The way I was raised had a significant effect on how I came to be

the person I am today, but not in the way most people would assume. I
grew up in a wealthy Christian family. I went to church every Sunday
from the time I could be away from my mother. I was spoiled, and
constantly told that all my familys blessings were thanks to a God I
had never met or seen before. From the time I could talk, I memorized
Bible verses, I blindly thanked God for everything, and despite being
unbearably spoiled, I was a pretty sweet little kid. When my father was
diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2007, my family became even more
religious than we had ever been. Even in his sick and feeble state, my
white father was dominant over my Hispanic mother. At no point did
anyone in our family ever blame God for giving my father cancer. They
continued to pray and worship, more feverishly than ever. None of this
seemed strange to me at that point in time. But it was the last time I
would thank God for his twisted blessings.
Despite being given a three year expiration date, my father is
fine. Ever since they found out he was not going to die from the
cancer, my parents started to behave differently. Once again, they
became ever more devout in their religious faith. I, however, was the
opposite. I couldnt help but wonder, what was the point of a
supposedly loving God causing such a traumatic event to affect our
family like this? Asking myself this led me to ask myself even more
questions. Over the years, I became exceedingly critical of my parents

religion. It was no longer something I believed in and I think they

realized that. But instead of allow me to think for myself, they
proceeded to force their faith on me even more. I think this was the
tipping point. If God gave humans free will, why were my parents not
doing the same for me? Isnt the goal of Christianity to be more Christlike? I did what any young kid would do, and I rebelled. In this way, I
eventually gained my freedom.
To some people, my background story may not seem like it was a
struggle. But to those people I would say that there is nothing worse
than not being allowed to think for oneself. My experience has taught
me several things. First, people will always believe what they want to
believe. You cant force someone to think the same way you do. In a
way, I am thankful to my parents for trying though, or else I may have
never opened my eyes to the truth. I no longer claim to partake in any
religion, because I have found that every religion has a little bit of truth
in it. I like the Christian beliefs of charity and kindness. I like the
pantheist belief that the universe created itself and nature is pure.
While feminism is not technically a religion, I tend to share most of my
beliefs with the idea. I think all people are equal. My experiences have
inspired me to want to travel and share my beliefs with other people
that may be oppressed by the beliefs that society forces on them. I
also want to travel to experience new ideas. My upbringing has caused
me to become very open minded. I think everyone should believe what

makes him or her happy, and even if I dont agree with it, nobodys
beliefs are wrong.
Another large part of why I denounced my religious beliefs is
because religions tend to believe in sin. If you sin, you are judged. I
cannot stand this concept. Who has the authority to declare what is a
sin and what is not? If something makes you happy, you should be able
to do it without being judged for it.
I am happy with the person I am today. One of the biggest
problems I had with Christianity was that it taught girls that they are
inferior to men. I experienced this a lot by watching the way my
parents interacted. I hated how my father believed he was superior to
my mother no matter what. Partners, and all humans in general, should
be equals. Teaching girls to be submissive is wrong and now that I have
unchained myself from ideas like that, I feel more confident and
comfortable with myself.