The first tenet of all "isms" is to seek and maintain control of children so as to perpetuate the message among those least able to analyze its content and import. Access to the young is sought by every dictatorship and religion because indoctrination is the key and that works best on the young (and the very young), the genre most lacking in maturity. It is the reason they are targeted by pedophiles. That many of such children have been able to apply their adult sense and developed intelligence enough to break with religion is amazing in itself.
Wayne — absolutely. And it’s not just dictatorships and churches. McDonald’s, tobacco companies, soda giants, social media platforms — they all figured out the same playbook: get ’em young, hook ’em early, and you’ve got a customer for life.
The Happy Meal wasn’t designed for happiness — it was designed for brand imprinting.
Joe Camel wasn’t a cartoon — he was a recruitment officer.
And TikTok isn’t entertainment — it’s data mining with a backbeat.
Everyone who wants power, money, or influence knows the same rule:
shape the youth, and you shape the future.
The sad part is how many parents never realize the battle is happening right under their roof.
Thanks for pushing the conversation deeper, brother. Always appreciate your perspective.
Great read. I was raised going to catholic church every Sunday. I hated it when I was made to go. In my early adulthood I wanted to go. I loved my church until. Hang with me im going to spin in another direction. Our church band leader was the best. She also happened to be in a same sex marriage that like all marriages she pretty much kept to herself. The church found this out and not only fired her as band leader but kicked her out of the church. Im sorry. My God isnt like that. I am no longer religious I am spiritual. It works well this way
Patricia — thank you for sharing that. And I’m sorry you had to witness that kind of cruelty dressed up as righteousness. Nothing will shatter a person’s trust in a church faster than seeing love punished and hypocrisy rewarded.
Your band leader wasn’t hurting anyone. She was serving the church with her gift. She was showing up, giving her time, lifting people’s spirits — and they threw her out because her marriage didn’t fit their checklist. That’s not holiness. That’s fear hiding behind scripture.
And you’re right: God isn’t like that. People are.
A lot of us had the same journey — religion pushed us out, but spirituality pulled us back to something real. Something personal. Something that doesn’t require shame or smallness.
You didn’t lose faith.
You lost patience for people who misused it.
And honestly? That’s a sign of growth, not rebellion.
Thank you for bringing this piece of your story into the room. Somebody reading this needed to hear it tonight.
Daniel — you’re not wrong. The fabric may have different stitching, but a lot of the threads are the same: fear, control, and keeping people in line with the threat of disappointment, shame, or eternal punishment.
Catholicism historically leans on ritual and hierarchy.
Evangelicals lean on emotional pressure and fear-based urgency.
Different tools, same toolbox.
But at the end of the day, neither system reflects the core message they claim: compassion, honesty, humility, and treating people like actual human beings instead of spiritual chess pieces.
You’re calling it straight — and I respect it. Keep the insight coming, brother.
Daniel — you’re not wrong. The fabric may have different stitching, but a lot of the threads are the same: fear, control, and keeping people in line with the threat of disappointment, shame, or eternal punishment.
Catholicism historically leans on ritual and hierarchy.
Evangelicals lean on emotional pressure and fear-based urgency.
Different tools, same toolbox.
But at the end of the day, neither system reflects the core message they claim: compassion, honesty, humility, and treating people like actual human beings instead of spiritual chess pieces.
You’re calling it straight — and I respect it. Keep the insight coming, brother.
Lance — brother, your story hits right in the center of this whole conversation. So many of us grew up in that same pressure cooker: strict Catholic household, ironclad expectations, and a “family image” that mattered more than the questions burning inside us.
You weren’t allowed to explore faith — you were expected to perform it.
Altar Boy. Lector. Model Catholic kid.
Not because it fit you… but because it fit the picture.
And like a lot of us, the moment you got your own space — your own oxygen — the whole structure looked different. That’s when you finally get to ask: “What do I actually believe, separate from what I was told to be?”
