I was raised in a Christian household. Presbyterian/Lutheran. We were a mixed household. 
My father went through a year of seminary, and quit not because he lost faith in god, but because he decided he was not cut out to be a pastor. I heard him preach on several occasions during my childhood. I think he lost faith sometime after I went to college, but I'm not entirely sure. He was a closed mouthed man. In any case he stopped attending church and no longer attended church after he a Mom divorced.
Some of my fondest childhood memories include playing hide and seek during my parents' all day prayer meetings with their young couples group at First Pres. Bible school, Sunday school, and Bible camp were all Presbyterian.
We attended Atonement Lutheran when I was in my teens. I went through confirmation classes there. For those not in the know, confirmation is a ceremony in which you confirm your baptism as a knowing adult. The Catholics do it early during grade school. The Lutherans do it in the mid teens.
There was some difficulty when I decided not to get confirmed. But other than that, I can't say I have bad church memories. Mostly they're good memories. They just don't include believing.
Mom is still a devout Lutheran. And she eventually converted her lukewarm-atheist husband. But that was long after I was raised.
My father went through a year of seminary, and quit not because he lost faith in god, but because he decided he was not cut out to be a pastor. I heard him preach on several occasions during my childhood. I think he lost faith sometime after I went to college, but I'm not entirely sure. He was a closed mouthed man. In any case he stopped attending church and no longer attended church after he a Mom divorced.
Some of my fondest childhood memories include playing hide and seek during my parents' all day prayer meetings with their young couples group at First Pres. Bible school, Sunday school, and Bible camp were all Presbyterian.
We attended Atonement Lutheran when I was in my teens. I went through confirmation classes there. For those not in the know, confirmation is a ceremony in which you confirm your baptism as a knowing adult. The Catholics do it early during grade school. The Lutherans do it in the mid teens.
There was some difficulty when I decided not to get confirmed. But other than that, I can't say I have bad church memories. Mostly they're good memories. They just don't include believing.
Mom is still a devout Lutheran. And she eventually converted her lukewarm-atheist husband. But that was long after I was raised.
If there is a god, I want to believe that there is a god. If there is not a god, I want to believe that there is no god.
