While I sympathise with your sense of frustration - at being so mislead - please don't beat yourself up with such anger. Acknowledge it and just let it go...... aaaahhhhh. Just being alive is too amazing an experience to waste it in regrets or recriminations. Remember the song - 'Don't worry. Be happy'. Great advice. Cheers.

To prevent feeling angry and frustrated all the time, I learned to see the humor in it all. If you have some time ask one to clarify something from the bible you found contradictory or just wrong. Don't hound them too hard or you will get the classic "it's in the Bible. God said it so it's true " .Pointing out that the bible is not god's personal assistant's notes ,straight from the horses mouth is counterproductive . If you can keep them talking they are a wellspring of ignorant comedy gold.

Irony for you? I grew up with very little adult supervision. Heathen, Bohemian from the start. Growing up in rural Alabama I heard the shit all my life .The bible thumpers feigned concern and sympathy. I saw right through them, they had no genuine concern for me. They considered themselves above me and didn't want me influencing their daughters and sons I suppose in a different way. I laughed my ass off at the parents and felt bad for the brainwashed kids. I wonder if they will ever have a clue how sad and pitiful I have always thought them to be.

I share your take on religion, but you will eventually watch the anger dissipate. I still have remnants of it myself, and I got out more than two decades ago.

Believers will see your raw emotion, and just say that you're angry at god; their way of defusing any otherwise good arguments you may have presented.

I like Thailand, for that reason. Thai Buddhism accepts a Third Gender and is so tolerant that animals wander in and out of the glittering temples, where you are free to come and meditate. The school kids often meditate before classes, twice a day, and it makes things peaceful and calm. But nobody bothers you, preaches at you, or condemns you.

How about on the other end of time and quality, for instance Johann Sebastian Bach? Much of his music has religious themes. I find some of it just wonderful.

It's funny because when I was a kid my religious Grandma and her friends used to say in the 1960's that rock music of any kind is devil music or the kids are possessed by satan.

When religion loses followers, they will change so they can be more modern lol.

@ZebZaman Sadly, in the Middle Ages the main employer was The Church, so artists and musicians who wanted to be paid often had to play the religious game. Some had royal or wealthy patrons, and wrote music to fulfill certain obligations. I'm grateful for whoever/whatever inspired these people to make such beautiful music and artwork.

hahaha! good one!

... but liberating in it's own way?

You are probably right, which blows my mind. I have always had trouble understanding and relating to "normal" people. The concept of a need to belong and be part of a group is completely foreign to me. I have friends. I am not totally anti- social but the idea of wanting to fit in, inviting people over for dinner or any other reason, creating situations/ events for the sole purpose of socializing is utterly foreign to me. I would get so tired of explaining my jokes. All the humor is gone when the tutorial begins.

Yeah. For some people socializing is more of a chore than a pleasure. I have reclusive tendencies myself. Still, having studied Sociology in college and through observation, I think most peopel need to feel a sense of belonging.

From an evolutionary standpoint, there is some advantages for sporadic mavericks who don't go along with the crowd and are curious instead of just accepting. They can be innovators, or if the village gets wiped out while they are away, then they are a survivor. Not fitting the norm is not a bad thing, it is just different and helps make humans more diverse to better survive.

As a politician I have been inside hundreds of congregations and many are like the tv show CHEERS drinking grape juice and crackers instead of beer I WANT TO GO WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME. ....but I was repulsed by it all by age ten quitting Boy Scouts and my sister's church even @ age 5 I thought Santa Claus lies were equal to Easter Bunny lies and vaginal virgin birthing alleged baby gods in dirty donkey stable lies....I memorized hundreds of bible verses like poems or the Gettysburg Address not believing just reciting to stand above the fool preacher. ...2 years in a row I was sent to bible summer camp and there I dared ask Atheist questions like : " Who invented gawd ? " dumb shit counselor said: gott has always been " Einstein my hero knew better

What a perfect response.

And then there's our extensive and suppressing social conditioning to attend to - much of which we re totally unaware of. Until we REALLY start asking questions of ourselves and the 'reasons' we do what we do.

I like the way you think

@HopiMoon when I was 9 my mom converted to my sister's church from Methodist to fundie. ...so I was there when she had a white baptismal gown on standing in a deep 4 foot tank of green slimy water next to preacher in black robe. ...he mumbles puts a hanky over moms nose and dunks her.....then she blows snot and water out her nose and everybody can see her bra and panties though the sheet. ...next Sunday she kept elbowing me to go up front for the same torture. ...never happened

I also tried that for two years in my search for 'truth'. Funny that I needed not to search to find the truth that I was looking for.

When you understand that, removed from ethnic variations, Buddhism is not a religion as such - you are not required to believe anything - but more a philosophy of life, then you might find more value in what he had to say. The 10 days Vipassana courses I've attended have been a wonderful means of 'opening my mind'. -- almost as good as psyllocybin or other 'emissaries' of the planet we inhabit.