No Religion

Like most families in this country, I was raised in a family that was religious. It's rooted deep into my family, going into the lives of my younger siblings and younger cousins, as well as my grandparents and even my great-grandparents. Thing is, it never stuck with me. It never affected me as much as the rest of my family. 

Religion was never something I cared too much for. It never appealed to me like it should've since I was so exposed to it. But maybe I was too exposed. I was forced to go to mass and was forced to go to Sunday school when all I wanted to do was go and play with my cousins out at the park. I wanted to go and hang out with my friends. I wanted to stay home and relax on the weekends that I didn't go to school. It was being forced down my throat and it never stuck as a result of it. 

I ended up having a resentful attitude towards religion and faith itself. I didn't want to hear about God anymore. I didn't want to hear anything about it because it brought me back to the days I couldn't be with my friends and family. Over time, I've managed to learn to respect religion and other people's faiths, but it still bothers me. It's not so much hatred anymore, but rather an uneasiness towards it, hence the reason I'm not religious. It's a complicated thing, but it is what it is. 

Many of the people I've mentioned being atheist to have accepted it for the most part, but some have told me repeatedly that I'd be going to hell because I didn't believe in something that doesn't mean anything to me. I've never really said anything about since it doesn't bother me much. And it shouldn't. I can't change anyone's beliefs, but the same thing applies the other way around. I'm the only one who can change my mind.