The Ghost of Churchy Past

[Spirian]

I'm indifferent to my religious past. I still have Christian friends (the ones who weren't religious pricks), and I sometimes will still attend a church "concert" to enjoy the free live music and refreshments. 

I can hang with Christians without getting caught up in their delusion or my own apathy toward the same.

[Angrboda]

I was raised Presbytarian until my sisters, four years older than me, were confirmed. Then my mom sort of lost interest, and I did too. I have no unpleasant memories from that time and the church itself makes me feel comfy and safe when I think about it (that specific church). I spent most of my adolescence as an unacknowledged atheist. I don't even remember when I lost my faith. At 17 I converted to Taoism, but I was a lone practitioner without any organized support. Over the next 20 years I gradually adopted a belief in the Hindu goddess Kali. But I never went to temple or anything. I had flirted off and on with Buddhism. To this day I enjoy religious art and symbolism. I enjoy studying religion and occasionally manage to drag myself to a UU service once in a blue moon. I enjoy the feeling of connectedness and the 'weekly message', and the general pageantry, but I'm very shy so I don't socialize much. I go late and leave promptly. Still, it's something I enjoy, even though I'm an atheist and am wary of the 'churchy aspects'.

[J a c k]

Raised batshit crazy Pentecostal.  Sent to a xtian school where all the girls looked like Amish without bonnets - you know, LONG skirts, long sleeves, everything buttoned up the neck, baggy everything, sensible shoes, no decoration of any kind.  Went to church all Sunday morning, then again Sunday night and Wednesday night and all "special" services and dinners.  
   Parents believed the Bible was literally perfect, young-earth Creationism, rock music was of the devil, scientists were demons, and they prayed for the Rapture to come soon morning, noon and night.

It took me 30-something years to admit that a lot of things just did not make sense, and I didn't voice my non-belief until the ripe old age of 46.  So hell yes, I'm pissed.  Just driving by that old church makes me sick to my stomach.  I'm also pleased and grateful though, to be free of all that.

However, I still like to play some good ol' Gospel piano with a decent choir.  Pass the communion wine.

I felt all of this. Dude. I'd buy you a beer. Have an emoji instead 
When I drive by church, I think my blood pressure hates me.

[energizer bunny]

Indifferent. I don't concern myself too much with past issues. Theist or atheist, i'll look past that.

[J a c k]

Indifferent. I don't concern myself too much with past issues. Theist or atheist, i'll look past that.

I forgive you, for cuteness reasons. 

[Excited Penguin]

I'm not sure. I practically became an atheist at the same time as I was becoming a teenager, so I can't tell if which of the two events changed my personality. I was certainly more naive before then, life seemed much simpler. I didn't much care about my atheism after that, though, for some years. It was just this curious thing that came up in conversation with my friends every now and then. No one minded it, we just talked about it like we did about everything else. Then I got introduced to Hitchens on youtube somehow and atheism became this thing. Later on, I found myself searching atheist forums, discovered this one, lurked for a while, then forgot about it. About a year later I remembered it, registered and here I am.

So not much to say about it, probably because I was only religious as a child.

[energizer bunny]

Indifferent. I don't concern myself too much with past issues. Theist or atheist, i'll look past that.

I forgive you, for cuteness reasons. 

Its all good. Together we shall go to hell and make a heaven out of it.