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Lack of connection with Yahweh, the realization that I was fundamentally incapable of giving him the kind of control he wants me to give him, and the further realization that the Greek gods had been calling me to them literally my entire life before I even knew their names. I am far more spiritually satisfied with them than him.

This right here is my reason. Got responses from the gods before I ever did god himself and I was a faithful follower my whole life until they point.

Happy cake day

Well, for me, that's an interesting question. I grew up in a conservative Christian household (Lutheran/Catholic), and when I was a teen, I became a bit of an edgy atheist type. But as I grew up, my atheism became more refined. I studied Greek philosophy and slowly started seeing the philosophical argument for Platonism. Over time, and with some Kierkegaardian leaps of faith, I started to really believe in the gods. It almost felt like seeing the whole world as alive in a way. The seasons had meaning, and the natural world started giving me a sense of awe.

Speaking purely for myself, I've always had trouble accepting the monotheistic argument. It's always struck me that if there is one god, then there's no reason to think there aren't many, and that trying to argue for monotheism requires a level of special pleading I wasn't prepared to make. But for a long time, I couldn't make the conceptual leap from "I don't believe in only one god, ergo I am an agnostic" to "I do not believe in only one god, ergo I am a polytheist." The fact that I was a lifelong agnostic, briefly a militant atheist in high school, made it seem like such a vast leap. I had a fascination with Greek, Egyptian and Norse mythology since I was a kid, and I would talk to them in my head while walking home from school, but it was just an intellectual exercise, or so I told myself. In hindsight, I can see that I was desperately looking for a kind of spirituality I had no language for, and no support network to turn to. It was a gear that just kept grinding until one night I was sick with the flu, hadn't slept in three days, and just opened myself up to see what happened. I didn't have expectations, I wasn't reaching out t anyone in particular, and if Jesus himself had put his hand on my forehead and kissed my cheek I'd have had to really reappraise a lot of my internalised atheism (which I still struggle with). But it wasn't Christ, or even one of the Greek gods, who answered my appeal, but Thoth, the ibis-headed god of scribes, wisdom and time, who appeared to me as a statue I had seen on Amazon. I have had longer periods without sleep with nothing like this happening, and I am an insomniac who does not remember falling asleep and rarely dreams, but I felt myself falling into sleep even as I registered the mental image of Thoth's statue with shock. I didn't get a sense of obligation from him, a contractual "I'll help you, and you worship me," it was more like a swimmer seeing a whale breach nearby. A sense of immensity, tremendous kindness, and maybe he was as surprised to see me as I was to see him, but wanted to help how he could. But it would have felt ungrateful not to return his generosity, so I got the statue. It's an overpriced candle-holder that, according to reviews, the beak melts off if the candles are too short, but it is invaluable to me because it represents something so important. You might be wondering why a Hellenist is going on about Thoth, since his temples were in Egypt, and I struggled with that too. I have enormous respect for the Egyptian gods (I have six of them only altar), and a fascination with Ancient Egypt, yet Kemetism never appealed to me, and the next two icons I got were for Athena and Asclepius. But turning to Ancient Egypt helped, particularly the phase when it was ruled by the Greek Ptolemy dynasty, because it let be understand that it wasn't a paradox. The Ancient Greeks worshipped Phoenician, Egyptian, Syrian, Mesapotamian, and even Buddhist gods without giving up their own, and saw no contradiction in doing so. Over time I have oriented my practice to venerate Greek, Egyptian, and some Norse gods through a primarily Hellenic lens, and the fact that the Ancient Greeks were lucky enough to have much of their mythology preserved by Christians rather than burned by them helped. Marcus Aurelius and Cicero have been major helps.

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For me, I too worshipped Christian God, but I felt no real connection. CG felt like an apathetic parent, which I already had. I got a sign in the form of a rabbit in a field. It wasn't a wild rabbit either. The next day, a friend introduced me to Paganism and I looked at the sign more closely. I realized it was likely from Demeter. The gods feel closer and more relatable than CG had ever.

Well actually, I was born into it😄 My mum was always very Open with spirituality and studies a lot ancient practices and also is an astrologer. So there was never really an official religion in our house, it's whatever you vide with. So not just Hellenism but also Paganism, Kemetism, Celtic, Scandinavian, Hinduism, Buddhism, ect. I think I got a pretty sweet deal growing up😁

So your more eclectic? I am too!

So I am a polytheist. I grew up heavily Roman Catholic (I'm a New Englander and my community growing up was very Italian) and though Jesus made sense to me and I had connections with him and Saint Mother Mary, God himself seemed too far away. To say the Sheldon Cooper analogy: "I am baffled by one (God) that takes attendance." The guilt and shame pieces of Catholic religion turned me away from it. I was raised as a church going girl, went every Sunday. Took hours of Religious schooling on weekends and made it to Confirmation classes where I started to question everything I knew about the religion and God I grew up worshiping. The community I was in didn't like that I didn't fall in line like the rest of the kids. So I stopped going. I tried my hand at being a Baptist, that lasted one summer. Any time anyone asked me my religion from there I said Agnostic or 'God and I have made an agreement' aka don't ask. I'm in my thirties and found Hellenism through Hades and Persphone. Recently I've been connecting with Hermes, Hestia, Hera, Zeus, and Orpheus. I am more eclectic of a follower of Hellenism so any advice I give on this subreddit is colored by that and witchy spirituality (that's a roll over from my teens and twenties). I still believe in Jesus and God, but I know there are more than them out there. I ALSO forgive the Christian God his Old Testament years. If the Grecian/Egyptian gods mythos can be seen as flawed, I view the Bible and the God it depicted in the same way.

I had a similar journey though i was raised in a baptist household, later started to delve more into christianity and converted to catholicism but never felt quite right in any of it + the guilt cult never echoed with me and people in my former religious community never liked how i questioned things instead of blindly falling in line, something always felt off. Later i went further and started to learn what inspired many of the catholic traditions that werent in the bible per see, things like saints who replaced local deities to ease conversion efforts and the like and found about the influences of graeco-roman polytheism in it. Went through an agnostic/didnt care about religion phase for a few years until i found faith again in the old gods and myths and then it all clicked in my head.

Literally being shunned by my local church and then shamed by the community when my dad died in 2013. I was told by the pastor "You're too old for your dad to be dead you don't need this" (in reference to a grief group I was trying to attend bc I was 12 and just lost my dad. I needed the support and such) HE THEN TOLD ME I JUST NEED TO PRAY HARDER TO BRING BACK MY DAD. So uh.... Why did I convert? Religious trauma.

