I was raised in an Assembly of God Church in Clayhatchee Alabama.
The Church itself is now a fire station, or so I hear.
I clearly remember the night sister Treadaway was under the influence of the "Holy Spirit" she was jabbering like a 33 1/3 rpm album set on the 78 rpm speed.
She danced up and down the rows of pews.
When she got to the choir area that was slightly elevated she grabbed a wicker bottomed chair in each hand and started spinning like a Dervish, chanting like a Voodoo witch doctor.
Suddenly one of the chairs slipped from her grip and flew toward the pulpit hitting Pastor Johnson in the head knocking him over. She on the other hand found herself unbalanced and stumbled toward the other chairs that were there for the choir and knocking a few over collapsed on the floor.
Pastor Johnson received four stitches. Head wounds bleed a lot, so everyone was convinced he was in much worse condition then he was. One of the tiny finishing nails in the chair had lacerated his temple.
Sister Treadaway suffered three broken ribs and had to have a pin in her shoulder.
I'd tell you stories of abuse and bad behavior as well, but I've spent decades trying to forget...

I have many traumas but one was when this obviously poor little girl who lived a block or to a way from me was mocked and beaten daily by a sadistic nun to the laughter by the nun handing her off to the sadist. ( I'm not sure who the nun was she might have been our mother superior). I do remember Sister Eileen Dorothy happily handing little Agnes off to the bitch for her daily beating. We were in 2nd grade I believe.

I wasn't raised religious and my mom and dad never hit me... They spoke to me and explained to me why what I did or said was wrong... And when my grandparents adopted me, they did the same... I'll do the same too.. Children shouldn't be beaten...

All these religious people speak about kindness and love but seems child abuse is on the top of their list. A child can sense and feel the infringement of their rights but they're controlled by their very own and cannot escape it. How sick and sad and brutal.

I watched our pastor molest my older sister.

My mother was a religious Catholic. She sent me to religious instruction. The nun had all the kids in turn kiss the feet of a wooden Jesus. I refused. The nun tried to physically force me to my knees to kiss the statue. I pulled away and ran out of the church with my dignity intact.

I can remember being a kid and taken to a primitive baptist church with my grandparents and mom. These preachers really put on a show. They get up there shouting and screaming all kinds of shit and tell you how bad you are and that you’re going to hell. As a child I was scared to death because first of all the way he preached I thought the preacher was about to die. Secondly the thought of being thrown into a fire forever scared the shit out of me. I now consider this bullshit and child abuse.

Being brainwashed to be a Moron (oops, Mormon), we had to fast for 24 hours on the first Sunday of every month. No food or drink. Not even water. It was miserable.

In the UK the law used to say that every school should have a daily religious service. My school was a very bad one, and had a lot of bullying as well. ( We all did it, I claim no exemption, because the one thing that bullying teaches you is how to bully yourself.)

One of the boys however was disabled. So of course he got bullied more than most. One morning it was so bad that he could hardly walk or stand, because he was shaking so much with fear and pain, after being bullied very badly, in a vicious cruel way which surprised even those of us used to bullying. Afterward however, several of us helped to hold him up, and half carried him into the daily service, where we continued to help him stand, because missing service was considered a serious thing, and our distrust of our teachers was such that we did not expect any understanding.

The tragic irony of what then happen however will never leave me, and was my most memorable school lesson. Because when the formal part of the service was over, the headmaster gave his daily speech/sermon, and the subject that day was: "How lucky we were to belong to a 'happy' school which did not have a culture of bullying."

What made it even more striking was that everyone had said how lucky we were to have such a good headmaster, who was turning a bad school round. Which was probably true, it certainly got better under him. But what it did do was to make me lose all faith in authority, including and especially religious authority. Because since I am, and was, realistic enough to know that since some authority is needed in life, it is I now know, essential to ensure that authority is founded on solid bedrocks, such as, science, reason, good education and democratic checks. And not on old books, sky fairies, tradition, myth, cultural metaphor, superstition etc., which are only the resort of the bully and the tyrant, because they can not base their authority in reason.

