sent in by Abby

I was born into a Catholic family. My mom was raised Catholic her entire life, but my dad became Catholic once they were married.

I went to a Catholic Elementary school for 9 years. 9 years! However, despite being raised in such a way, I wasn't brainwashed. As soon as I heard of Evolution, I accepted it as fact. It made so much sense to me. I don't think I ever thought all of the stories in the bible were real. I never thought people who practiced different religions went to hell either, although I was shocked to learn that there were other forms of Christianity other than Catholicism(and even I wonder at this. I'm the the bible belt for goodness sake!)

Anyway, every so often, I would get slightly more entusiastic about religion, only to have it lapse back into the regular lakc of interest that encircled it. I hated going to church. It was (is) boring, long, and pointless.

About 4 years ago, I started to take a closer look at what I was being told. I couldn't puzzle together all of the stories. They seemed confused and muddled, and this isn't even considering the entire bloody old testament.

At that point I had a few gay friends, and I was furious that most christians thought they were evil.

Then I started looking into other religions, my favorite of which was Paganism. Now m parents were very concerned.

I started skipping out of church when I could, and this worked for a few months, then my parents found out.

I have since decided that christianity is not me. I recently went through the bible and marked every passage I didn't agree with, and they were quite numerous.
I still have to go through the confirmation process according to my parents, but since it involves writing a letter to the priest explaining why I want to be confirmed, there's a good chance that I won't have to go through with it.

I'm glad there are sites like this one where people can come and be detox-ed, or at least become more informed. I just needed to share this, so thanks for the oportunity.


State: Tennessee
Country: US
Became a Christian: 1, I guess
Ceased being a Christian: 15-17
Labels before: Catholic
Labels now: odd mix of atheist pagan and a pinch of buddhist
Why I joined: was born into it, dunked and greased me before I had teeth.
Why I left: It stopped making sense long ago
Email Address: abbyspear at hotmail.com