I was raised in a small, old school church. No instruments were allowed. The preacher could not even used PA equipment. It was sort of like the whiter version of baptist.
So my parents made me go, every Sunday. I had a fear of commiting sins. I prayed, all that.
When I was about 13 or 14 years old, in gym class one day, I heard this girl say something about there being no god. She said it like it was just the dead obvious. My jaw dropped. I had never even thought of it before. Like, wow. No god, huh?
Over a period of a few years i grew more and more skeptical. I soon found out that most of what is in the bible makes no sense, from a historical and scientific view. Without someone over my shoulder to give me a verse, or some bullshit explaining why my skeptic thought was wrong, it just sort of all came to light, quickly.
When I turned about 16, my parents told me I did not have to go if i did not want to, but I should. I haven't been to church since more than 1 or 2 times.
After not going to church for a few months, and using my brain a little bit, it was obvious to me that there was not a god.
If you live around a group of people telling you that there are chickens living inside your feet that will come out and kill you on your 16th birthday, you'll believe because it is all you know.
One thing i can say that was great about the church i grew up in was that it was a great community offering support for the elder people in my small town. Not saying they were all good people. But they did help, except the obese ones (30ish% of them, at least).
We did things for them. Made sure they were doing alright, get them what they need, so on. That part, I took with me after dropping my "beliefs, faith, whatever". My neighbor is a late 70s widow. I take care of her yard and check up on her a couple times a week. Her kids do too, its not like I'm "taking care of her" or anything. I might not be doing that today had I not grown up in that church.
The guilt that was instilled into me about sex at the time i was going through puberty still has an effect on me to this day. My catholic wife, x10.
“I thank God I was raised Catholic, so sex will always be dirty.” John Waters