Atheist - what is your religious background, if any.

[Yerda]

I was raised as a Catholic and attended Catholic school as a child. I asked to be withdrawn from the school and enrolled in a non-denominational school when I was ten years-old. I had already stopped attending mass, and had no interest in what Catholicism had in store. I've had very little exposure to religion since then. I started reading the Koran when I was seeing a Muslim girl a few years back, but I was turned off by most of it and gave it the swerve.

 

[Revasser]

I was pretty fond of coloring Jesus with crayons in Sunday School though. I always figured he needed to be a mix of purple and orange for some reason.

My Scripture class Jesuses (Jesi?) were usually red (for his clothes) and brown (for his skin).

 

[Yerda]

My Scripture class Jesuses (Jesi?) were usually red (for his clothes) and brown (for his skin).

The cheek! Jesus was white as snow! So what if he was a Galilean peasant, he was white, just like his daddy. :areyoucra

 

[klubbhead024]

I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school for a while. I usually got a nice beating from the Sisters becuase I would ask to many questions. Eventually I quit that school and went to public school.

 

[KingNothing]

I grew up southern baptist. I got stuck in this trap:
1. you can teach a child to believe anything
2. hell is a BAD place
3. God works "in mysterious ways", and you can't understand Him
4. if you believe in God and hell, why would you want to question God and risk hell

I've always had the utmost respect for logic and it still took me about 8 years (age 15-23) to slowly escape this trap. It's good to remember that when I find myself expecting to bring down someone's entire religious foundation with one comment.

 

[Revasser]

Well, King, it's a good trap. It wouldn't be as effective as it is were it not.

There is a reason that many who eventually manage to extricate themselves from the Hell-and-mysterious-ways snare often have some very heart-wrenching stories to tell. Fear, especially terror on the grand scale of the Hell myth, is very powerful. As adults and non-believers me might very well dismiss it as absurd. But beliefs planted when we are children have deep roots and can be very hard to weed out, even when we have become reasoning adults.

That is not something I ever had to face, and the more I read of the stories people tell of their leavetaking from the religion of their childhood, the more I am glad of that fact. Anyone who can do so has my deep respect.

 

[Silicon Hero]

I dont think it'll hurt for me to post here, since I once was an athiest.

I started out calling myself a christian because of family tradition. About the time I was 14 I started having serious doubts about the whole faith. Classic athiest questions such as "Why does God let bad things happen, whats the deal with a good God and hell?" I found evolution like most athiests and began rationalizing my athiesm with it. I mostly kept the fact that I was an athiest to myself, though. Only a very few of my friends knew it. I dont think I was ever really a hardcore athiest, I certainly never "hated" religion.
Eventually however I biult back up into having a religion, but that is not what this thread is about so...