LP222 (Country unknown)

I was brought up in a common Catholic household. Went to public school so had to attend catechism class weekly. I remember rejecting a lot of what the nuns and priests even when I was very young. My parents weren't religious at all. Being Catholic was more like a membership in a club or a nationality or identity. They didn't observe anything and we only went to church on the holidays. I would attend church with my friend's family occasionally. I did believe in God, but I wasn't going for a lot of the supernatural stuff. Once I had my kids, I got back into it a little more, taught religious ed one year and participated. I hated being a hypocrite so I purposely got involved. It was a strain. I hated praying in a group before doing anything. I hated most every part of it. So, naturally this phase didn't last long and as soon as my kids were done with their religious ed, I was pretty much done, too. So I pretty much wrote off religion by that time, but not God. Really, really did believe in God.

Fast forward...Sent my daughter to college, a few philosophy classes later, she declared herself an atheist. Didn't matter to me, it was a little weird, but I could live with it. Eventually though discussions about what she'd learned and after being referred to some literature by Prof. Dawkins among others, I finally was able to shed the Catholic guilt and declare myself an atheist too.