Leaving religion was one of the best things that ever happened to me in my life, I'm so glad I'm not like these people anymore, constantly having to follow a set of contradictory rules in order to chase an ideal of perfection that's impossible just so I could get a reward after I'm dead lol.
I still remember my first moment of disbelief was when I was in Sunday School, probably around five or six years old and the nun was telling us about how prayer was when we talked with God
Me, being an autistic-as-hell little kid said "But I never hear anything back"
The nun goes "Well, you don't always, that's not how prayer works"
And I just bust our with a, "then what's the point? Why bother?"
They made me sit in the corner for an hour, which was fine because I just played Mega Man on my Game Boy with no sound on
I didn't even have the mental capacity to refute anything, it was always strict obedience. Happens when you're in an echo chamber; they have to get you while you're young so you accept everything as fact and never question anything, it's really disgusting and creepy
I'm sorry this has been your experience. For me, religion and spirituality have become some of my most important tools to be grounded in space, time, and community. Rout, spiritually dead rules-following is horrible though. I wish more people had experience of religion that is not that.
Nah, no need to be sorry, I'm very glad I got away from it. It did absolutely nothing for me, nevermind the fact that it was used to enslave and colonize Afrika, where queerphobia exists in some Afrikan countries even today because of it.
Nothing good comes from religion that we humans can't get without it. Morality, community, fellowship, can all exist without religion, without the existence of an imaginary being or a need to attribute it to nature.
Sorry, I don't have patience for theists, let alone someone saying how great it worked for them when I've been through years of trauma. You should probably leave me be now.