Yes, they do like to brow beat people into submission by undermining any confidence that person may have. This attitude probably drives more people away than the scientific and logic weaknesses in their belief systems

Thank you for your post. Reminded me about my son who yesterday became 29 years old. During his early teens, he attended a lot of church activities, him and his middle eastern buddy were regulars on everything the church did, when questioned by me....he answered "Because that is were all the cool girls are, we are invited to all of their birthdays, movie out, mall hanging out, parties, picnics, beach etc, etc". I just smiled and said something like.... you are so ahead of your years! But I knew what the compliment for that young man was so when visited me in DC during the summer I sent him with my then pro ballroom dancer GF. At 14 he was like 6' tall so here he was taking group partnered dance lessons dancing with ladies in their 20's. So a lightbulb lighted up in his brain when I told him.... if you can dance you will never be alone. After his military service in the USAF, he started taking dance lessons in Las Vegas so now he is a featured dancer in a dance company there. He is my son afterall and I am no longer the best dancer in my family. You can use church or church can use you.

I agree. That would pretty much poison the well for me, too.

I went to a Jewish youth group until I brought my best friend Maria. hey told me I shouldn' have and I left never to return again.

Christianity is crazy. I'm glad you found atheism.

I was involved with Unity youth groups when I was about 20, there was none of that, I'm kinda deeply nostalgic for parts of that time.
Conversely when I was younger & going to Catholic catechism I was turned off & bored with the backward barbarism, kinda the same way I feel about GOT now, from that time I'm more nostalgic about trips to the paleontology museum.

It's state sanctioned child abuse, physical and mental, that needs to be stopped.

The hypocrisy of mythology and religion alienated me.

I still make it a point to attend religious services here n there..Its good in my opinion to have your belief (or lack there of) challenged.

I bought into the "born worthless" propaganda as well, until truly using my mind in college sowed the seeds of agnosticism in me (first, I refused to believe Jehovah could be such a jerkoff to send good people to eternal hell for not believing just the right thing, but accept complete asses into Heaven after a deathbed conversion).

After that, understanding the literal impossibility of most of biblical "history" made me realize the Abrahamic foundation, and all its descendant religions, was total bollocks. God is a right cheeky bastard for not revealing "himself" (or simplest explanation, doesn't exist).

Their tactics backfired.

I have had a similar experience! We weren't a religious family, and my childhood friends weren't particularly religious either. I remember having a children's bible in the house and looking at the colorful illustrations inside with Jesus. As a kid, I think I just accepted that the bible stuff was true because society seemed to think it was. I had never seen or heard it be challenged, so I accepted it by default. But I never really gave it a whole lot of thought.

Then as a teen, I moved from the little village to a spot out in the country. Going to the Youth Center a couple times a week was something to tackle the boredom. We'd play in the "gym" which was just the large place in this gutted old church where the pews used to be. Then we'd be obliged to sit through some kind of bible study. I was never really enthused about doing the bible study, but I had a mild desire to be christian.

Not because they specifically told me to my face that I'd be a loser if I didn't accept jesus and buy into the whole shebang, but that nonbelievers were horrible and ignorant, and jesus was the key to happiness and goodness, etc. Of course I wanted to be happy and good! Plus, they also filled me in on the whole burning in hell for eternity thing. That sounded like a thing I certainly didn't want! So I started going with my friends to the church services too.

While everyone at the church was super nice, there was something about the experience that was off-putting. Services were often sappy, the hymns were weird (and often gross - washing in the blood of the lamb?!), and I just didn't "get it." I tried hard to "feel the spirit," but it just never happened.

I totally understand being told as a teen that christianity is the way to go, and if you don't buy in, there are dire consequences. And I get how their niceness draws you in.

YOU SHALL BURN IN THE FIRE-PITS OF HELL, WHILE DEMONS WATCH AND LAUGH!

Stage one - scare the fuck out of people, because if you can get them scared enough they'll crawl to your feet pleading "Please save me!" and then you have them on your leash for life.

Stage two - tell them they're sinners and unworthy, because if you can destroy any trust they have in themselves and their own judgement, then even if questions about their faith DO occur, they won't trust themselves enough to pursue them.

Stage three - well, once you've got them scared, leashed and humbled, you can do anything you want with them. They are truly the sheep in your flock, quiet and compliant - they'll even bring their own children to you, so you can do to the next generation what you did to them

For an atheist, looking in from the outside, it is vile, foul and vomit-inducing.

I would like to share a related story. I was raised Catholic, but had given up on religion by the time my children were born. I married a Jewish man (not practicing). When my kids were young I thought I would take them to the local (Lutheran) Sunday school, so they could learn Bible stories, etc. The FIRST day, when I picked them up, I asked them, What did you learn?" (I was hoping for good shepherd, etc.) No! The told me, "Did you know that you go to hell if you are not Lutheran?" Isn't that amazing??? My kids were 4 and 6. (They never went back, of course.)

It seems that the first action of every organized religion is to deny the individuals ability to make judgments. Then it moves on to some variation of "and you are not worthy". Once those basics are instilled, the progression is to the introduction of a "great god" or "the creator", that is the only thing that can save you. If this "great god" is so powerful then why create such dependant wretches? The big tell is always that the organizers and pervayors of these movements use there authority to take advantage and control of the victems. Servitude and surrender are your duty and individual thought is the enemy.

They have to drill it in early. It’s scare tactics and negging dressed up as “guidance”. Just take those same lines and apply them to any other relationship and you can see they sound unhealthy.