I don't suppose I was ever really a christian. I was raised catholic, but had only believed in God much in the same way I had Santa Claus. My struggle with it in my early years as a developing adolescent were very short, much like other beliefs I may have held at that time.

So why did I distance myself from it? I guess I'd been skepical and couldn't have been bothered with it at an early age. My family didn't pressure me nor were they so open of their beliefs around us, so that helped me to make up my own mind; I didn't have anyone to appease nor to model. I haven't gone back to see if there is anything that strikes me as an adult as the very concept of belief is silly to me.

I stoped beleiving in god and realised all religions, not just christianity are corrupt to the core. I don't have anything against people that still beleive in god just organised religion.

There's actually a lot of pagan vs christian kind of animosity, some pagans have dislikd me right from the start after they found out that I was a christian ( at the time), and another would always talk smack about christianity to make me feel bad or piss me off.  So, my experience shows that pagans are kind of butt-hurt about the majority of christians not liking them, but mabey that's natural.  Either way, i didnt appreciate it, and if I know someobdy to be pagan in the future, i'm not going to discuss religion around them, becasue they can take things that others beleive personally.  Heck, even you have just said that you don't like some of the things that the church has done and your pagan friends would probably be confused at you hanging out with a christian, right?

Well, I agree that those people were behaving stupidly and had no right to target you just for your beliefs. 

Even if paganism is somewhat "persecuted" in some places, that doesn't give the right to bite back at people that have different beliefs from pagans. I live in a Christian country (more than 95% the population is Christian), and I've been gunned down, insulted and public shamed because of my beliefs. Yet, I won't target other Christians who can perfectly talk about other religions and accept others for what they believe. 

Actually, verbal revenge against any belief is actually very looked down, at least in Wicca. Since we believe that anything bad that you do to someone will come back to you three times worse, I hope the people that did that to you at least felt ashamed of themselves.

Mine was a slow progress over years. The first was that I always questioned everything.. including science. I didn't question Miracles since they were the act's and gifts of God, but often I questioned motives and results. Though I believed god existed I didn't go to Church much except on special events and the occasional time with my grand parents.

I pretty much had my crisis of faith when my mother passed at away when I was 16. Interestingly enough it wasn't her passing away. It was her faith that killed her. She firmly believed that her faith in God would cure her cancer. Which in retrospect was the most f@*$(# up idea ever. Of course I was a teen and so emotionally stupid at the time I didn't make her. The rest of my family of course were far more Christian than I was and let her make the choice. Totally f'ed. So I had the enjoyment of being a 16/17 year old orphan and trying to adjust make the adjustment to responsible adult with well no one. The rest of my family was pretty much barely present. On bus trips I would openly cry with no ability to hold it back and look respectable. It would pretty much happen anywhere. I payed continued lip service Church when it came up in my life. Which was rare anyways.

I spent the following 4 years confused and lost. When I finally came out of the state. It wasn't because God or the Church provided an answer. It was because I saw a young woman on the Bus crying out in the open. I was and am a bit of a coward to such things so I didn't say Hi.. to my own guilt. Though I started to ponder about other people and their pain. That's when I started to open my mind that pain is part of life. It wasn't an answer of course, but it set me on a self search of discovery by learning from others.

Over the next couple of years I came to face my mothers passing again and had to face what happened. I am not to blame for her death, but I am not free of guilt either. The responsibility of ourselves and those around us are in our hands not those of rules or faith's. There is more to it than that of course. This led me on to question much bout Christianity itself. Not God, not Jesus, not the Message, but means, the delivery the presentation.

Christianity and Faith is not a problem. It's the delivery. Eventually from the various people I talked to and on the occasions it ended up in perceptions in the world. My path of searching has be called Buddhism. So for simplicity as a label since I believe in personal search of belief and faith. I use it though I have never really read a Buddhist book.

I think this simple example really defines why I walk away from Christianity. I will keep this simple rather than long.

Jesus went to visit his friend Lazerus. Whom he was informed died shortly before his arrival. Jesus went to his friends tomb and performed a miracle. He brought his friend back to life and everyone was happy. The family(wife,kids...) had incredible grief over his death. Their grief was removed by their faith in God and Jesus.

Sakyamuni, the Buddha was approached by a young woman Kisa. Her only child was dead. She asked the Buddha to give her the medicine to help her sun. He requested musterd seeds from a house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent or friend. Kisa went about that night through the city asking for the seeds. By the end she could not get the Musterd seeds. They were reminded of the pain of a lost one and let her know. She learned that life and death are natural. When she went back to the Buddha she was a little wiser.

The results are that the family of Lazerus while being gifted once. Will not be gifted again. They will have to suffer the pain of his death again. Where as Kisa could move on sooner knowing that pain, death are part of the nature of life. The story of the Bible tells us that God is powerful and if we follow his rules we are granted into Heaven. So we are told to love others like God does, but do we? Bhuddism or my self search has thought me that I love people because we are all special. I learned to love others through the pain I suffered and in that I was able to move forward.

So when my grandfather passed away a few years later I was hurt. He was the closest person I had to a father. His passing away hurt a lot, but I was able to be their more for my grandmother and I was able to appreciate all the special time I had with him. It was finally in his passing that I pretty much my fill in the Christian orthodox. I am a far better person know than I was then. I love humans over all and I appreciate every moment I have with all the who come into my life. Either long or short. Even if they bug me to hell and I think my neighbor is insane. I still love her a human. meh, I never said I was good at being Buddhist.

I just don't believe the Church/Christianity teaches the lessons of Love, Forgiveness and growth well. Often I find that followers are more like sheep that expect certain behaviors from other sheep. When other sheep don't behave like the them Love, Forgiveness, understanding get's replaced by cruelty, ignorance, expulsion. Those of course are more extreme. My own grandparents were subjects to that once, but they weren't as bad. They never banished me from their family life. They excepted me. So it's not an absolute.

your wiccan belief is very similar to Christian belief.  What goes around comes around, but same with doing good.

But I guess Christian message emphasize that when we do mess up, it's important to confess, not just to God but to others we have wronged.  Confession which leads to healing is a big part

I was 14 and my brother said he didn't believe in God. I had never agreed with my dads seemingly overprotective Christian ways so already had some dicontent with the religion. That day driving and sitting in church I decided if god was real he would actually show himself. I had never seen any proof of God so I decided I would not believe in a God until I saw empirical evidance. Never happened and overtime I decided that its impossible to think one religion is more likely than another. I could probably write a 30 page essay now on why I do not believe in Christianity. PEACE!

That's something I see no wrong with. It means having the ability to know your own mistakes and "man up" enough to talk about them. 

We use a lot of meditation and group healing in the case were someone did something wrong or was wronged, but the best approach is always overcoming yourself and try to set things straight by doing something much better than the wrong that was done before. 

You should go back and see as an adult.

I think it's good that many young people who grew up in religion leave and experience the world, but many go back to religion - I think for a very good reason.  I enjoy talking with people who left the faith and come back to it much more than people of faith that never left cause they want to be obedient.

C.S. Lewis said in mere Christianity that when young people leave the church after high school actually are getting closer to God.