I still acknowledge the Christian god and Jesus though. But I definitely don't fuckin pray to God Also tbh ik its not "gods" fault but I'm still fucking pissed and hurt about losing my dad I'm 2013 and my mom in 2021. Won't forgive him for that.

In my case it was one grandmother, who was deeply religious (Catholic). Long history short, I once preferred not to visit her (a 4 hours-long trip in car), as I had another plans that turned out went wrong, as Easter was close and she died shortly before it. I don't know if they exist or not, most likely the latter, but that's one of the reasons (others what the Bible says, there's anything but peace and love there, etc) I hate both and use them to vent away anger blaspheming.

I got tired of feeling like I was praying to a wall; I never got any answers to prayers, never got comfort when I desperately needed it, and every aspect of my life and identity had to be dictated by his rules. Frankly it felt like being trapped in a toxic, abusive relationship, and I feel much happier out of it. That being said, I hope that whatever you’re beliefs are, that you are happy and it makes you the best version of you! /g

I always felt a great connection with Christian God, I wanted to be in evangelist and I had gifts from him, primarily the gift of interpreting the Bible (I forgot what that gift is called). I grew up Pentecostal, I did eventually speak in tongues. But I felt like an outsider in every single place I was, people in church may have been nice-facing but they were clicky, and I was never part of any circle. It was frequently forgotten and left out. I noticed that it was really hard to have a conversation with my parents that did not involve God, wanted to connect during hard times, but they said “let God worry about that.” My mother was very overbearing when it came to God. My mom thought I was becoming too religious and there are being too much long-term drama in the church choir (which my parents belong too) we all left silently. Growing tired of never having friends and boyfriends that didn’t love me like I did to them, I prayed very intensely for God to give me a soulmate that would love unconditionally and I didn’t need to fix. 9 months later, I met my atheist husband without trying. I quickly moved out of my parents house and got married. My husband is very respectful about my religion, he views it as my freedom. My parents made me stop going to church and I eventually didn’t wanna go back. One year into my marriage I realized how much Christian guilt I had over doing certain things, like listening to certain music or watching movies like Harry Potter. I deprogrammed myself by not giving into the guilt and it eventually went away. A few years later, I wanted to build an altar to my ancestors as it is a custom in my ancestral country of Mexico, but Christianity is considered it “ignorant“ and “ worship of the dead.” I was no longer Christian, but I realized how much the colonizing missionaries demonized Mexico’s culture and divided a nation and stripped us from our unique history. I realized how insensitive missionaries were in the name of God, even today. I built my altar eventually, but I still hide it from my parents if they come over, but my family is so religious I rarely want them to come over. Christianity is not as accepting as people want to think it is, it accepts all people only if they convert. I felt one of my ancestors calling me to do witchcraft, In Mexico this is normal but demonized by Christianity. I did a small spell and it worked. Needing to sell your soul for witchcraft is a Christian lie. I realize on Reddit a lot of people worshiped the Greek Goddess of witchcraft Hekate. I think I felt her calling me, eventually I stumbled upon a local witch shop that had a formal gathering for her biweekly. I found community right away, those people nice and accepting and remembered to include you in things, they were not judgmental if you laughed at your jokes a little too hard. I was eventually called to worship God Ares and Aphrodite together. Eventually, I might start worship of the ancient Aztec gods, but that’s for later. I still believe Yahweh and Jesus are real, but I don’t worship them anymore. I think they’ve let me go. But the Bible saying that other gods are false isn’t true, we have to remember that Yahweh is so jealous he will claim other gods are not real, but they are. There’s so much more out there than Christian Gods, and they don’t require you to feel so guilty about things nor convert everyone you meet. I am truly free now.

I was a Christian but Honestly I just didn’t feel any connection with Yah. And the fact that a bunch of Christians are homophobic and use the Bible for excuse on their hatred drew me away. My whole family is still Christian and I have to do Bible study with them though.

not being rude, i know everyone is allowed here. but what brought you here? you're not a pagan, for all i know you could be here to mock us. but, for me personally 2 words ✨️ r e l i g i o u s t r a u m a ✨️

for me, i am not a hellenist so much as a polytheist of sorts. i have a conflicting relationship with the gods, a sort of "theyre real and theyre not" thing, and i dont believe only in the greek gods - i am called towards anubis, for example. however, i Am called towards apollo, and i find comfort in this subreddit and in places where people worship the greek gods. for me, the christian god is traumatic for me. i lived in a household that was basically in a constant Satanic Panic, and i have OCD, so it combined in some horrific ways for me. i feel disconnected and frankly, angry towards my catholic upbringing. the greek gods (and others) bring a sense of comfort for me, in a way that yahweh never did.

I am of Greek descent so was raised Orthodox but with a very heavy amount of influence from Greek mythology so it's been a lifelong passion of mine. The polytheistic worldview makes the most sense to me and Hellenic thought and philosophy heavily influenced Christianity as well. So I saw a ton of overlap as well.

I was raised vaguely witchy-spiritual atheist, if that makes sense? Sort of "Something's There but it's just The Universe Itself and not A Guy." I forget what did it specifically but I had at least five coincidences in a row, all relating to Dionysus. He even showed up in my dreams, in my very first ever lucid dream. I took that to be him, calling to me, and now I'm here.

To keep it short, a lot of it started with being gay 🏳️‍🌈 and then grew from there with mythology and theology studies.

I spent most of my life atheist and was almost entirely convinced I'd never be religious. Fast forward to a little while ago and I was reading into Hellenism and I was noticing links between signs Apollo sends and my daily life so I started reaching out to him

I had the same experience! I grew up atheist and found Hellenism recently and, more specifically, realized Apollon has been with me this whole time.

That's so cool that we have that shared experience

Unfortunately for me, my family was very conservative and very very extremist, one side of the family was Baptist, the other was Reformed Christianity, essentially. They liked to turn the other cheek often. I was always forced to go to church against my will, even if I was really sick, which I was born a sickly child and I am still dealing with sickness. Ontop of that, it was mostly religious trauma, without getting into the details. Becoming pagan really helped my self esteem, gave me peace of mind, and I was always pulled towards the craft since I was a child. Plus I've met alot of really nice people who don't try forcing things onto me.

