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Permalink Reply by Nikol M on June 2, 2010 at 5:32pm

I went to church once. It was Catholic mass on Palm Sunday in Boston after 9/11. It was a little scary as I had no idea what to expect and I didn't want to mess anything up or do anything disrespectful. It was a very interesting and fun experience.

Otherwise my place of worship, as it were, was my front & back yards, the ocean, and the parks filled with trees.

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Permalink Reply by Serotonin Wraith on June 2, 2010 at 5:42pm

It was the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall for me, and I was SOOOOOO bored. My experience became a struggle to keep myself entertained for an hour or two.

*Daydream. I went on amazing journeys with the power of my imagination!

*Recite entire music albums in my head. Doing the whole thing usually wasted enough time to make it through a Sunday talk.

*Stare at the carpet. 'A well made carpet that, though that hair floating around on it was annoying me. Still, maybe I should make a game of who it belonged to.'

*Rearrange the letters of the yearly spiritual banner near the stage to create new exciting words!

*See if I could count a minute in my head exactly, then check the clock to see how close I was.

*Pick a number at random and see if I could get it to match with the number of a verse or chapter he'd say next.

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Permalink Reply by Prazzie on June 2, 2010 at 5:47pm

The trouble started with Church Youth meetings. I was 6 years old and it was time for me to join "Kinderkrans" - the Church's early-bird indoctrination sessions. I found someone's description of these meetings here. Anyway, my mom dropped me off, I had a horrible time and afterwards I waited outside for my mom. I saw her car coming and...drive right past me. My mother had forgotten about me! She drove out to a neighbouring farm and left me there, on the sidewalk. Needless to say, I didn't go back to Kinderkrans!

Dutch Reformed Church sucked. Long, boring sermons, uncomfortable pews. All the hymns sounded the same. I regret all the time I wasted there, when I could've been playing in the garden or swimming instead.

The Apostolic Faith Mission Church was both hilarious and frightening. I entered this one around the age of 7. Full-on crazy. Speaking in tongues, laying on of hands, the whole shebang. It was scary, because I didn't understand why God was causing people to pass out in the aisles. My father helped build an indoor pool/bath used for baptising adults. Always entertaining to watch them dunk the grown-ups. These are the people who, when I was delirious with tick-fever, formed a circle around me and tried to pray me better.

The last one I tried wasn't quite so extreme. However, there was an ancient lady there, who could know all your sins by looking at you, so they whispered to me. I was a teenager and had recently become sexually active, which was pretty much the worst sin I could commit, and that old lady KNEW! I cried so much that day :/

I had some horrible experiences in Sunday School. In one church, I was told to either show up every Sunday or fail the year, but I visited my granny in another town every second Sunday. So basically they made me choose between Gran and God. I chose my gran. In another church I was asked not to return, because I had held my boyfriend's hand in church.

And on top of all of that, every week they took my money for purposes never made clear to me. I quit going to church when I was 16. It was pretty much the biggest fight I ever had with my mother, but after sending me from one church to another trying to find a "fit", I just refused. I think I went to more churches than anyone else I know. We lived in Grahamstown for a while, that tiny town had 52 churches back when we lived there!

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Permalink Reply by James on June 2, 2010 at 11:04pm

When I was a Catholic I always found church to be a boring waste of time. I much rather wanted to be outside playing or watching TV. I still believed then, but still didn't want to go. A couple years ago I went to a friends Methodist church to listen to her music ministries group. She didn't know I was an Atheist yet... It was boring as well and I did a lot of laughing to myself over what was said. The band's music was nice. Didn't relate with their message, but it had a pleasing sound.

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