All of them. The first time religion really pissed me off was very shortly after one of my best friends died. I was about 16 or 17 at the time. The CCD teacher said "he killed himself because he didn't have god". As I mentioned this was VERY fucking shortly after he died. Second, he didn't kill himself. No one seems to know for sure, but methinks it was an accidental drug overdose. I came unglued and called him out on his BS.

Your story is a sad story. Kind of reminds me of a girl that was kept in almost complete darkness locked in a cage for like 16 years or so. She had some type of disability, and so they kept her malnurished in there. Made me literally cry, and the parents... unto others.

Oh, the making me feel like shit about anything I've done isn't great. You know how original sin is a sin just for being born? We still get baptized for that shit. Didn't jeebus die for that shit? They need to get their folklore straight.

Oh, I wish they didn't mutilate my pee pee. Not like anyone asked. Plus there are medical reasons not to become circumsized.

Nothing heavy like that. I remember thinking in Sunday school it was all Jesus loves you and everything is wonderful and then you would go into the big room and it was all about Hell fire and brimstone. I thought that whole dichotomy was strange. I only went from the time l was seven until I was fourteen, so none of it had much affect on me. It is sad how religion can really mess up some people's lives.

Baptisms for the dead.
First, you have to have an interview with the bishop at age 12-14 with no parent or guardian present and He asks if you masterbate.

Then in the temple... you strip down to your birthday suit to put on a white onsie. They file you into the baptism area. 6 old men dunk you in the water 12 times. One for each dead person they are baptizing by proxy. Then you have to walk up and out of the water... with the white (now see through) onsie for all to see.

Creepy on multiple levels.

My mother was religious, my father said he wasn't, but anytime any adult of any type of religious persuasion appeared, he would behave like a dog with its tail between its legs because he had a very guilty conscience, and for many really good reasons. I did not learn any critical thinking skills until later in college, probably the most negative thing that eventually gnawed away at the was the constant attitude of "we are in the club" and anyone who does not accept what we say is not, they are trash. And their complete lack of curiosity-close-mindedness.

When I was quite young, I remember asking my mom if our neighbors were going to go to hell because they never went to church. I was worried about them because I thought they were nice. Her answer was that if they didn't have Jesus, that they would indeed go to hell; and because they never went to church it sure seemed that they didn't.

This really bothered me and I didn't think it was fair that a loving god would be so unforgiving and punish good people for an eternity. But, who was I to question this god?

As I got older, it seemed like even a lot of Church going people were also going to go to hell, or at risk of goint to hell, because they didn't believe the correct things about Jesus.

Going to hell, or in danger of going to hell, were (this isn't a complete list):

Catholics (They rely on the Church/rituals, pray to saints not Jesus alone, and Mary worship). Most, if not all, of them going to hell. This was of concern because a good friend of mine was Catholic.

Church of Christ (They believe one is not saved until the physical act of baptism and this is a work). In danger of going to hell. This was of special concern because my best friend and her family were Church of Christ.

Seventh Day Adventists (They believe one must keep the Sabbath and this is a work, and they have extra-biblical prophets). Most of them likely going to hell. This was a concern because I had grandparents were were SDA.

All liberal "Christian" Churches because they don't take everything in the bible literally and are accepting of homosexuals and other religions etc. All of them most likely going to hell.

Mormons (A cult, not really even Christian. They rely on works and extra-biblical writings). Going to hell.

Jehovah's Witnesses ( A cult, in no way Christian.They deny Jesus=God and rely on works). Going to hell.

And, of course, people of all non-Christian faiths--no matter how good of a life they lived. Going to hell, unless they had never, ever, heard the Jesus message; then this god might make an allowance.

Fortunately I reached a point when I allowed myself to question this god and I was able to put all this nonsense behind me. It was such a relief when I realized that there is no hell. And, it is also a relief that there is no heaven.

Born with the ability to memorize, forced to attend Baptist churches, I learned you could receive approval if you learned bible chapters. They loved this talent and I was routinely dragged around to various church meetings, where I'd parrot the second chapter of Luke, for example, or psalms, etc.