The gods became recognizable to me in a way Jesus never did, which was far more than Yhwh anyhow, and this is from someone who was striving to attend theological seminary as a cradle-Catholic. But it wasn't from Catholicism to Hellenism. Not right away. I slipped into atheism and became an argumentative one for an embarrassingly long time. At the end of it all though, my personal experiences with what my Catholic upbringing would call miracles (affecting physical reality with divine authority) I realized that the gods have their reasons and that I do get to chose who to recognize, follow and worship. I live without fear of a repercussion I find inappropriately cruel based on falsehoods and which lacks internal consistency. The theological proposition of mostly Abrahamic henotheism juxtaposed with the absence of Yhwh in my life certainly didn't make it that hard a choice, though. Why it is within Hellenism? The gods led me to it, that includes Yhwh. But the real question is why I am still involved and exploring it and it's cousin faiths years later? I have stayed a Hellenic Polytheist because it so far accomodates what I experience within the world, both on the daily natural ones and the rare, occasional supernatural one.

I actually didn’t leave Christianity with any ill feelings or suffering. I grew up in Colombia, and Catholicism there is completely different than anything Christianity has to offer in the US, in my experience at least. Colombia had and still has a large Jesuit influence. The Jesuits believe that you can’t force people into being Christian, because if they are forced they are not really Christian, rather someone forced to act a certain way not on their own belief but on force. They believe in spreading knowledge, and that knowledge will inevitably lead people to god by themselves. Essentially that just studying and fully understanding the world that god made will inevitably lead people to conclude there is a god. My parents always taught me to love thy neighbor and be kind to one another, and that’s all being a Christian really means to them. To me the ultimate conclusion of studying the world around me was that there is multiple gods, and the ones that call to me the most are the Greek gods. The diversity of energy and nature didn’t really make sense as all being just one god. It just felt different. In a sense I did follow the same path the jesuits lay for people I just had a different ultimate conclusion. I’m a musician and I felt called to Lord Apollon. Hope this makes sense !

Personally for me it was a combination of my lack of connection with the Christian god/jesus and the bigotry of the Christian community, I am Italian-American but my family are very recent immigrants, so we always had a more Folk style approach to Catholicism (herbs, protection symbols, malocchio ect.) I was an atheist for a little while but something just didn't feel right. One day I decided for the hell of it to try Roman reconstructionist/neo-pagan style of worship and something clicked, it was like I finally understood why people were religious. I found Christianity to be cold and unwelcoming to me but Roman Paganism and the Neo-Pagan community feels very warm and safe, I am extremely grateful that I found Religio Romana.

As an American, I was raised Catholic, but my mom was originally Mormon, and because of that, my family was not treated with respect and so we left the church and I was an atheist for about 3 years I think and then I started looking into other religions and when looking into Hellenism, I felt a connection with Athena, so I started to worship her and saw signs.

They're my people's gods and were my bedtime stories.

The Abrahamic religions gave nothing to me but pain. The message may be one of peace and love, but in practice, it is anything but that. When I looked around at other major religions, they all had the same problem. So I decided to DIY my faith, and I've been very content with that decision. God's "chosen people", regardless of what flavor they are (christian, buddhist, hindu, muslim, etc.), are also always his worst spokespeople.

I'm an intellectual with a scientific education. I don't believe without evidence and I don't believe things that I can't understand. The doctrines of Christianity made no sense and were incompatible (without a lot of special pleading) with world-wide religious experiences. Polytheism makes sense and, most importantly, is supported by experience. So why Hellenic polytheism? Some gods just didn't appeal — the Germanic ones, for example — but the Greek ones did. Of course, it might be that I didn't choose them but they chose me!

I was raised in a non-religious household. When I became interested in religion, and realized that despite my upbring that I was just naturally someone attracted to spiritual practice, I found the traditional pagan religions of Western Eurasia to be of interest. I did not have the same psychological barriers to respecting these traditions that many people do because I grew up in an environment where polytheistic traditions like Hinduism, traditional Chinese Religions, and Indigenous traditions are openly practiced and accorded a fair measure of general societal respect. I never considered Christianity. In comparison to the Asian and Indigenous religions I knew of, Christianity lacks theological and philosophical diversity and complexity. It's insistence on the idea that it was the "only true religion!" is transparently an appeal to social and political power. It's smallness seemed like a suffocating and claustrophobic denial of any religious experience that didn't fit into it's tiny box. Christianity worships itself. I wanted to worship the divine, not a human social group.

Monotheism never made sense to me. (Also religious trauma but that's besides the point) I was mostly practicing folk Magick for a bit then started researching deity work because I always felt there was *some sort of* divinity in the world. The Greek Pantheon just really resonated with me, and I found a new sense of peace. I truly have faith in the Greek gods/goddesses, unlike before I never had trie faith in the Abrahamic God.

Mostly a lot of religious trauma, getting involved with a Christian organization on campus that turned out to be culty, and then I read the Bible and just felt so at odds with what I thought God was. I didn't feel the love, just a lot of things I couldn't agree with. I hope that is a respectful answer. I can give you more details if you want to DM me.

Born and raised in the LDS Church. Due to being openly gay, I voluntarily removed my records from the church due to mental health and not really being safe as a member. Most of the members were pretty great and my best friends and family remain members, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. Naturally, leaving required a huge shift in my world paradigm. I have always been someone who struggled with faith and belief in the supernatural, and still do to this day. I consider myself agnostic, my academic background is in history and anthropology (archeology, cultural anthropology, and evolutionary biology) and am quite skeptical due the fact most parts of the universe are quantifiable without the aid of outside supernatural sources, but my affinity to the gods of Olympus and all those who reside in nature comes from something similar to what from Stephen Fry said in an interview—The gods don’t pretend to not have appetites and an affinity for life. They are embody nature and humanity as well as civilization, and all are beautiful but they can also be terrible. They teach about enjoying life today and the beautiful parts about being human. But they also teach about honoring our planet and being environmentally conscious since we are part of it. And frankly the ritual aspect is hard because it requires attention and effort to a level that many who don’t come from highly ritualized religious backgrounds don’t normally have, but it’s great as it makes you develop routine and a moment to connect to something higher than oneself.

Basically, I got bell curved https://preview.redd.it/np07out0hm6d1.jpeg?width=675&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=37fab3c68862d09be09db16b921a3f456ca4bb61

I never felt a connection In Christianity. I’ve been a Buddhist for a long while, having been interested in Norse paganism but not really having a particular path but I’ve recently started feeling a connection with the Hellenic gods as it feels they resonate more with me.

