My parents were both CofC, and I was brought up in the doctrine, getting baptized when I was 11. I was 39 when I realized that I wasn't a Christian any longer, but had drifted from the CofC much earlier--back in my early 20s, when I realized I couldn't justify to my daughter why she should have to endure the misogynistic abuse I went through. For a couple of years, I attended Quaker services, and I think that, if you really must be a Christian, the Quakers are pretty good people to be with.

I've been a lot happier constructing my own theological world than inhabiting someone else's. I had always tended to believe, despite my CofC upbringing, that God and Heaven come from humans (in a real, not ideological, way) and this tendency became stronger the longer I was out of church all together. Whether it is true or not, I don't know. I also don't much care. I like the idea and it is functional for me.

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