I was raised Catholic, however we stopped going to church. My dad was pissed when they stopped saying mass in Latin, but he was livid when we sang "Let It Be". I went to a Baptist church with a friend for a while, but I always felt out of place.

Growing up, I never was chastised because of religion. They were too busy terrorizing me for other things.

I studied for the ministry as a Pentecostal and thought I was really onto something. I felt like believers had all the answers. Still, I have to confess that when you bow your head and close your eyes, then start talking to yourself it seems like it is fake.

I fully believed all of it. i had an unhappy childhood, and i describe it as being handed a book and told “this holds all the secrets of the universe and eternal happiness.” i ate that shit up and threw myself into learning everything i could and trying to please god. i got really into apologetics as a teenager, especially as i realized that i’m queer and then trans. i tried everything to make it fit with who i was. and then i lost a loved one who was only a child, and it began to click. everyone i know and many people i didn’t know were praying, but god didn’t do anything. i stopped praying and reading the bible, and after i had some distance from the religion bubble, i started watching science videos and then atheist answers to apologetics. it was a long and hard process, but i’m a lot happier now.

As a 5 year old Atheist, I treated religion like geography and math....learned all the alleged crusade routes and believer rules....by the time I was 9 and my mom got all wet baptized blowing snot out her nose dunked in slimey green water I REFUSED TO KEEP going with her.....she talked me into going back when I was 15....my Sunday School teacher was a gorgeous red head I saw breastfeeding 2 babies years before so I eagerly got ready for the 1st lesson......being up close and personal with Aphrodite herself was irresistible......with 2 guys and 3 girls seated in a tight circle I sat next to teacher but she said: BEFORE WE GET STARTED I WANT TO SAY WHEN SIN ENTERED THE WORLD, SIN CAUSED THE EARTH TO TILT 23 AND 1/2° OFF IT'S AXIS.......I was ready to regurgitate bible verses BUT NOT SIT NEXT TO A BEAUTIFUL idiot just making up shit that was nor in the bible.... I never returned to 53rd&Franklin DSM IA any day of the week since 1967