I have had bad experiences with religion. My mother was Jewish-my father Catholic. My dad's parents FORBID him to marry my mother because she wasn't an Italian Catholic and if he did he would go to hell. Wellll of course he married her and together they decided to almost drop religion in the household all together. Only 3 months after marriage--my mother got preggie with me. My dad's parents invited them over for dinner. Since my mother WAS a very trusting and forgiving person--they decided to go. Dinner went well...but afterwards my dad's father took my mother outside to "talk" to her. Turns out, all he wanted to do was to warn her..tell her to stay away from my father..that the child (me) would be brought up in a Catholic household or the child would die. My mother was very brave (and almost foolish) and said that it would my choice to be what i wanted to be. He proceeded to punch my mother in the stomach--being 7 mths pregnant. My father heard her screams and came outside to see my mother on the ground in a puddle of blood. Luckly--i'm still here...we both turned out ok. And my father hasn't spoken to his dad since that day. What kind of hate can be brought out in a person just because their children decide to have opinions of their own about religion??? If this man followed the bible as closely as he claim--he would have read that his almighty God would not accept any of his "holy" children doing this. Wow, i haven't told that story in a long time. Felt good to get it out. But yes this is why i've ALWAYS questioned religion to this day. I have gone my own ways and done much research on all kinds. It's hard to say what i believe in because i am very stubborn--i need facts to prove something to me. And i HATE when people say since i'm not a Christian--i'm going to hell...stuff like that really makes me wanna scream!!!