religions believe otherwise. So he starts going off on it like no tomorrow, about how this makes Catholics evil, and blah, blah, blah, with most all of what he's saying having the sole purpose of indoctrinating the class that Catholics are evil. Now, this is just between two CHRISTIAN religions. Mormons and Catholics have very similar beliefs, mostly seperated by details. Both believe Christ came and died for us, in Heaven, Hell, etc. Both read and preach from the Bible. But here he is, promoting outright HATRED of Catholics. It's as if he wants to foster ignorance for the sole reason that HE CAN.

[quantumparity]

That's right. I don't remember any Messiah saying create Christianity, Catholic, Judaism or any religion. I simply heard them say, follow their word, which was in truth, we are all victims of sin, do not cling to life and idols, basically to have spirituality. Then they have died to plant there seed, and one day at an unknown time be harvested 10 fold of the cause toward life. If there is Nirvana then there is end to sin for the end of the cycle of Karma, and we will see how eternal we really are. Not pressuring anybody, but that is close to how I see it. Dang Constatine I.

[irishcream]

I was baptised RC...got very heavily into it in my teens, and then began to 'grow up' and become someone...the someone that i became could not conform to the strict doctrines of the church. So i packed it in...still flirted with religion. Gave it up finally in february of this year. I believe the only thing you really need to believ in is yourself; at the end of the day, the choices you make are all your responsibility. I think that we all make our own decisions, nothing is planted in our heads by someone else. We're not part of a mastermind of people we cant' see.

[AirRick101]

The church that I regularly attended believed that every single other denomination is off track compared to ours, because they didn't follow God. (though it is not always explained...HOW) I was about to bash religion, but I remembered what kind of results that can create...there's always someone out there who may be offended, or I end up taking back what I said (really hurts the pride) Most of all, what bothers me is how some pastors speak. They get caught up into the power of God's speaking through them, and start being vulnerable to abusing their power. Then they start evangelizing all throughout the entire world, converting hundreds of souls a day, nearly taking over the world. They lose a lot of followers, but continue to outdo that with the touchy feely new converts they gain a day, eventually conquering all of America before choosing to stay home and take care of their family. Man, I haven't been to a Billy Graham Crusade in a while. But really, some pastors can be assholes, who want to control your life, and do not trust you to make your own decisions. And they say that the scriptures should be read in the way that the authors intended, although we may never know that because it's all enveloped in parables and metaphors and contradictions, it loses ground to the statement that is infallible. The way some religions get stronger is by demeaning other religions. It shows power, authoritarianism, and arrogant exclusiveness (very attractive to lost people looking for a group to stay with). Well, nothing more said.

[eyeofgames]

I am being raised a JW.Well I've been questioning it alot.I got into philoposhy about a year ago.As I learned and considered and thought....I became a Buddhist for about a month but i decided i did not want enlightenment actually. So I came back to being a JW.But I still question it but I think I'm good where Im at right now.

[Jokers Wild]

I was baptized roman catholic and raised catholic (with no church going) atteneded some of he finest catholic schooling the state had to offer for 12 years. In that time i learned to accept my own truths and realities, or, when i let philosophy discover me, my own untruths and paradigms.