Was anybody here raised non-Christian?

[downbeatplumb]

Well my mum was Church of England as is my sister but my dad is a lapsed Catholic who is now an atheist, my mum initially sent me to sunday school ONCE, but I was asked not to come back because I asked questions.
After that I only went to church for the usual family events births deaths and marriages etc.
I can never get out of there soon enough.

[pocaracas]

Well, I'm in a mostly catholic country, in the south of Europe.
My parents were mostly non-practicing catholics.
They got divorced when I was 4.
The only person in the family pushing the faith on me was my grandmother, from my mother's side.... and she only got to have us (me and my brother) around for a few days in a year.
So basically, I grew up thinking that everyone was catholic, but not that many people acted like it.... guess what happened as soon as I started thinking a bit about it?

[Esquilax]

My folks were both... well, sort of disinterested in religion at all. I never got any kind of religious instruction, or even really a mention of religion out of them. We just talked about real things that were worthwhile, and for the longest time I had no interest in religion or atheism equally. I got to where I am solely through my own research and growing interest in theological debate and my positions against religious intolerance.

To be honest, the only religious teaching I ever got was from a couple of scripture classes in my- public, and now that I know what was going on there it bothers me to no end- primary school, and it didn't really make much of an impact on me.

Hey wait, come to think of it, that school also handed out bibles... what was going on at that place?!

[zebo-the-fat]

I was brought up christian until I reached the age of reason (about 14 I think) when I realised that it just didn't make any kind of sense. My kids (now aged 18 and 24) were brought up to question everything and always ask for evidence, both seem well adjusted without any of the hangups that some of their christian friends seem to have.

[Jewels42]

I was raised in a family that just didn't talk about it. I then ended up later in life to be a born again christian. I have since turned Agnostic Atheist.

[DeistPaladin]

Yes. My parents were both atheists and my father staunchly anti-religious.

In retrospect, I was kept amazingly isolated from Christianity, growing up in such a bright red state. I attended church services only for weddings and funerals. Looking back, I was actually much more versed in pagan religions than I was in Christianity. For example, I'd read the Iliad and Odyssey but only highlights of the Bible. I was much more versed with the stories of Hercules, Gilgamesh, Beowulf and Siegfried than I was with Jesus.

Up until my 30s, I had only a fuzzy understanding of Christianity. I knew Jesus preached a doctrine of peach and love, I knew the Christmas story of how he was born of a virgin and shepherds and wise men came bearing gifts and how he was Resurrected after his crucifixion. This religion also promised an afterlife. My fuzzy understanding of it at the time was good people went to Heaven and bad people went to Hell. There were also goofy people on TV raving about God.

It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I gained any interest in either religion or the freethought movement. I started going to church because I heard it was a good way to meet women. The dating pool was starting to thin out so I took such a drastic step. I was curious about learning more details so I looked into the matter. I'll never forget my first reaction (said internally):

"So let me see if I got this straight, God sent himself down to earth as his own son to sacrifice himself to himself because bleeding on a cross was the only way he could convince himself to forgive all of us or being such sinful beings, which we are because an ancestor of ours ate a magic fruit after speaking with a talking snake and anyone who doesn't believe this story will be tortured forever by the god who loves us so much."

So how I managed to avoid religion for so long, at least until my critical thinking skills could be honed sufficiently to pick it apart, is beyond me but I'm thankful for it.

[The Grand Nudger]

For example, I'd read the Iliad and Odyssey but only highlights of the Bible. I was much more versed with the stories of Hercules, Gilgamesh, Beowulf and Siegfried than I was with Jesus.

All much better stories....lol. I wonder how long people will be snapping up the NT when it finally goes out of fashion as a religion? All the stories you mentioned above have a huge head start on that count.

[Ethan1581]

I was raised in a non-Christian home.

I knew about religion from a very young age though,but always rejected it because i knew it was BS. When i was young i also rejected Santa,tooth fairy,Easter bunny etc. Because i knew is was a load of rubbish.

[Ryantology]

I was raised by the sort of Christian parents who were religious enough to dump my sister and I at Sunday School growing up and (especially in my father's case) have a reason to feel superior to other people. I was actually more religious on my own before I deconverted.

My wife was raised a Jew by a crazy mother who married into a Baptist family (her younger brother was not subject to this). Makes one an outcast within one's own family.

[frankiej]

My Dad is Catholic, but my upbringing wasn't in any way religious. I have always been an atheist, but I was made to go to church through the school, but that only made me more pissed off at religion. Anyway, if I had had religion pushed upon me, I'm sure I would have still turned out this way. My bullshit-o-meter is afraid of no one.