@Mb_Man good luck with that in this site. Besides, the post asks specifically "maybe it's just me" so asked and answered, now get off your high horse and cut the holier than thou shit.

yes

Having come from a very strong religious background, I can say for myself, and I am sure I speak for others, that it isn't that simple for some people.

I have been identifying as an atheist for over 15 years; but, it was a journey that took over a decade; so, I know what others are going through. Some people who come here are in the process of going through that journey and I am happy to be of help.

Those who were never believers, or who came to realizations very early in their lives, have not had to make that gut-wrenching journey and just cannot understand what it is like for those of us who did, or those who are currently in the process of letting go.

@Joanne Yes, I identify with your past. I was raised by a couple of strong-willed Baptists. But I was also an observer, even at an early age. I didn't believe the indoctrination as early as 12, but I kept my mouth shut. I left home at the age of 17 and by the next year I came out as an agnostic (with strong atheist leanings), which I still am.

@mischl I wish I had realized things earlier in my life. Although I had questions at an early age, I thought my mother knew everything there was to know about the Bible; and, I accepted what I was taught.

My journey from belief started with leaving organized religion; and ended, a little over a decade later, with my becoming an atheist.

It was not just letting go of my religion that was hard, it was accepting that my mother was wrong and losing that connection with her.

@Joanne You can choose your friends, your teachers, your mentors, and a lot more. But you do not get to choose your relatives. My mother was a sweet person. But she wasn't very smart, and she was completely indoctrinated into an especially stupid religious belief system.

@mischl It's funny (sad funny, not funny funny) how I thought any true Christian believed in Hellfire and brimstone and that most people were going to end up there being tortured for eternity. This, of course, was one of the teachings with which I had a very big problem. Nice people going to Hell really bothered me.

I have wondered if I would have ended up an atheist had I been brought up in a Christian tradition that does not believe in Hell, or take the Bible literally, as I would not have had a horrible teaching to question; and I would not have had to try to make sense of so many contradictions.

I know atheists who did come from more liberal and open-minded Christian backgrounds; so, I guess there still would have been hope for me .

@Joanne I guess I was lucky in that my mother, while a xtian, was something of a "seeker" - jehovah's witness, original translations, etc - and my father, while catholic, wasn't very active. I was indoctrinated and did briefly go to Baptist church as a child - but it was never something which was out of the realm of being questioned. And my grandfather was more of a theist back then than anything. So my being an atheist was frowned upon but not really punished. And my family ultimately accepted it. Love was more important than doctrine. So I was lucky compared to many

and then there is having to deal with theists trying to force their dogma on all of us through legislation.

@jlynn37 jagat mithya

I still get angry. I get angry at those who want to use the government to force their disgusting religion onto the rest of us. And, I get angry about the hold that religion has on people.

My mother, who has dementia, and often cannot remember what was said seconds before, is so brainwashed by religion that she came over to my house, all upset and crying, because she thought her god had let her know that she is going to die soon; and she was worried that I don't love Jesus. She wrapped her arms around me, begging me to turn to Jesus.

I don't know what set this off and over the course of a few minutes I was able to divert her, so she forgot why she even came over; but, I got angry--very angry. I was not upset with my mother, of course, but at her stinking religion that, in her more lucid moments, causes her to worry that I am going to go to Hell for eternity and she will never see me again because I don't believe the Jesus fable.

I know not all religions believe in Hell but this is the insidious belief I was taught; so, yes, I sometimes get very angry.