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[Scorched Eartha]

My family were what I refer to as "Fundie atheists".  In that all forms of religious affiliation were anathema to them.

Until I was about 8 years old I quite honestly thought Priests were called "Hypocritical psalm singing bastards"; that the people who knocked on your door with copies of the The Watchtower were "Bible Bashers" and that the sole function of nuns was to beat children who didn't know their sums....this was what I heard from home.

But I've noticed that almost everyone else here has some kind of religious background to their family history - some seemingly more strict and some a vague kind of Christianity - but surely I can't be the ONLY one who was raised to think all religion was bollocks and found my way to it alone?

[Draconis Rex]

    Looks like it SE, I was brought up a Christian in the Baptist ministry, did the sunday school thing and all the rest of that gubbins. Was even in the youth fellowship where my guitar playing skills were put to use. Got up and sang in front of the congregation and also played in the church football team. We had the occasional weekend away at Christian retreats... blah blah blah...

[marisol]

I was raised as a Methodist but after my grandfather died we only occas. attended services.

[Arnemetia]

Up to the age of 12 I was raised in a religious group one step away from Menonite.  They called themselves "holiness".  Pretty much the same but no bonnets.  We were in church Wed. nights, Sat. for youth group, Sun. morning and Sun. evening.  Plus at home we had nightly bible readings.  Any questions that were deemed inappropriate were not answered and usually ended up with a punishment of some sort for the asking.  I learned not to ask certain questions quickly.  We were not allowed to cut our hair, wear jewelry, make up, long pants, shorts or bathing suits.  Dresses and skirts were well below the knee and sleeves above the elbow not allowed.  Television was extremely limited and only certain radio stations allowed.  At the time, I would have loved having my family be athiest.  Looking back, it gave me the insight to what I did not want for my family.   

[Firesong]

Up to the age of 12 I was raised in a religious group one step away from Menonite.  They called themselves "holiness".  Pretty much the same but no bonnets.  We were in church Wed. nights, Sat. for youth group, Sun. morning and Sun. evening.  Plus at home we had nightly bible readings.  Any questions that were deemed inappropriate were not answered and usually ended up with a punishment of some sort for the asking.  I learned not to ask certain questions quickly.  We were not allowed to cut our hair, wear jewelry, make up, long pants, shorts or bathing suits.  Dresses and skirts were well below the knee and sleeves above the elbow not allowed.  Television was extremely limited and only certain radio stations allowed.  At the time, I would have loved having my family be athiest.  Looking back, it gave me the insight to what I did not want for my family.   

That's an incredible insight Arn... thanks for sharing.

While I think you'd have to call my family Christians, they weren't Orthodox.  We didn't attend church often.  Because of where we lived, I was generally spending much of my spare time in the woods, fields and streams... I always had the belief that that was my church, and that was where I talked to God... kind of a Paganish Christian. 

For some reason, I always felt that I had no need of a Church, because all of the answers I needed were already inside me, and inside everyone... they only needed to be realized.  I didn't realize then that there's a name for that.

I am not a member of nor do I subscribe to any Christian(or other) religion.  I believe that all religions are control structures.   

[Melannmarie]

I was raised as a Roman Catholic. Went to church every Sunday with my parents until I was old enough to say I didn't want to go anymore. I'm the youngest of seven children and we all attended Catholic grade school, did our first communion, confession and confirmation yadda yadda yadda.
I discovered this path quite by accident(happy accident) and it has been a revelation. I'm still in transition, old habits and all that...I'm looking at my Christmas tree that is across the room from my Yule Altar. It's a blend of my past and my present.

[Rowanmarie]

Hmmm I was primarily raised by my dad and he is an athiest believing strictly there is no god. The top terms I heard while growing up were bible thumpers and such. While my step mother being there for most my short lived life is catholic. Not sure about the rest of my family they seem to shy away from religious talk with me but have not said anything opposing my beliefs.

[Xicked]

My family wasn't really anything and we didn't talk much about religion or spirituality.  If I had unanswerable questions, my mom would often say, "no one knows."  My Dad said he was Atheist, but didn't didn't try to influence us to his way of thinking.  We celebrated the big Christian holidays, but religion was never a part of it. 

[Pure]

I've grown up as an Athiest in secular Britain, with approx 40% of the country now either atheist or agnostic according to the 2011 Census data. Also only 12% of declared Christians actually go to a church. I remember that any 'religious kid' talking about god in the playground would get laughed at. Christianity is declining rapidly over here ever since religious bias was removed from school cirriculum in the 1970's. To put it another way my parents generation is largely agnostic, whereas my generation (20's) is largely athiest. Another 50 years and I believe Christianty will be a minority religion over here

Talking of which last years census data also revealed 59,000 declared Pagans in the UK lol.

I actually spent most of 2011 living in Arizona, one of the biggest culture shocks whilst over there was how seriously Americans take religion and politics. I hope I do not offend anyone with that remark, it's just my observation as an outsider. It must be somewhat difficult growing up in a community whose strong faith you do not share.