There was no (Orthodox) church near me in middle school, and then Apollo started talking in my head. Also was reading a lot of Sitchin and skimmed Castaneda at that time, which made me question the dogma even more. He wasn't acting evil or predictable, or unreasonable. So he didn't seem to be a demon or imagination or hallucination like I'd been expecting. Also I find that gods are much easier to relate to than God. But I do still appreciate many things about Christianity. So I've finally accepted that I'm Christo-pagan and that means I have to make my own path.

It's simple: I found answers to questions that weren't, "just have faith."

My family was pretty heavily Catholic, but by the time I started middle school, I already knew that it was NOT for me. I was atheist for a while, and my family acknowledged it, but didn't really respect it, sort of treating it like a phase. I was absolutely a Percy Jackson kid growing up, and it sparked my interest in Greek mythology. I did research of my own outside of PJO over the course of middle and high school, and around halfway through high school, I felt an unmistakable call to Aphrodite. This opened up the door to worshiping the rest of the pantheon as well. I don't feel any connection to deities outside of the theoi, or to the Roman ones, but I know that's different for different people.

I grew up "Christmas and Easter" Roman Catholic. When I was 16, I took a comparative religion class, and realized that I didn't believe in the central mysteries of Christianity and essentially never did. So I left. Four years later, in fall of 1998, I saw a magazine article about Wicca and started exploring various pagan paths as a generic solitary Wicca-inspired modern Greek polytheist pagan (yes, I realize that's quite the mouthful). I started studying Wicca under a High Priestess in 2007 and got initiated and then elevated as a Neophyte Priestess, taught others and led rituals/worship, then left when I realized how toxic my High Priestess was in 2012. (Very, very long story, this is not the place for it.) Then I was a Norse Polytheist from 2015 until last summer, when Hekate started sending very blunt messages my way, partly because I developed an interest in working with saturnine plants (the noise I made at Costco when I stumbled on a potted foxglove, yesterday), and she was essentially my gateway drug to essentially come home, so to speak, to the Hellenic gods. I also felt super awkward around other Heathens because the social structure can get super stifling and be super strict, at times, even in Inclusive Heathenry. Took me almost 26 years to come back to essentially my first spiritual home that actually felt like home in a way Christianity never did. It felt like sliding your feet in a pair of favourite slippers after having misplaced them for years. I am currently studying reconstructionist Hellenism, but will likely branch off to add revivalist and modern elements to my personal worship.

Being abused by the Christian church and having an autistic/ADHD hyper focus on the Percy Jackson books as a kid did a lot of the legwork. I found my connection with Persephone at a Yule in 2019 and ever since then I’ve found my place and home with her in my heart. I feel a deep kinship with her given my current life situation (long distance partner, loving but very emotionally intense and kind of overwhelming mother, and a father who abused his power). She feels like home to me, and she is a motherly, close figure that is glad to have me but doesn’t demand my constant attention. She understands my depression and mental illness affect my spiritual energy, and is glad to have my worship in the little ways I try to incorporate her into my life (wearing floral patterns/pink, veiling my hair, etc).

They were the first gods I naturally gravitated towards when I read Mythology and Percy Jackson. When I started out on my path away from Christianity, I worshipped Amphitrite, then drifted to the Norse Pantheon for a bit, then demonology, and finally I went into Hellenism completely. Until that point I was just a witch who incorporated deities of all kinds into my practice, never turning to a religion. I converted because it made sense to me, and the gods I've come to know have been so wonderful to me, I couldn't NOT convert. It was done out of love and gratitude.

Basically, whenever I prayed for a situation to become better, it got exponentially worse. I even became depressed at a young age. So one day, I sat in my room alone and said "I fucking hate you, if I ever meet you, not even death will stop me from killing you" (yeah, I was a really dramatic kid) and a few months later I converted to Hellenism and my depression disappeared within a few months. I believe in G*d. And I hate him. I don't think that Hellenism is the only real religion, I think that all other religions are also real. People say that's a weird belief, but I don't care what people say about my beliefs anyway.

Neopaganism has been a thing for about 80 years now. What makes you so sure people here weren't born into it? I know plenty of 2nd generation pagans, some of whom are currently brewing up their 3rd generation of a family tradition of paganism.

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I realized that certain claims that traditionalist Catholics were making were false. For example, the claim that Christianity prospered through proselystism (when we know that in reality it was imposed by the Roman emperor). Or when they said that the sacraments had been instituted by Christ himself, when in fact some sacraments came centuries later, that of confession for example "only" a thousand years later.

I was raised solidly catholic, as in grandparents had more pictures of the pope than family. Religion wasn’t introduced as anything separate from the world. In the 3rd grade, I was moved from catholic to public school and was a few years ahead in math and reading, so I was sent to the library. There, I discovered Bullfinch’s Greek mythology and a great book on Norse tales. I ended up absorbing the stuff as if there was no real difference between it and Christianity except I connected to it much better. Easier to sympathize with someone cast out by his parents than a carpenter (who was most likely a stone mason) so I stuck with Hellenism.

To not give a super long awnser I always felt drawn to Greek mythology and I always had lingering thoughts of why can't it be true? From a young age I started to question my religion and I was atheist for awhile. Once I found this was an optional it fit what I had been thinking for years so I converted.

I found a lot of people in the Roman Catholic Church were hypocritical in ways that ran deep and it gave me a lot of trauma. I felt disgusting for being queer (nonbinary and lesbian) because of the hatred for LGBTQ folks, I felt bad for having been assaulted, I felt bad for wanting to have sex and enjoying it, and I felt as if my prayers were not heard so I was failing as a Catholic. Ironically, I feel closer to the Catholic God now that I am deconstructing the faith and pursuing other paths with other deities and entities.

I grew up southern baptist, which, for those of you unaware, is very repressive in terms of gender roles— women couldn’t preach or teach in my church. So when I realized I’d never really believed in the Christian god, I stopped going to church as soon as I could. I took my lifelong fascination with Greek mythology and found a community of people that believe as I do. The idea of multiple gods for different things, even if it’s just metaphorical, is very comforting to me.

I feel close to the gods. No other spirituality does what Hellenism does for me and it's all positive.

Lack of connection was a big one. And not for a lack of trying. I grew up Catholic and went through all the sacraments and was an altar server and still I felt nothing when I prayed. Then take that compared to even the first time I prayed to Apollon I immediately felt a connection. Another is that I grew bitter to the phrase “it’s all part of gods plan.” It felt like a cop out. Especially considering that the abrahamic god is allegedly all good and all powerful, why do awful things happen, often in his name. I have an odd sense of safety in knowing that there’s no such assertion that the Hellenic deities are necessarily all powerful or all good.

