OP, I'm an atheist and think you're not reacting to this memory of being "forced into" religion in a very generous way. You weren't "forced" for one thing. As a teenager, you could have said -- I'll wait outside, thanks. Would that have been awkward? Sure. But apparently so was going along with it for you. Big damn deal. I understand that lots of people have had negative experiences with "crazy" evangelicals and what-not, but I think people are letting negativity bias them unnecessarily. You lived with a different family for a few days -- they do things differently and it was *shocker* kinda weird. Whatever.

My very Italian nonna was horrified when my parents told her that little toddler-me was a lefty. She came to spend a few months with us when I was learning how to write and would smack my left hand when I tried to do anything with it. She would make me sit on my left hand while I was doing homework to force me to be right handed.

I still write right handed now but do anything else southpaw.

Anonymous wrote:
I would relish such an experience, and I have, since my mother is Catholic and my father is Buddhist. We should be open to all spiritual experiences.

It depends on the faith - Catholic, Methodist, UU, Unity, Jewish, Buddhist, etc.... would be a great learning experience. Southern Baptist or any of the other super evangelical churches will immediately tell you that you will go to hell if you don't believe exactly as they do. That's scary for a kid.

A little different from these other experiences. I grew up going to church and still do. When my first was born I made arrangements for the baptism to be in my hometown so relatives could be there. Well, hometown church got a new minister and while he was baptizing my child he told the congregation that he was doing it because the other minister had already had it on the schedule but that we should have brought the baby to our own church. He talked about welcoming the child into the church but kept saying "except they don't actually go here." We were married in that church, I grew up going every week and still contributed at that point. My parents were members. It was all really embarrassing.

Attended Catholic school for 8 years, then switched to public school. Became school friends with a sweet girl who came from a very strict Baptist family. My other Catholic friend and I would walk to her house and then walk together to after school activities. For 3 years, her strict mother brought up religion when we saw her, criticized our clothes, continuously invited us to youth groups at their church and bashed Catholics every chance she could.

Lost touch after high school. Reconnected on Facebook and Baptist friend married a minister. Her mother has since passed away and she often posts about how wonderful and lovely her mother was. This was many, many years ago and we were too shy and timid to speak up. And despite all this, we really liked our friend. But have never forgotten how her mother made us feel.

I would relish such an experience, and I have, since my mother is Catholic and my father is Buddhist. We should be open to all spiritual experiences.

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor, who was jewish, invited me to attend their synagogue. The visiting teacher in the children's class room did a long rant on the evils of Christians. I was uncomfortable, but my poor neighbor was mortified.

That's not normal or appropaite.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in college, I went for a weekend visit to my close friend's home (same floor as me in our dorm) because her hometown was a one-hour drive from campus. I knew she was Christian, but I didn't know how fucking Christian. She wanted to take me to church and decided to pick out a progressive Church with a rock band (?) in order to give me a better inroad to Jesus or something, instead of her parents' very staid, we-are-wealthy-Protestants-who-burn-for-Jesus congregation.

Never asked me if I wanted to go. I was too timid to say I didn't want to go, plus I thought that somehow I would come off as the religiously intolerant one if I said no to attending her church. Worst part was, she knew how much I wasn't interested in Christianity and that I enjoyed my own private spirituality.

Oh jeez, those rock and roll churches always made me the MOST uncomfortable. I felt so silly, dorky, and embarrassed for them. I grew up Catholic, and definitely have always preferred a more traditional service (even as a teen). Those churches always an obnoxious youth pastor. Nothing worse than an over enthusiastic young adult trying to prove how much they click with the kids.

Yes, the rock band church came as ver culturally strange. I would have been happy if my friend had taken me to a "grown-up" church with stained glass windows - that's a pretty nice atmosphere, actually. But this "young" church had a lot of very neatly dressed young people with shiny, earnest faces singing about Jesus with their electric guitars and then pausing to explain how they overcame porn. Plus they all grinned very toothily at me and were very...overly friendly. Like everything was a sales pitch.

I like stuffy pastors with monocles and heavy leather-bound books (I'm the non-Christian college student FYI), that just feels normal. If I want to relax with young people my age and listen to good music, I'm not going to do it in a church where I feel like I'm being given the hard sell by some very shiny people who desperately need to get laid.