This wasn't fun but they ''loved'' me, so I did it. It kept me and my family on the ''good girl'' list...so god would love us all. I was about 9 or 10.

However...the end of it came one awful day when the pastor called my name in front of the entire congregation, made me stand and then castigated me....because my bible was on the floor. It seemed to last for hours and I still remember the sting of public humiliation.

I gained courage, though...because I flatly refused to ever return there! They'd call and tell me I was needed for this event or that.....I never, ever went back.

I grew up in a Muslim family and we lived in Queens until i was in 3rd grade. During this incident I was in 2nd grade and my sister was in 1st. Every day after school we had to go study the Quran with an imam in the basement of an apartment building in our neighborhood. He was a psychopath who had the trust and adoration of all the students parents, which made me hardly ever complain about what he did to us. Our parents either didn't believe us or believed it and said we deserved for not studying hard enough. The day that stands out the most is when i went in after school and i was exhausted, i was sick and still had to go to school plus the Quran class. I didn't care about memorizing the surahs, i could barely sit still i was burning up from a fever, body aches, chills, etc. I could tell he was extra irritated because he was hitting kids with his stick for minor issues like not sitting up straight, something he usual reserved for "bad" behavior. When he got to me i couldn't recite the assigned surah so he hit me on my hands with the stick and i didn't cry. He told me to open the Quran and read it and i couldn't because i felt sick, he hit me on my side and when other kids tried to intervene he went insane on them and they backed down. He told me to read again i refused again and he struck me on the side of my head with the stick i fell to the ground and started slapping me and im pretty sure i had a concussion. I finally told my grandfather who was my best friend what happened and he refused to let us go back there again. My grandparents lived with us in the apartment until my grandfather died that year and i felt i lost my protector. That was the scariest/ worst experience i had.

This is what usually happens. Later on the poor girl beats her own kids coz she thinks this is normal. I whipped my kids but only gently to get their attention. Swat swat. About 2 swats would do it. Never a stick or switch or anything. No time outs or other such bs. Later my girls thought my stern voice was "yelling at them." Yelling at kids does no good.

Having to go to CCD classes. The catholic classes for kids to be brainwashed. I NEVER asked questions but I should like "Where did Mrs, Cain come from? or "Were there dinosaurs on Noaks ark?"

Nothing that horrible.
Though I did grow up with a very very religious minister father, I was fed and cared for. Speaking in tongues, faith healings. I was able to visit many types of churches in the Western USA and learn how that subculture works.

I guess the worst was losing my family. Knowing, when I was about 12, that I went from being one of the flock, to one of the enemy. It took years to sink in. My cosmology was destroyed. And that was ok. I read a lot and built a new one.
Though my father loved me, he could only really "love me" as an apostate. I was no longer an "us", I was the "them" that you pray for. For them, I was choosing hell.

I still find my way alone in the world.
Everyone seems to have their religion, pseudoscience, or desire to control me. The worst have replaced god with the state and/or consumerism.
I trust no one.
I have had a pleasant life with fun hedonism, and had a lot of sex and fun with women, which perhaps was serving the goddess in a way. Woman are as evil as men, it turns out. Not worse; equally evil. But more evil if that is who you are serving.
And now I have found things I think are important to create. Perhaps none of those really matter, so I feel a bit lost.
But my project is still interesting, and perhaps useful to save people from the lonely nihilism of a society without meaningful community, ethics, and fulfillment.
I will work on it. For today, I plant trees. That is easier.

How I live now with videos:
What is Bosque Village?

Religion is certainly a violent tradition violating children who grow up to be violent themselves for their alleged gawds

I’m at a loss for words…. Rare, around here.. No doubt my parents knew the hateful dangerous side to religion, thus never encouraged us to respect or challenge it. I have thanked them for not forcing it on us; it appears I may have to do that again.

The cults are responsible for so much abuse and carry on abuse. This poor woman was scarred as a child and now knows no other way. I hope her children are having a better time of it and hope that she can get some help. It would have been horrible for you not being able to stop it.

How is that a religious experience? That could have happened at a high school sports event.