Raised Catholic, schooled Catholic, Massed twice weekly to age 12: never fully bought in. Studied, marveled, sampled, dabbled: never fully bought in. Tried Wicca; thought I was all in: never fully bought in. Tried being "spiritual, not religious": never fully bought in. Participated in a church: renewed my gladness at being a freethinker; DEFINITELY didn't buy anything. Fell into Buddhism... (Spoiler: it's not a religion): its free! And I'm no longer interested in "buying" anything. TLDR: lots of samples, zero purchases.

i never was

I was brought up with Christianity but even when my age was in single digits I thought it was all a made up story, so I just rolled with it ,didn't want to upset Mum, but shes fine with it now.

My mother was a Baptist, and my father was a Presbyterian, and they compromised by going to a Congregationalist church that ended up joining the UCC. I never believed any of it--not even when I was a toddler--but had to attend every Sunday until the end of high school. I felt like a jackass praying to an invisible sky daddy and was furious when I had to lie and become confirmed at the age of 13. Sunday school teachers dreaded having me in their classes because I was always asking questions they couldn't answer, and it was very clear to them I thought the whole thing was a total crock.

Welcome to the minority. Not only have I never been religious, I have always been an atheist.

I went to a Church of England primary school and used to get really frustrated when teachers wouldn't or couldn't answer my questions.

Why does god kill so many people when he says thou shalt not kill? Who made god? If Jesus was god, then he couldn't die anyway?

My dad was religious, but he did tell me to ask questions and make up my own mid - and none of it ever made sense to me. Not sure whether mun ever was. Fortunately, here in the UK, being an atheist is no big deal.

I have never been religious and Im not aware of anyone in my family who has ever been religious. Then again, I live in a more secular society- England. I think what John Lennon said will be true here one day- that Christianity will die here. It may take a long time, but I believe it will happen. As for Islam, Seik, Buddhism etc, I don't know. I,d go back there mate and punch the bas£$%^s.

Raised catholic - mass every Sunday. Catholic school from grade 1 through 9 (public high school after begging my parents). I raised all 3 of my children as non-religious although they had always been permitted to investigate as much as they desired. My oldest son attended a religious youth group while in high school with some friends and he was ‘undecided’ for awhile. My youngest son attended Camp Inquiry for a few years. All three of my kids are secular as adults.

I was not raised going to church. Religion was never talked about. My father never went, although my mother was raised in a baptist church.I know she took me to Sunday school when I was a toddler, but after that she never went again until she joined a Methodist church about ten years ago, mostly because she enjoys singing in the choir and the social aspects of it.

Myself, I have always felt that religion, or I should say organized religion, is not for me. I feel that it is a power trip and has caused way more harm throughout history. How many wars and deaths has religion caused throughout history, as well as in the present? It just seems so hypercritical, especially here in the United States.

With that being said, I do believe that people can be spiritual, that there are things around us that we can't grasp or understand. However, I believe in Karma, and you get what you put out. But once someone starts to control how people look at that, that is where religion turns into a power and guilt trip.

a rare breed

My paternal grandparents were raised in the Catholic church. Both of them had been married and divorced before they found each other. They got married and the church excommunicated them. My father was an atheist. My Maternal grandparents were acclimated to going to church from their youth but not true believers. Like her parents, my mother was acclimated to church attendance but was not a true believer. My brother and I had never been to church in our early youth, but after we were both in school (I was in K & bro in 2nd), Mom wanted to introduce us to the Lutheran Church. We hated it. Our folks got divorced, and my deadbeat Dad left Mom to raise us without him. When we reached Catechism age, Mom insisted we go through it. We embraced it but were never believers. When we were both done with Catechism we were pretty well done with the church. My brother & his family enjoy paganism. I am just secular. My gods are science & knowledge.

I was raised Catholic.

My Mom bounced around various denominations when I was a kid, but never settles on anything. Dad was not a believer in anything but things he could actually sense in some way. Touch, feel, see. That kind of stuff. Nobody pushed me in either direction. I was born a skeptic and remain one to this day. Read the bible and was stunned at how useless it was in presenting a religion to any thinking being. Word salad. Maturity brought the conviction that, even if there was some god, I'm not interested and would ignore it unless it impacted me. Then I would resist it. But, thankfully, it's only other humans I have to protect me and mine from. Bigly job that. All by itself.