By Faithfool ~ M y 28 years of Christinsanity ended last January. Since then, a recurring thought often catches me off guard and floors me: “HOW THE HELL COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID?!!” And for so long?!! Which made me think, how did each one of us at exChristian.net get sucked in? I bet the majority of us were raised by Christians. We never knew any different. How could we? Telling a child they will burn in hell unless they believe is child abuse. So we didn’t stand a chance. Even if we “backslid” or weren’t as serious about it growing up, the foundation was set for our ‘return to faith’ in later years. But what about those of us who joined the flock as teens or adults? Why didn’t we know better? I think vulnerability is key. I’m not 100% sure, but I’d be willing to bet there was a degree of vulnerability involved for each ex-C convert reading this. Ie, An eager young person who wanted to fit in with their admired Christian peers at school A disconnected teen who f...

By Faithfool ~ I feel like I’m culturally malnourished . For me, coming out of Christianity was like being on a potato-only diet for 28 years, then one day stumbling across a gourmet buffet. OH MY GOD! WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME HOW INCREDIBLE THIS FOOD IS! For the last year, I’ve been feasting on science, history, literature, music, art, poetry, philosophy, drama, dance, psychology and everything in between. It’s not that anyone had stopped me from enjoying this stuff before. I just didn’t think about it really. I was all-consumed by everything Christian. Christian radio in my car, Christian podcasts in my ear, Christian TV in my home, Christian websites on my PC, church activities in my diary, predominately Christian family and friends... you get the picture. My mission was to become more and more like Jesus. So wasting time on secular stuff made NO sense to me. I just didn’t have the palate for it, let alone the constitution. Now I can’t stop reading. And watching. ...