Reared in South Louisiana. Attended Catholic school in grades second through eighth; then, public high school. I attended weekly weekly religion classes during high school, and at the end of my senior year was awarded valedictorian of the class. Ironically, it was in that last high school year that my questioning of tenets roiled me. So many questions I had that I posed to the religion instructor and to the pastor. Never satisfactory answers: free will, god's plan, supernatural mystery, and other b. s. I was keenly interested in the basics, and that's what prompted the award--I took it much more seriously compared to other students.