My mother is Roman Catholic, my dad not religious. I was raised Catholic, went to sunday school, into a catholic elementary, and now I'm in a catholic high school.
One of the first things that probably did it, is my mom had a large collection of books on greek and roman mythology, that I took to reading at a young age, about 7-8 years old I think. It fascinated me, and parts of the overall system hit a chord with me, like why would there be just one god, and why would (s)he be perfect, and the diferent types of mythical beings. I don't think it had a profound effect at the time, but it did put a foot in the door. I was just a good catholic kid, following what his teachers told him. I didn't know any better, and I didn't care to know. everyone else was catholic, why shouldn't I be? I just had no need to question it.
I was also a bright science student, and I knew how to make baking soda and vineger volcanoes before anybody. Dissolving the shell of an egg was fun too. Science made a whole lot of sense to me, and had a place religion couldn't fit in.
Later I started having issues with the people who claimed to be catholic. I was in a catholic school, and all the kids pickin' on me were supposedly catholic. I then had a teacher, who was probably the most devout person I had ever know, and he just turned me away from catholicism. I didn't like how he presented things, and I didn't like the image he created of a 'good follower'. I didn't really think of myself as anything other than catholic, but I had doubts about the existance of God that were growing, as they had for a while. (I was 11-12). At that time as well, I was one of the most informed kids on catholicism, and I knew more than any other kid in my class. It kind of irked me that these people claimed to be catholic, but didn't know too much about their religion.
Then when I was 13 it was time for confirmation, and I found my heart just wasn't in it. A few people in my class chose not to get confirmed (I think more out of teenage rebellion than a thought-through choice). I was seriously thinking about not getting confirmed, but chose to go ahead because I didn't want to tell me mom I didn't want to.
Then it was high school, were religion didn't become an issue at all. I didn't think about it, and I was fine with it. Then I stumbled upon this community when I was 14, which opened the doors to information on all other types of religions. I settled myself as an atheist, decided agnostic fit me better, looked at wicca but didn't think it fit and so stuck with agnostic. I've looked at Discordianism, and it's been interesting to look into. Right now I've decided that I don't need to fit a religion, I'll just have my own to fit me. It's mostly just an odd assortment of ideas. I figure if I just do good I don't really have to worry about what awaits me in the end |