It’s powerful that you’re talking about it now.
It gives other people permission to stop pretending and start processing their own story.
And that’s what this space is for — truth without the guilt.
Appreciate you, brother. Always glad you’re in the room.
Hey, Brother, in spite of being an Altar Boy, etc. I was far from a model Catholic kid...
I argued many times nose to nose with priests because I couldn't wrap my head around such concepts as the "immaculate conception", etc.
Also, I argued that, in my book, the Bible was written by men... and was merely a conglomeration- a collection, if you will- of Aesopian fables with morals on how to live your life.
Brenda and I actually live according to the Ten Commandments and Seven Deadlies without actually being a part of any organized religion.
Lance — now that’s the real story. You weren’t some scripted Catholic golden child — you were the kid asking the questions everybody else was too scared to say out loud.
And let’s be real: priests don’t forget the kid who stood nose-to-nose with them over the “immaculate conception” or pointed out that the Bible was written by men and edited like a centuries-long group project. That’s not rebellion — that’s a mind refusing to be spoon-fed mythology without meaning.
And you’re right: a lot of the Bible does read like Aesop’s Fables for grown-ups — moral lessons wrapped in stories meant to guide behavior. There’s nothing wrong with that… unless people start pretending every metaphor is a historical event.
What I respect most is this:
You and Brenda actually live by the values people claim — honesty, loyalty, discipline, doing right by others — without the institutional guilt trip or performative church attendance.
You’re proof that morality doesn’t require membership.
You don’t need a pew to have principles.
And honestly? That’s a healthier relationship with “faith” than most institutions ever produce.
Glad you shared this, brother. It adds a whole other layer to the conversation.
The first tenet of all "isms" is to seek and maintain control of children so as to perpetuate the message among those least able to analyze its content and import. Access to the young is sought by every dictatorship and religion because indoctrination is the key and that works best on the young (and the very young), the genre most lacking in maturity. It is the reason they are targeted by pedophiles. That many of such children have been able to apply their adult sense and developed intelligence enough to break with religion is amazing in itself.
Wayne — absolutely. And it’s not just dictatorships and churches. McDonald’s, tobacco companies, soda giants, social media platforms — they all figured out the same playbook: get ’em young, hook ’em early, and you’ve got a customer for life.
The Happy Meal wasn’t designed for happiness — it was designed for brand imprinting.
Joe Camel wasn’t a cartoon — he was a recruitment officer.
And TikTok isn’t entertainment — it’s data mining with a backbeat.
Everyone who wants power, money, or influence knows the same rule:
shape the youth, and you shape the future.
The sad part is how many parents never realize the battle is happening right under their roof.
Thanks for pushing the conversation deeper, brother. Always appreciate your perspective.
— Jerry
Great read. I was raised going to catholic church every Sunday. I hated it when I was made to go. In my early adulthood I wanted to go. I loved my church until. Hang with me im going to spin in another direction. Our church band leader was the best. She also happened to be in a same sex marriage that like all marriages she pretty much kept to herself. The church found this out and not only fired her as band leader but kicked her out of the church. Im sorry. My God isnt like that. I am no longer religious I am spiritual. It works well this way
Patricia — thank you for sharing that. And I’m sorry you had to witness that kind of cruelty dressed up as righteousness. Nothing will shatter a person’s trust in a church faster than seeing love punished and hypocrisy rewarded.
Your band leader wasn’t hurting anyone. She was serving the church with her gift. She was showing up, giving her time, lifting people’s spirits — and they threw her out because her marriage didn’t fit their checklist. That’s not holiness. That’s fear hiding behind scripture.
And you’re right: God isn’t like that. People are.
A lot of us had the same journey — religion pushed us out, but spirituality pulled us back to something real. Something personal. Something that doesn’t require shame or smallness.
You didn’t lose faith.
You lost patience for people who misused it.
And honestly? That’s a sign of growth, not rebellion.
