Overcoming the brainwashing that parents of a devote (or fanatical) faith is a very hard thing to do. My congratulations. Food for thought: the Bible was written in the early 1600's (King James) by the Catholic Church -- there are no documents that go back further than that. Also look up Horus vs Jesus on-line -- very interesting read. Teach your children about thinking for themselves rather than just following someone else -- be at peace.

Farkin' hell, I really feel for you poor buggers in the Bible belt. It makes me aware of the privileged position I have - growing up in a fairly secular country (Australia), emigrating to an equally secular one (the UK), and working in a thoroughly secular industry (nuclear power).
Please, rant away, sistah.

Your post was well written, for sure. Nicely put. I had a very similar journey to atheism, and I'm only "out" to my wife. I grew up in the church, don't really feel like I had much choice in the matter, but I was into it! I liked feeling like I was doing things the right way and Gods way was the only right way. I don't think I started having doubts until 7 years ago. Looking into my church's library(ironic), and finding a book about biblical geography. That led to more geography books outside the church, then wondering if I was wrong about science, then finally a couple years ago it just clicked. I was scared to come out for lots of reasons, but mainly my entire family was Christian (not really fundamentalist but still entirely serious), my wife and her family are Christian, all our friends are Christian, and I run a business with my dad that's well known to be a Christian organization. I have 3 kids, one with special needs. I felt like if I put my job in jeopardy it would be irresponsible towards them. But I also felt like I didnt want to lie about it for the rest of my life. So just this summer I came out to my wife. She's definitely praying for me harder now. Not sure who to talk to. I guess that's why I'm here.
Cheers

Yes, definitely feel that. It's awful sometimes