I am soo happy to have another one of me out there! I feel the exact same way infact it pisses me off when people get on atheists or even agnostic I mean what does anybody care if me and my husband don't believe so what. I see if someone is bitching at me that I am going to hell I say well are you? They so NO! I say good book me a first class ticket. I have never done a wrong thing in my life. I love my husband and my children and treat people good. I just see life a different way. Thanks!! may the universe bring you goodness

Wow OP. Im sorry you were raised that way. No offense, but what kind of "Christian" were your parents? I was same as you, went to Church every Sunday morning, Sunday evening and on Wednesdays. But I was taught to question my religion, read it for myself, not let someone tell me how its going to be. Yes I had to attend church until I was of age to say I dont want to go. My dad was the preacher. :)
But people who met my dad couldnt believe he was and still is. I was taught that not all religions are wrong and a true christian does not judge anyone. And I believe thats still the case. My children now 10 and 6 go to church with me. My husband does not. I dont pressure him to go, he knows hes welcome to go. He doesnt force me to stay home. If my kids dont want to attend church that morning and would rather stay home with daddy then they do so. But I dont let them do it all the time. I explain to them why we go and they make the decision. It doesnt hurt my feelings. My husband also encourages my children to go but he cant make them b/c of the obvious. ;) It shouldnt have been that way for you and its sad in a way. Either way you seem very happy and what life you choose is your own. No one knows for sure what the future brings and you can only hope the life you lead, the religion you choose, is the best you can do. The Bible is tricky, even to my dad, there are things he cannot answer, but its learning process. If it werent for how open my parents are, discuss things, argue about beliefs, and telling them to learn on my own and come to my own conclusion, I can say I wouldnt be the person I am today.

OP, I love that you think for yourself, and will allow your kids to do so as well. That's one quality I respect the most in people when I find it.

I am Catholic, and my husband is Buddhist. Our kids are Buddhist, but that is by their own choice. They know that they can be whatever they want. We teach them what they want to know, and they're more than welcome to go to temple/church services or festivals with friends of other religions (Hindu, Protestant, Muslim, Shinto, Pagan, anything). We figure that's the only way they're really going to learn what's best for them. I believe in free will, and I believe in free thought, and I think the best parents are the ones who teach their kids how to be a good person, and allow them the freedom to do that within their own system of beliefs, or in a purely secular manner. To teach one's kids to think for themselves is extremely important. Blindly following (as some congregations of various religions encourage) is dangerous, if you ask me. You'll be doing a good thing, OP, by teaching your kids to think freely.

Wow, OP like someone said above I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only one that had those kind of experiances with religion being shoved down their throat their whole childhood and has been able to find peace with the Higher Being. (That's what I call it lol) I figure that there is defiently something bigger then us out there, I just don't think that you can place it in a box or even remotely label it in man's terms. Everything that is on this earth was written by man, and as we all know man has it's faults and own way of preceiving things. I find it hard to believe in a "God" that was at first only going to accept the Jews and then decided that that wasn't such a hot idea and changed his mind. Sounds like something a man with too much time on his hands would come up with KWIM? Then the way that most "christian" religions down grade the role of women and have cave man ideas about how to treat them? Not to mention the other religions that do that as well. I think that with the general idea of being good, having faith, and loving others that is prominent in most religions is what the Higher Being placed in people's hearts, but that people being people took the general idea and ran with it thus coming up with all these different religions. I think from every religion there are good things to be learned, morals to follow, and an abundant amount of history that is worth knowing. But as far as boxing myself in and having someone else tell me what my own personal relationship with the Higher Being should be? I don't think so. It blows my mind to think of all the people from the past, present, and future that supposedly couldn't be saved because no one preached to them. I think that there is a judging system that we have no idea about when it comes to the higher being and we never will.

Like the second poster, I was taught to question my faith. To read the Bible and pray and decide for myself what it all meant. That is how I will raise my children.

11:25- what christian religions downgrade the role of women and have cave man ideas? I was the 2nd poster and that blows my mind. Woman are held at the upmost respect. They can speak for themselves, get a job, and have children and run for President if they wish. Its not shut up and stay home barefoot and be pregnant all the time. If people still beleive that way today then they need to go back to church and learn the basics. In my way of bringing up, if my mother wasnt happy, no one was and thats they way it is in my house today. LOL I think people use the term "Christian" too loosly and really have no idea what it really means.

11:38, I think she's referring to the Old Testament (and a few parts of the New Testament), where women were considered inferior and were "property" of their fathers/husbands. I think some (not all!) "Christians" take it literally and treat women as such. They forget about the fact that Jesus tried to teach about tolerance, they just take the parts they want to believe and skew it for their benefit.

Some denominations still oppose women being church leaders, I know Catholics and Southern Baptists do, and I believe Orthodox Christians as well (shoot me if I'm wrong). I know of southern baptist churches that also believe a women should still play the submissive role in a marriage, but I don't really know of any other denominations that discriminate against women.

I couldn't agree with you more. I had a very conservative Southern Baptist religion shoved down my throat during my childhood. I didn't get it back then and i sure don't get it now.

I feel bad for all of you who have had religion shoved down your throats. I was raised Non-denominational Christian. The most liberal form of Christianity I can think of. We were taught to question everything and make our own decisions. Women are not opressed and ARE allowed to hold positions of authority. One of our pastors even did a few sermons on what the Bible was really talking about in those so-called women-bashing verses. It had to do with goddess worship and the prostitutes who promoted that type of worship and therefore had nothing to do with a women's rule in the church. He was telling them to not dress and act like the prostitutes. There also aren't those insane rules of No birth control, no dancing, no drinking, or saying suicide is a hell-worthy sin, blah blah and all those other insane rules that a lot of denomintations place on people.

But moving on, I had decided that Religion is a sad attempt to reach God. I have a relationship with Jesus and God and no church or religion will change that for me. My husband is a Christian too and we are raising our son in the Christian religion and we 100% realize that it is HIS decision in the end as to whether or not he wants to believe. We will not and cannot force him. We all have a mind of our own and we are free to make out own choices. I just hate seeing how so many people are turned off from the Christianity because of bad experiances and some clearly messed up denominations (southern baptist, episopal, and a lot of catholicism with it's fake traditions and sacraments and praying to dead people who they deemed to be saints-crazy) But anyway I hope that if anyone truly questions their faith, that they give it a second chance. That they find another donomination to visit to get the bad taste out of their mouths. Good luck.

Welcome to the world of thinking for yourself. Unfortunately most "religious" folks are hateful toward anyone of any other religion. So much for "love thy neighbor" and being God-like. Psht! I feel sorry for most protestants. They sure live sad, lonely existences.