I was never religious, and i certainly was never christian. being jewish in a largely christian world has certainly taken its toll, though it never occurred to me that i didn't want to be jewish; as an atheist, i still self-identify, as well, as a jew. i got beaten up, yelled at, called names, banned from other children's homes, had things thrown at me, and as an adult been denied at least one job, asked to change my name at another job, and more, for being jewish; i've never had that kind of treatment for being an atheist (well, there is no such thing as an atheist surname, right? on the other hand, i am open about it!) it is specifically christians who have dissed me in various ways for being jewish. more and more, i see christians as delusional; i think that is because christians are becoming more and more delusional!

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It made me furious, once I started seriously considering all the horrible parts of the christian religion. I was 11. By 12, I was a heathen, literally. I used to lie down in the heather and listen for the things that went on above and below, beetles, bugs and bees. I stopped praying my nightly prayer to the virgin Mary ( my mother was catholic) and started arguments with my father. who was raised anabaptist. We quickly agreed to debate politics.

Religion makes me doubt the level of rationality of others. Which in turn makes me trust other people less.

Even though technically the network my family's church was part of (ELCA) was LGBT friendly, the people certainly weren't. I don't think anyone would have physically attacked me, but that would only have been because they 'don't do that kind of thing.' I know the whole lot in that shitty little town would have made my life fucking miserable if they'd known, though. I already got a lot of side-eye just for being 'not normal' in my hobbies and clothes. I sang in that fucking choir for years just to keep my voice up because there literally wasn't anything else after HS in that town in which to do so. Hated nearly every minute of it.

It was just so draining to pretend to be something I wasn't on top of being unmedicated for depression and living with an abusive narcissist mother. It's all tangled up in really negative associations as well as my nonbelief.

I'm not sure that it did other than to be very skeptical about anything said to me, which if it wasn't part of my personality when I was young it is now, so maybe it had a profound effect in a bizarre way

I carry a LOT of rese3ntment that a great deal of my childhood was ruined by religion.

After years of believing in god and to find out the truth! It was kind of like the day I found out that Santa and the easter bunny didn't exist. Years of wasted time, energy and excitement.

Religion is about right and wrong. So we look at the world and people in terms of right and wrong. We might come to see ourselves as right or wrong or inferior or superior. I am trying to overcome pieces of my past as I will feel inferior to others.

I think the most damage was accepting answers and advice from "authority" figures without question.

Unfortunately, in this life, many of the decisions you make early have lasting impact on your life. During this time, I accepted answers and advice from people who were "smarter and older than me" without question. I wish I had started my rebellious questioning earlier, it would have been easier to have that habit by the time I needed to make those decisions.

I didn't become involved with it until I was 16. I was "recruited" by a Baptist youth group leader. I became socially dependent on the church. Bought all of the bullshit, but years later I saw the hypocrisy and manipulative nature of it all and disconnected. Now, I have some anger towards the youth leader who I feel took advantage of my impressionable state at the time. Makes me wonder if he is still a believer himself. If he is, I'd have some choice words for him. I don't think I have any lasting damage. I'm thankful that my parents, although they were both raised with different religions, did not practice it and left me and my sibs to decide for ourselves.

Hi how are you

Maybe made me a little more cynical than I may have been without, but I can't know for sure.

It set up a network of secret societies I was never privy to. It had friends confused, thus hesitant to describe their confusion to me. It expected a subordination I was not taught to obey.

Eventually, it forced me to avoid relationships with those I’d otherwise love to be with. Currently, it continues to dominate the behavior and politics of my community, to their detriment.. Religion remains the greatest impediment to my ability to experience the full and positive capabilities of humanity.