Deeper Story Pt.1

So I’ve given a brief synopsis of my journey from Christianity to Atheism but I thought I’d give a deeper look into how my worldview has changed through out my life.

I was born in upstate New York.  It’s recently been dubbed the safest place to live from natural disasters so we got that going for us…I guess.  About five years later my brother was born.  I don’t remember much about life prior to my parents divorce.  I remember my dad going to fight in the first American intervention into Iraq.  He was gone about six months.  There were a lot of days spent in front of the TV to see if he would be in the line of fire…he was, a lot.  I remember not knowing what any of that meant but I knew that it was worrying for my mom.  When he came home I didn’t recognize him.  He had grown a mustache.  Being a father now I can’t imagine how that must have felt to him.  His own son not knowing who he is.

It wasn’t long after that my parents separated and eventually got divorced.  I had no say in who I would be living with.  My parents thought “Boys should be with their dad.”  I thought that was bullshit.  Even at the age of 12 I knew my dad was an asshole and I wanted to live with my mom.  My dad was definitely a military man.  “Boys don’t cry” “Man up” were just a few of the phrases that were commonly thrown around in my home.    Being an emotional child this was difficult.  I dealt with this by learning to stuff every emotion I had as far down as I could.  It’s unfortunately a trait I’ve kept along with me well into my adulthood.

As you’ve may have noticed that until this point I’ve not talked at all about religion.  That didn’t come into play until the second act of my story.  Church for me until now had been reserved for twice a year, Easter and Christmas.  My future stepmother would be the catalyst to my indoctrination.  Which I will save for the next post.

Continue to Part 2