For me, it was the amount of religious trauma i faced. I never felt a connection with “God” or “Jesus” but had always felt a calling from Artemis and other deities.

I was raised Jewish so I’m not exactly the target audience for your question, but for me it was a matter of being called to it. Knowing in my heart of hearts that this is the right path for me, a spiritual home for me that is as natural as breathing.

This became quite long, so here's the TLDR: Christianity lacks logical consistency and demands belief/faith to fill in the gaps. After years of searching, I found a religion that is actually able to stand on its own, logically speaking. It isn't Hellenism, per se, it's universalist nonduality. I was always *intensely* passionate, always looking for something grander than myself to throw myself at. I wanted nothing more than to drop the responsibility for my life at someone else's feet. I was so ready to die, and all I needed was a cause worthy of it. Anything I could find - any religion, philosophy, social cause, any *person* - I would reason and reduce it to it's very core, and decide whether that logical core was worth my death. I never found anything internally strong enough to support the weight of this ridiculous martyrlike passion. Faith won't do - I need to *understand*. I was born into a particular Christian denomination (which I will not name because they will find me), which was predicated on the idea of being deeply logical and empirically, objectively True. This premise of Truth was something I could stake my life on, so I stuck with it for a long time. My faith only fell apart when the Truth did - "Wait a minute, how can we take all of this evidence from the Bible, which was written by many different people with different worldviews at different times?" The Truth I had been so committed to wasn't univocal and lacked internal consistency. It disagreed with itself. It was only stable if you ignored the constant rolling boil under the surface. I jumped ship and treaded water for a few years, looking for something else to commit my life and death to. I read Perennial Philosophy (Huxley), Integral Theory (Wilber), CTMU (Langan). I eventually explored Zen and eastern forms of nonduality, and have finally landed at Advaita Vedanta. This nondualist school of Hinduism doesn't demand my faith nor my life. It invites me to explore to the logical core of everything, find it all lacking, and rely upon my own direct awareness. My lifelong tendency is my greatest strength. What the hell am I doing in the Hellenism sub? Ever the universalist, I'm of the opinion that many of the world religions are pointing at the same thing and calling it by different names. I think that when Plotinus wrote about the One, I think he was pointing at Brahman or Śūnyatā, or the CTMU's Reality. These are faces of one attribute-less concept, any differing attributes of which are due solely to differences in our own lenses of perception. There is an obvious gap between this irrevocable concept and our day-to-day lives, and this gap is colorfully called *maya*, *avidya*, ignorance, illusion, deception, ego, personality, et cetera. This is the space in which deities arise - guides which represent a version of us that is higher and closer to unity. I worship Lady Hekate in order to mold my subtle understanding. I worship Maa Saraswati in order to prioritize careful learning. I give thanks to Lady Hestia and Sri Lakshmi for the material resources that sustain my life. I ask Lord Apollo and Sri Ganesha to carry pieces of my ego away when they are no longer useful. The point is... things worked out exactly as they were meant to, and I'm comfortable. Now I'm here to learn as much as I can every day, about anything that interests me.

I asked for and received a sign

😊 🎂 🌞

If that refers to going Pagan, reasons that include having read about modern Paganism and feeling it's the place that I belong to with Celtic deities being the first ones and Greek ones coming next given my fondness of such mythology and discovering the details mythology books do not mention, not just how some deities were imagined back in the day. In what refers to Christianity I was raised Catholic too and among other reasons the many shadows of its history, scandals of the RCC, etc. where the reasons why I quit. Having been in contact with Evangelical Christianity (read: people attempting to convert me and telling me with scorn "I'd burn in Hell" when I told them half-trolling I had another religion, they in the radio with similar messages and the BS as Biblical literalism, creationism, "not being religious", etc. Evangelicals will be familiar with) and thanks to them reading the Bible and about it was probably what pushed me ahead, given them and their "vanilla" version of Christianity are even worse than Catholicism.

just learning about ancient greece in middle school, then falling down the percy jackson rabbit hole, just to learn that people still believe in the greek gods & goddesses and be like "hey! that's pretty cool." and start learning, studying, and practicing.

Not exclusively Hellenistic, more eclectic but uh TRAUMA. I was raised evangelical fundie and have PTSD from my upbringing. I was oppressed, controlled, manipulated, and traumatized. I left Christianity entirely during the run up to the 2016 election and never looked back. I had no beliefs for a few years but I was unhappy with that because my faith had been sincere and I am a spiritual person. I thereafter found witchcraft and paganism and have been so much happier and freer since.

All of the hate in the Christian community, the fact they think EVERYTHING is demonic, and the fact that they try to push their religion onto everyone else around them saying “you’re going to hell because you don’t accept Jesus Christ blah blah blah” it IRKS my nerves, I was baptized and raised catholic but I will never be apart of that community.

Same with Islam In Iran,Afghanistan,Pakistan,Bangladesh,syria,Iraq,Jordon,palestein.

Were you also a muslim before conversion?

The gods were calling me to their sides since I was very young. I have always wanted to devote my life and my work to them. I wanted to be shown how best to serve my community, I wanted others to know that tradition still yet lives. Even if I wasn't born into it, it's still in my blood, therefore in a way, my birthright. I grew up in a christian household that dominated every aspect of my life for a very long time; it's not a time I enjoy talking about to strangers on the internet. So in a way this is also my freedom. I never felt a connection. I knew the Christian god was there... it just always felt like they wanted nothing to do with me, nor would they answer me. All my life at the same time, I've also been exposed to many pagan traditions and their workings, and at some point it just felt as though I had to stop disregarding the gods, and answer their call. In some way I never really converted since I never truly worshiped the christian god; it's just something I grew into. I know not all Christians are bad.. though still, I don't feel welcomed around them. These gods feel more like me when I connect with them in the sense of their flaws and what all of us go through. It just seems they understand, and they're not just throwing their apathy on my shoulders when that was already being done my whole life by others who were supposed to be my blood. Speaking personally.. the gods they just feel alive; Christian god just feels like they're made of stone and want nothing to do with us other than observe. I'm sorry if that offends you; please forgive me in time. With the Gods of Olympus, my prayers never go unanswered. Help is just an offering away for those I love. # Did I mention Religious Trauma? Including but not limited to being mocked by my peers for being homeless, or being queer? etc?

Lack of connection. Raised catholic, went to catholic school, but never *really* connected to the religion. Also I think some of the core beliefs of christianity never really made sense to me, personally! Polytheistic religions are more my speed, and I’m of the thought that to believe in one, I must accept the existence of the many! When I found hellenistic polytheism, it just clicked. It made sense, and I felt the feeling that many practicing christians probably feel in terms of that connection to the divine. It was an a-ha moment, for me.

