for mental health reasons and religion played a major part in it. The internist who admitted me told my family and I that those who came from a strict religious upbringing were more likely to experience temporary psychosis when severally depressed.

One of my therapists also told me that Catholics have one of the highest rates of depression and a large number seek therapy.

My mother was a strong believer in the faith, but wasn't strict about it.However she and my grandmothers, and my Godmother insisted on sending me to Catholic School from grades K through 8 that's where the primary damage was done. There were beatings, belittlement, and we were made to feel guilty for even drawing breath. The possibility of our being doomed to hell was brought up constantly. I have been in treatment for many years and I am still not totally healed from it.

I still believe in God, Jesus, and the Saints, but I no longer have faith in any organized religion. I believe they pervert the message of Jesus for their own power and financial gain.

The "Church of God" schismed into two sects... I think it was after the first "Armageddon" prediction didn't pan out for them. My family went with the "less strict" church, but that was still bad enough. Luckily, the closest church of that sect was almost 2 hours from home, so we rarely went. Instead, my siblings and I were dragged to about every other church... except the Catholic church... every Sunday and Wednesday night. My siblings and I all went separate directions where religion was concerned. My brother eschewed all of it. My sister became Catholic (she married a Catholic). Me... I rejected all of Christianity and did the Seeker thing for years. Eventually, I stumbled on Paganism and immediately felt like I had come home. It wasn't all dogma and structure. But I will say I went through a lot of what you're talking about in the beginning. Was I damned myself to hell? What if I actually no longer believed in hell? Questions that kept me up all night at times. It's been over 40 years now, and I'm still happy and content with my choice. I've found more solace and comfort in this path than any other highly structured, authoritarian type religion. I figure these days, if there is a god out there, s/he's given up on us, and moved on elsewhere. How else to explain trump, bannon, etc.... These devils are a lot scarier to me now than anything the Christian church could throw at me.

a lot of the human race, but I do believe there are still good people too. One of the many therapists I have seen over the years, had me read, " Why Bad Things Happen To Good People," it was written by a Rabbi who suffered a tremendous loss. He talked about how it made him question his faith and ultimately regain it. He talks a lot about free will and how God cannot force anyone to love him or to behave the way he would like. He said some people use their free will to choose to harm others.

It makes sense to me, but see that's what get me about most organized religions and people trying to create a fascist religious based government. If God left us free to make our own choices, what makes them think they gave the right to force us to do things their way?

They could care less about people in general, or in anyone's soul. People don't need religion to be a good, upright, moral individual who make ethical choices. But those who can't make those choices... whether or not they have a religion behind them... are emotionally and intellectually deficient. And I truly believe there's something very important missing from their internal compass... like a direction of true North.