Christ in a sidecar, that is quite a journey.

My bona fides? First, I'm Australian. We generally don't do the churchy thing. Just putting that out there.

I never really got religion. I spent a year at university going to church each Sunday (Catholic, only to please my mother). It was a year of kneeling uncomfortably in a room that felt like a barn and completely bereft of anything divine.

Fast forward 30 years - tried it again. Anglican, this time. Because, you know, maybe it's like different flavoured ice creams.

Again, nada. Nothing. Some lovely and misguided people, but nothing divine.

So I never crossed a line; in fact, I approached it from the other side. I wanted something to be there. I tried. It was an absence, not a presence.

And that is my story.

Welcome, Stargazer13, I think you will like it here.

I grew up in the the British colony of Kenya, and had to learn to be independent and think for myself. Baptised and confirmed into the Roman Catholic Church (as opposed to the High Anglican Church which also claims to be Catholic!) I attended catechism classes (compulsory) but soon quite a few of us realised we could bait the priests by asking contradictory questions. I attended church every Sunday during school term time (It was a boarding school, and so unavoidable) but seldom during the holiday periods. My parents were divorced, I lived with my father and he wasn't a keen church goer. It intefered with golf!
I sort of developed my own interpretation of religion and salvation, mainly based on overall good or evil, with allowances for straying. In my latter twenties I married, in a catholic church, but it was mainly for the ceremony. I had by then decided that dogmatic religions were simply political parties. By my mid thirties I was a devout atheist, but allowed my two children to assess whatever religion they came across, and trusted them to choose accordingly. They dabbled in various aspects, and also ended up atheist, but tolerant of all but the fanatical religions.
Religion is at heart a code of ethics, and so I feel all atheists need to consider what are their moral codes. Thou shalt not kill, steal etc is good. Adultery is tricky. Most of us have done it, it is in human nature. But I feel that it should not be a big deal - provided it does not hurt others. Loyalty is far more important than fidelity, I think. I wrote a poem on the difference between "Love" and "Lust". It's posted on my own web domain.
[mojacar.ws]
My grandson, 9 years old, is now reading a book by Richard Dawkins! However, my grandchildren are both being encouraged to study all religions without prejudice. (I find Sikhism is rather pragmatic, with an excellent social behaviour code.) However, they all rely on an omnipresent "God" to explain events, rather than logic.

Pretty much same here, though my mother and step had been excommunicated. I wound up Methodist, and when I watched Jesus Camp, I realized I had been like that girl at the end who couldn't understand why people didn't want to be saved. And there was a Bad Religion song that asked me the question straight out, "Does it make you suffer 'cause you have to die? Is it best to live a lie?" No turning back.

I cried. A lot.

I was 14, quit going to church, never looked back.