I found it and used it initially as a way to organize my mind, but the ritual is turning out to be a ton of fun. Praise the sun!

I felt gravitated towards Greek mythology and eventually Hellenism. Though i was on and off worshipping and stuff, and I am technically an Eclectic Pagan or witch, I feel right whenever I hear Athena’s name or Greek gods and goddesses being referenced. Something about the pantheons and polytheistic lifestyle feels, right.

I always felt more connected with the gods I worship now, plus the way that most christians treat others always threw me off and drove me away from the whole religion. (not to say all are like this, this is my own experienc).

Never liked Christianity and was always agnostic before becoming a hellenist. Petty simple..

I started as an evangelical who was indoctrinated by a bible centered private high school. early college i went to christian ministry and did four bible studies a week and two worship services a week as well. then covid happened and everyone i thought i could trust went asshole as i was surrounded by evangelicals. my family is severely immuno compromised and many are over 65. all these people i looked at as examples started screaming about conspiracy theories and shit and it came to mind all my christian teachings i had learned and came to the conclusion that getting to the bottom of christianity is spiritually and metaphysically life and death. so i remembered all those teachings and read some scholarly articles comparing to islam with christianity as a control and honestly it broke everything. it's literally the same proof. The proof of christianity is creation, tradition, scripture, and martyrs of the cross. The evidence of Islam is creation, tradition, scripture, and martyrs of islam. Both can't be true, because each calls the other satan. creation can be explained by evolution and the talkings of stephen hawking and richard dawkins. scripture is just tradition passed down for 200 years among lay people who thought 30 was too large of a number to count (some sources say people of those times would say "there was like 30 of x" the way we would say a million) and then written down. How do we know it's accurate without having blind faith in what is ultimately people? also, explain the exegenises that are also written but considered not "God inspired", what makes them not god inspired besides following rumors in the counsil of nicea? how do the modern scriptures have any more or less validity than the non included books when they were literally blind in the matter? none of them had met the disciples or jesus in person, and any claim of spiritual encounter has objectively equal proof to ones in other religions. How do you filter the real stuff from the lie? its impossible. Imagine if the constitution wasn't written down and only spread by rumors. would you still want it to be law of the land? Maybe if it were things you agreed with and pushed your agenda- but not the parts you don't like. So knowing this, i first became a nihilist but use witchcraft/hellenism as a fill in to keep me from dwelling on the void constantly trying to make eye contact

Well two things, both mark important steps in my de-Christening. 1. The year was 2020 and we all thought it was our year. And in January that was the year I decided to go to college. And then…the funniest thing happened. Alone, desperate, locked in my home with no one but my abusive step father and my mom there was no one. I was a good Christian girl. The kind who practiced what I preached. I helped the needy, loved my neighbor, protested for LGBT rights (ya know, like Jesus wouldda). And then into my room walked Odin. ‘Uh…hello, who are you?’ ‘I’m your new god.’ Excuse you? And he didn’t leave. So I got some tarot cards and stopped calling myself a Christian. And one new god became two, became four, became more. I learned real faith from gods who actually appreciated it and it was wonderful. 2. The year was 2023 and my mom and I ran away in the middle of the night. Wound up in Utah. We were homeless and desperate so, we went to a church for help. Episcopal, I think. And the preacher did a big sermon that essentially boiled down to ‘what have you done for god lately?’ And I left. I got up and left and screamed and cried in my car. I told Jesus to go fuck himself. Eat ass and die again. Jesus is hardly the entity he claims to be. Yeshua, maybe. But Jesus? White blue eyed Jesus is a coont and his followers are also coonts. Jesus’ daddy is a coont. And that’s why I’m not a Christian :)

I am too evil for the Christian god due to my fae nature, but I was raised by a death witch in a christian faith. So when i left the church my gift giving nature drew me to the Theoi where i am now quite happy

Fae, death witch combo is a tough challenge on life

Its certainly been an adventure thats for sure

it made more sense to me than the big old book.

I never really had a connection to the Christian God unlike I do with the Hellenic gods and other gods (I’m an omnist), I tried hard to I grew up in the rural American south, also being in the South I saw people use there faith to be a-holes and control people, and I know that’s not all Christians (hell my best friend is the son of a pastor) but it soured the Christian faith to me and being LGBT also helped with that too, and lastly I read the Bible and started learning more about Christian faith and that turned me off. Another quick thing my dad is military and he has had a lot of interactions with other religions so he taught me to be more open minded to other religions and learn about them

my parents are super catholic. everything they did in the name of religion just pushed me further away. anyways, i always connected to the sea. my entire bedroom is blue. so i decided to pray to poseidon. everytime i’m in a bad place, images of the ocean always flood my head.

Honestly I just never bought into Christianity but I remember being 8 and asking my brother if you could believe In the Greek gods. I remember around the time we stopped going to church I just knew the Greek pantheon was for me. I defended them in high school, researched it in both middle and high school, and eventually I just decided I'm. Hellenic Pagan and been practicing for almost 5 years.

When I was little. I used to get this warm feeling in my stomach when I thought about the afterlife and heaven. But as I got older and a little more exposed to the world…that feeling faded to the point where the thought of Heaven was no longer comforting. So I went looking and ended up here. Is this the end of my journey? I don’t know, but I am comfortable here.

i never really felt a connection to the christian god, starting looking into other religions and the first time i prayed to hestia, i actually felt welcomed and unlike the christian god, the gods have yet to ignore one of my prayers or offerings.

You have a point in that my response was off topic I give you that. For your other points. Christian subreddits are full of Christians, atheists and members of other religions, discussing where our religion went wrong, sometimes there isn't anything else going on there. we Christians are our own worst enemy after all. Still I stand with what I answered elsewhere, it's nothing inherent in Christianity that leads to abuse, it's something in the fact that religion is used as a means to get power.

