Did you grow up with some sort of religious influence?

[otseng]

Did you grow up with some sort of religious influence in the home?

For me, I grew up with practically no religious influence in my home. My parents sometimes went to the Presbyterian church, but they went for social reasons. Religion was rarely ever talked about in my home.

[rebecca]

Mightor was shunned from Mightor's tribe for not believing in Great Spirit Bear, Ghost Mammoth, or any other silly caveman religious bison-plop. So Mightor was shunned from tribe, fell into crevase, was frozen, thawed in early 1970's by puny human time, went to law school, and now caveman judge.

Your laws frighten and confuse me!

[Mightor]

Mightor was shunned from Mightor's tribe for not believing in Great Spirit Bear, Ghost Mammoth, or any other silly caveman religious bison-plop. So Mightor was shunned from tribe, fell into crevase, was frozen, thawed in early 1970's by puny human time, went to law school, and now caveman judge.

Your laws frighten and confuse me!

Mightor just caveman!

Mightor love Rebecca! In platonic want give Rebecca paleo-indian burns kind of way.

[filiasan]

I grew up with a fierce religious influence. First, living with my mother who is SEVERELY emotionally-handicapped, as well as mentally handicapped, she forced me to read the bible, and also beat me. I began to wonder if God was all loving. Sounded more like He was overbearing. When I was twelve, I came to live with my grandparents. But, my grandmother was extremely religious (even in her younger days, her peers thought she was too old-fashioned). She demanded devotions everyday. She never watched television, except Christian shows. She'd never had an alcoholic beverage a day in her life! She was the type of woman made for being a housewife. Stays at home, cleans throughtout the day, really proper too. I'm not going into detail about why I turned out to be something other than Christian. And, I'm pretty sure that you all can pretty much figure this one, out, anyways. And, even though there were times that I felt close to God, it never lasted for long, and I'd end up thinking that I had just been brainwashed, but only temporarily. Besides, a passionate, vibrant, logical, inquisitive, and highly sexual girl (btw, my Chinese zodiac is the snake) doesn't belong within a conventional church setting, does she?

[fried beef sandwich]

Raised in a non-denominational evangelical Christian church. The great thing about being non-denominational, I learned, is the ability to feign ambivalence about something, while still maintaining your prejudices at full force. "We don't take a stand on X" was a common refrain, usually quickly followed up by "but I believe that ABC is true."

Anyway, I was very involved with church and basically grew up in it. Went off to college and joined a Korean Presbyterian church (I'm not Korean) because I liked the worship services and it was a nice change of church culture.

Free korean food on sundays certainly didn't hurt either.

Left the faith during college.

[ST88]

Both of my parents grew up very religious. My mother was a typical Catholic school girl in the 50s, and my father was an altar boy in the Episcopalian church. They both hated it. My mother in particular felt stifled by her family's religion. Because of this, they swore they would not "do that" to their children. Both my sister and I were raised in a home completely devoid of any religious significance. No talk of God, no talk of atheism. It was the most secular type of upbringing I can think of. The first time I went to a real church was as a tourist at the Notre Dame in Paris when I was 14. I didn't know if I would be allowed inside because I was an unbeliever.

I remember when I first read parts of the Bible, and I thought: This is what they believe?

I was never truly an active disbeliever, I was just skeptical about all the claims made by people who described themselves as religious. I never really had any idea what they were talking about.

As I got older, I became curious about how faiths work. When I was in our high school choir (public school) we sang regularly in churches. One time, the priest who had asked us to come and sing offered us Communion. I figured I might as well have the experience, even if I didn't believe in its significance. I didn't really "get it" when my best friend, who was Jewish, wouldn't join the rest of us. I told him, "I'm not Catholic either." And he said, "No, you don't understand. I'm Jewish."

That's about when I started realizing that other people's faiths were somehow dictating their lives.

[Angry McFurious]

I grew up with extreme christians but guess what!?!? They got a jew! *points to big jewish nose and his tanakh*

[Dilettante]

I was born, grew up, and still live in Spain, like all my ancestors, to the best of my knowledge (who knows, maybe one of them was the homo antecessor from the caves in Atapuerca). If the culture of rugged individualism, free enterprise and democracy is an integral part of being an American, the culture of Catholicism is essential to being a Spaniard. At least from 1492 till very recently (nations are not eternal, so who knows). Apart from the culture, I grew up with the belief, although a very vague belief. I liked the idea of the Virgin Mary as a mother figure. She didn't go around destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.
My parents were faithful Catholics, but they were not rigoristic. I don't remember ever been forced to go to church or being bullied in any way in the name of religion.The priest in the village where I spent my early years told us that kids could not sin, and that we were basically OK. No guilt feelings were instilled.
There were periods in my childhood when I had more faith and periods when I had less. I have never given up hope that some sort of just god exists, but I now have to confess that I don't know.
My experience of the catholic church is that a lot of emphasis is put on reason as well as on faith (Fides et ratio, a Jesuit motto). There was also an emphasis on "teaching the controversy" and "getting to know the enemy", so priests taught us about Voltaire, Marx, Feuerbach, Nietzsche, et al. I'm not sure this didn't actually backfire on them most of the time, though! But I have to give them credit for that (takes off imaginary hat).
I know many atheists here who say they are Catholic atheists. So, a fortiori, I feel justified in calling myself an agnostic Catholic!

[bdbthinker]

i was raised baptist. I was a christian for 18 years. I'm an atheist now.

[MagusYanam]

Ooh, a fun question! Well, I was born into a (very) liberal Methodist church, but my parents left it when it started becoming too Unitarian for their tastes. Most of my upbringing was then in the Anabaptist tradition. I'm still a pacifist, though not as isolationist in polity as many of my friends from Madison Mennonite Church. When I was in middle school and we had moved into the downtown, we joined an ecumenical venture between an ELCA church and a UCC church (sort of like the EKD). The general focus was there not so much on theology and belief as service and stewardship, the more practical elements of Christianity.

It wasn't until my family moved to Rhode Island that I really found my place in Christianity. We joined St. Martin's, an Episcopalian church in Providence. I admit, I fell in love with the ritual, the liturgy, the architecture of the building and the worship (and it didn't hurt that the general theology was a liberal one). My family has since joined another UCC church, but I still consider myself an Episcopalian.

[Chem]

Was brought up Catholic (Irish), eating fish on Fridays, saying the Angelus at 6 PM every day(on RTE television a church bell is rung daily). Had CD (Christian Doctorin) classes at school but still ended up not believing in religion/deity.