Anonymous wrote:I'm the (former) Baha'i from upthread. The community in my Bible Belt hometown was small, and we didn't have a place to worship; we just took turns hosting services in our houses.

As a service to other Baha'is who might be new to town or traveling, there was a listing in the phone book (pre-internet) with my parents' names and phone number. Periodically, people would call or come to our house to try to convert us and save us from damnation. Fun times.

A few people even asked me - completely serious as far as I could tell - if the Baha'i faith was some kind of devil worship.

Shocking that I don't live there anymore.

I'm so sorry you went through that. I know some people who are Baha'i and I think the faith is wonderful. I've also seen the Baha'i Lotus Temple in India, it's one of the most beautiful temples I've ever seen!

Anonymous wrote:I'm the (former) Baha'i from upthread. The community in my Bible Belt hometown was small, and we didn't have a place to worship; we just took turns hosting services in our houses.

As a service to other Baha'is who might be new to town or traveling, there was a listing in the phone book (pre-internet) with my parents' names and phone number. Periodically, people would call or come to our house to try to convert us and save us from damnation. Fun times.

A few people even asked me - completely serious as far as I could tell - if the Baha'i faith was some kind of devil worship.

Shocking that I don't live there anymore.

Your faith is a beautiful one. We often pull from Baha'i teachings in our Unity church.

Anonymous wrote:I'm the (former) Baha'i from upthread. The community in my Bible Belt hometown was small, and we didn't have a place to worship; we just took turns hosting services in our houses.

As a service to other Baha'is who might be new to town or traveling, there was a listing in the phone book (pre-internet) with my parents' names and phone number. Periodically, people would call or come to our house to try to convert us and save us from damnation. Fun times.

A few people even asked me - completely serious as far as I could tell - if the Baha'i faith was some kind of devil worship.

Shocking that I don't live there anymore.

I'm ignorant. What is it? I've never heard of this religion.

I'm the (former) Baha'i from upthread. The community in my Bible Belt hometown was small, and we didn't have a place to worship; we just took turns hosting services in our houses.

As a service to other Baha'is who might be new to town or traveling, there was a listing in the phone book (pre-internet) with my parents' names and phone number. Periodically, people would call or come to our house to try to convert us and save us from damnation. Fun times.

A few people even asked me - completely serious as far as I could tell - if the Baha'i faith was some kind of devil worship.

Shocking that I don't live there anymore.

In college, I visited the home of a friend for a day (1-1/2 hours from school) and went to church and a meal with the family. No one coerced me or anything and I was totally there of my own free will. The sermon was all about sinners and people of different religions burning in hell and how it was everyone's job to go out and save these sinners. This is not my own religious tradition at all and I was very uncomfortable. But I acknowledge that it was my problem and not anyone else's because I put myself in that position. It left a scar though and I have a hard time going into a church when invited (for a wedding, some religious ceremony important to a friend, voting, etc).

As a Catholic child, my mom thought it would be good for me to attend the vacation bible camp where my cousin was a teacher. I attended catholic school and had just made my first communion so I wasn't worried about being able to fit in/ keep up. But I had never before encountered southern baptists.

I realized just how far away from home I was when I made the sign of the cross before the Lord's Prayer and everyone stopped and stared. And the next day I thought I had it figured out so when they asked me to start the morning prayers, I skipped the sign of the cross and went right into the Hail Mary. I didn't realize Mary was such a polarizing figure to Baptists. So once again the kids were laughing at me and whispering I was a freak and not a Christian.

But I did learn to tell the true faithful members of the church. My cousin, when she heard what was going on, had all of the kids learn the sign of the cross and explained its origin in the Catholic Church.

And at the closing prayer service, the minister made a point to preach that Jesus taught us to love one another, and the good people are from many faiths and that there are righteous Catholics and Jews and Muslims and that we should remember that. It was a surprisingly modern point of view for the 1970's in a small rural town.

My neighbor, who was jewish, invited me to attend their synagogue. The visiting teacher in the children's class room did a long rant on the evils of Christians. I was uncomfortable, but my poor neighbor was mortified.