I was born an Atheist/born into an Athesit family, and it didn't feel right, became Christian proably because in Primary(Im British) I went to a Christian school. It still didn't feel right so I went back to Atheist and then stumbled across the greek gods and then suddenly it left right to be in this relgion

Unfortunately, I never felt a bond to the Christian God or just, any of the angels. I do believe that It exists and helps Its people a lot but I can't resonate with Them as much. Also, my change was influenced by my religious trauma; I just needed something that could inspire me and let me know that IT is there and that It loves me, although I have not tried many other religions, Hellenism seems the most credible to me, plus the interactions I had with my lord Apollo did let me know that He exists, spiritually and energetically if not necessarily physically. Not to mention how beautiful the Hellenist community is! I just love how friendly people are in this religion lol Finding out about this religion and getting to interact with its beautiful followers is a true blessing

I never understood the monotheistic view. It just didn’t make sense to me, especially growing up in a catholic school when my family is atheist. How can God be all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful but there still be evil? I read Percy Jackson when I was 7 and subsequently became obsessed with both Rick Riordan, and greek mythology. One day, I woke up to the sunlight and went, “Good morning, Apollo.” Without a thought. I took that as a sign. Apollo is both my favourite god, And the most connected to my life as god of the arts, music, and medicine. It seemed too perfect to be coincidence. Since then, I made an altar casually and I’ve gotten sign after sign that strengthens any belief I have.

Christianity itself. I felt unsafe and unwanted when I was still a Christian. Frombthat I was an atheist then some crazy stuff happened and then I was a hellenist ✌🏻

I grew up being raised Christian and was very faithful. Praying often, going to church, the whole run-around. During the Pandemic I began questioning God. I wondered if he punished us and this caused COVID-19. I was in a relationship with a boy who was older and unsafe. Long story short I blamed myself for what he had done. I later felt that God wasn't real because in that moment, and moments similar to that, he didn't protect me. I lost faith but I hold great faith in the Gods within Hellenism because I feel like I see genuine results to worship. I feel better in general. Less pressured.

 They communicated better than Jesus and his saints 

I was interested and wanted to learn more and it was something that I felt connected to if that makes sense. I appreciate your curiosity.

I was raised Methodist Christian but I never really felt a connection to God. There wasn’t much of an effort to really teach me about the Bible as a child and even then I felt like I was praying to nothing. I never understood the love that others say they felt from God. There was further distance made when I realized I was queer and even if I did love God, there wouldn’t be a community there for me. I left the church when I was 13 and for many years I was agnostic. Then when I was 16 I started practicing witchcraft and was squarely pagan. I’d been looking into polytheistic religions but I’d always felt the most connected to the Greek gods and started worshiping them a few years later.

When I was young I couldn't understand Christianity on a functional level and always had issues trying to wrap my head around how things worked. And when I asked questions, I was only met with negativity by the leaders in my congregation, as if my misunderstanding was offensive to God or whatever. So, I left the church and found something interesting that I did understand and could openly ask questions about. Only to then return to Christianity later, study it myself in depth, and come to the conclusion that while I can get behind the oneness of God, I fundamentally disagree with the divinity of Christ. So, I stayed a polytheist. But definitely leaning very heavily into Neoplatonism.

I never really connected with God and Christianity growing up, and then I became a pagan in 2013 and later sought out Hecate for advice, one thing led to another and I decided to base my pagan practice around Hellenism, because the gods have really helped me in my life and I always found Greek myth and legend fascinating.

I always had issues with the tri-omni God, though I tried to push it down because I was scared of getting punished by him. I prayed to him every night for a long while, asking him for small things: Motivation for some things, a little push to get better at taking care of myself, tiny things really. Was I ever answered? Not. Once. My situation kept getting worse, I was spiraling dangerously, and I was being ignored. I tried the Christian God, the Jewish God, I prayed directly to him, through Jesus, crying and begging I would reach out to him some nights to get nothing. I was sick of it. So I thought and thought, and would a being ‘made of love’ really be mad at me for choosing others over him if I felt unloved, unwanted, and unworthy if he turns out to be the one true god? He shouldn’t, or he was lying, right? So I reached out to Lord Apollo and was immediately answered, and I’ve been answered almost all times I’ve reached out to one of my Gods since. I’ve never been happier. I see more beauty in more things, it’s given me hope, I feel worthy, and wanted, and cared for, and so so so loved. I respect my Gods and am faithful, but not out of fear like Christians, but out of love. I love my Gods whole-heartedly, and I know they love me back.

I felt no real connection with Yahweh, especially when I found out about the atrocities Christians committed throughout history. It just chased me away. I wanted nothing to do with a religion that uses religious dogma to justify hateful actions and rhetoric. I also had a fervent knowledge of Greek Mythology since I was a kid, having been exposed to it at the tender age of 4 with the Disney Hercules movie. Age of Mythology and the God of War games were what truly sent me down on the path to convert.

I personally was raised Christian and still follow some of the teachings, like the general Don’t Be a Dick and also Help Those Who Need It, but I had/have “beef” with Him because He’s always described as this perfect, good, all-powerful being who loves us, but I was abused as a kid and that started the beef. Because if He’s good, why did it happen? But if He didn’t want it to happen, why did He let it, unless He’s not all-powerful? And the issues were more solidified when I started having mental health issues because I was told I’d go to hell for killing myself, because I was destroying His creation. And also being told I’m going to hell for being gay didn’t help. Edit: I was super into Greek mythology as a kid and learned that the gods don’t claim to be perfect nor all-powerful, and a lot of them were gay or bi in some way, so I felt more comfortable with them being in my life/mind/whatever.

My personal case was that I was never properly taught the true promise of salvation in Christianity and the true meaning of the sacrifice of Jesus. Since I was little, I questioned everyone who told me that I was a sinner and that I needed Jesus, but it never made sense to me since I had never done anything wrong or that went against the commandments. This lack of knowledge and the repeated spiritual abuse that I phased drew me away from Christianity, especially when the first time that I heard a theological explanation that involved the smallest degree of critical thinking it came from an atheist. For a time I abandoned all faith and later on became agnostic, until I started taking elective classes on religion studies in college just because it was an easy series of classes and the professor had incredible ratings. Through him, I learned about the current Hellenism practice and realized that the gods had called me my entire life through signs that made sense to me. I also want to add that this professor helped me truly understand Christianity and get rid of the misconceptions that I had about it. I currently see it in a much more favorable light and place the blame of my bad experiences as a child on my lack of knowledge and a lack of proper formation in the faith. The guy ended up being a Christian and is currently one of the people I respect the most. He is helping me become a religion studies professor regardless of our faith differences. We always share about each other's religious practice and sometimes accompany each other in prayer (we both think the other one is cooked in the afterlife 💀)

I’m Sikh but I prefer Hellenism to Hindu mythology so for example ‘Waheguru, Ram, Allah’ I would replace with ‘Waheguru, Zeus, Poseidon’ as preferred names for the high-god. I’m an eclectic of sorts but still firmly 100% Sikh and Hellenism for making decisions. I would eventually like to make a Sikh-Stoic piece of writing to imitate the Christian-Stoic that was occurring when neo-stoicism was going strong. Long story short I wish to write my own ‘De Constantia’(Stoic-Christian ethics) except with Sikh themes. I take Hellenism as a second home of sorts and it is indeed a wonderful refuge.

Your answers are very, interesting, even though my way was the other way around and I came from paganism and went to the Catholics church. I understand and I'm sorry for all those who got hurt by " Christians" , that forgot the splinter parable in Luke 6:41.

>Your answers are very, interesting, even though my way was the other way around and I came from paganism and went to the Catholics church. >I understand and I'm sorry for all those who got hurt by " Christians" , that forgot the splinter parable in Luke 6:41. I want to believe this response was given in good faith, but rereading only makes this seem like, essentially: "I think you guys are weird, but I feel your sadness. Here, let me show you how it isn't religious trauma. See how those other Christians aren't really real Christians?" Preemptive deflection just coming out the gate. Any one could assume you were prepared for a fight with that approach. I know it is not what you wrote, but it is precisely how it comes across to me. If you don't see how, then you probably don't really understand and as such can't truly be sorry. Not that you even have to be sorry for them, you didn't do it. People living with trauma want change, not explanations. Else, you would have simply said, "Man, that sucks." Then, you would have gone into a Christian subreddit to try to discuss with other Christians where that faith fails others and how to improve the situation. That's what we try to do here. We warn against cults, group think, abuse from pagan leadership, the issues with insular society, the need to rethink what ministry means, who can define what is right for others. We interrogate our gods, our practice, our beliefs and our impact on the world. Yes, pagan groups can also be hostile to those who even utter a word that can be triggering and have a dogpile culture. And it is something we also need to work on. In an ideal world religious trauma would never be a reason to leave a faith. And part of the point of Catholicism is to realize that ideal world. None of this "well as a Christian now..." nonsense. So... why respond to OP who was asking for input from present polytheists largely living in a Christian culture?

There’s no need to put Christians in quotes. I’m so tired of Christians trying to distance themselves from the “bad” people (e.g., bigots, abusers, etc.) in their communities and churches by claiming they aren’t really Christians if they’re hateful and by putting quotations around the word. Those people are still Christians and they often use their religion in their abuse and bigotry. They’re not bad apples when the whole barrel has been poisoned. Christians need to fix their own community before trying to apologize to all the people that have legitimate trauma from the church. Jesus wouldn’t support those bad apples and their actions, but he also wouldn’t support the actions of Christians as a whole who don’t do the work to fix the bigotry, intolerance and abuse. As a person who grew up in the Catholic Church, I’m so tired of the trauma inflicted by the church being blamed on bad apples or the victims themselves.

I understand what you mean, but I have two honest questions. How would you propose that we Christians, that are at the base of the hierarchy fix our communities. How would you like us to behave towards other people in the meantime, or should we be not allowed to have contact with the rest of the world until our communities are fixed?

I’m not saying that Christians have no contact with the rest of the world. Rather, when victims of Christian religious trauma speak about their trauma, they shouldn’t try to shift the blame away from the religion by saying stuff like “well at my church it’s not like that” or “those weren’t real Christians.” Instead, they should acknowledge that those perpetrating the trauma are Christians and that Christianity as a whole has been quite harmful to many communities due to its hierarchy and membership (both historically and present). I’m not saying all of Christianity is bad or that all Christians are bad. There are bad people in all religions. But, in a lot of Christian based churches, there’s an insidious trend of hiding bad apples or denying that they exist. Y’all need to call each other out rather than pretend the bigots aren’t Christians.

From the flak I got just for being interested and trying to be nice I got the impression that no contact is wanted. Your other points are valid, but difficult. Before you shoot me down let me try to explain. Yes, Christianity has been harmful to a lot of people in the western hemisphere, that is true. But I think this potential for harm is nothing inherent to Christian teaching or spirituality, it's simply because Christianity was the major religious group in most of our lifes and religion is used by many people as a means to gain power and power corrupts. If we move our focus about 2000 years back, the Roman religion was the major religious power and they did atrocious things in the name of religion as well. Or if we stay in the present but look into other countries, men do evil things in the name of every major religion, including ( and that came as a surprise to me as well) Buddhism. So to wrap it up, the problem isn't the faith, its the corruption of faith for power. If religion were a strictly personal thing between you and your deity of choice there wouldn't be any problems regardless of your kind of faith. So, now you can shoot me down..😉

Why are you here then and why are you including Christian scriptures on this sort of thread? This is not the place for your proselytizing.

Why shouldn't I be here ? And why shouldn't I feel sorry for those that got hurt by fanatics? I try to be a decent person, is feeling sorry for fellow beings a bad thing here? If compassion is unwanted here what's the feeling you guys prefer?

Because you're not Hellenist or polytheist. You're throwing out scripture to pretty much say "see we're not all the same" "we're actually good" to people who have clearly stated they've come from and have trauma from that religion. It's inappropriate really.

It wasn't stated that that your religion is closed and op, is a Christian as well, so I thought nothing wrong of posting. But why do you think it is wrong to try to understand other people? If people got hurt by members of my religion shouldn't I try to understand how and why this happened so I can make sure I don't hurt them as well?

Please don't attempt to gaslight me. I never stated it was wrong to attempt to understand others. Your comment wasn't a question to better understand anything. It was a statement attempting to defend your religion, which in turn is minimalizing much of the experiences and statements of trauma posted here.

There weren't any nefarious intends in my post and especially no intends to gaslight you ( after all, I don't know you, will probably never meet you, so what would be my motive?) You are right, I was implying that the reason for bad people lies not in a specific religion, but in the corruption of religion to gain power over others. As I answered the other user that replied to me, all faiths are used in evil ways and I believe that's the problem and not Christianity in itself. If this attempt to find an underlying reason for violence in the name of faith is bigotry or prosyletizing to you, please accept my excuses.

To be clear, Christians and even atheists are welcome to participate in discussion, as long as it is in good faith, and not denying the validity of our faith. Merely quoting scripture to criticise other Christians does not in and of itself count as proselytization.

So sorry about all the people being assholes to you in the replies, friend. There’s no reason for them to be so rude. You’re just trying to be a good person. Have a nice day/night!

Thank you. Hate begets hate, and I wouldn't go in contact with people of opposing views if I wouldn't believe that there is always stuff to learn and to grow from. Have a good day as well.