Thank you for bringing this piece of your story into the room. Somebody reading this needed to hear it tonight.
— Jerry
Evangelicals, Catholics - still kind of cut from the same fabric. Evangelicals have fear weaponized more than Catholics do, it seems.
Daniel — you’re not wrong. The fabric may have different stitching, but a lot of the threads are the same: fear, control, and keeping people in line with the threat of disappointment, shame, or eternal punishment.
Catholicism historically leans on ritual and hierarchy.
Evangelicals lean on emotional pressure and fear-based urgency.
Different tools, same toolbox.
But at the end of the day, neither system reflects the core message they claim: compassion, honesty, humility, and treating people like actual human beings instead of spiritual chess pieces.
You’re calling it straight — and I respect it. Keep the insight coming, brother.
— Jerry
" If Jesus were here, he'd be turning in his grave " - Homer Simpson. D'oh !
Daniel — you’re not wrong. The fabric may have different stitching, but a lot of the threads are the same: fear, control, and keeping people in line with the threat of disappointment, shame, or eternal punishment.
Catholicism historically leans on ritual and hierarchy.
Evangelicals lean on emotional pressure and fear-based urgency.
Different tools, same toolbox.
But at the end of the day, neither system reflects the core message they claim: compassion, honesty, humility, and treating people like actual human beings instead of spiritual chess pieces.
You’re calling it straight — and I respect it. Keep the insight coming, brother.
— Jerry
As many who have conversed with me or have seen my posts and my comments on others' posts:
I was in exactly the same boat...
A strict Catholic family, attendance required, not voluntary...
Even as a kid I questioned the legitimacy of the belief system, the stories, the Bible, etc.
But, I had to uphold the family image.
I became an Altar Boy, later a Lector.. all to make the family proud...
Once I moved out on my own, all of that changed.
Lance — brother, your story hits right in the center of this whole conversation. So many of us grew up in that same pressure cooker: strict Catholic household, ironclad expectations, and a “family image” that mattered more than the questions burning inside us.
You weren’t allowed to explore faith — you were expected to perform it.
Altar Boy. Lector. Model Catholic kid.
Not because it fit you… but because it fit the picture.
And like a lot of us, the moment you got your own space — your own oxygen — the whole structure looked different. That’s when you finally get to ask: “What do I actually believe, separate from what I was told to be?”
It’s powerful that you’re talking about it now.
It gives other people permission to stop pretending and start processing their own story.
And that’s what this space is for — truth without the guilt.
Appreciate you, brother. Always glad you’re in the room.
— Jerry
Hey, Brother, in spite of being an Altar Boy, etc. I was far from a model Catholic kid...
I argued many times nose to nose with priests because I couldn't wrap my head around such concepts as the "immaculate conception", etc.
Also, I argued that, in my book, the Bible was written by men... and was merely a conglomeration- a collection, if you will- of Aesopian fables with morals on how to live your life.
Brenda and I actually live according to the Ten Commandments and Seven Deadlies without actually being a part of any organized religion.
Lance — now that’s the real story. You weren’t some scripted Catholic golden child — you were the kid asking the questions everybody else was too scared to say out loud.
And let’s be real: priests don’t forget the kid who stood nose-to-nose with them over the “immaculate conception” or pointed out that the Bible was written by men and edited like a centuries-long group project. That’s not rebellion — that’s a mind refusing to be spoon-fed mythology without meaning.
And you’re right: a lot of the Bible does read like Aesop’s Fables for grown-ups — moral lessons wrapped in stories meant to guide behavior. There’s nothing wrong with that… unless people start pretending every metaphor is a historical event.
What I respect most is this:
You and Brenda actually live by the values people claim — honesty, loyalty, discipline, doing right by others — without the institutional guilt trip or performative church attendance.
You’re proof that morality doesn’t require membership.
You don’t need a pew to have principles.
And honestly? That’s a healthier relationship with “faith” than most institutions ever produce.
Glad you shared this, brother. It adds a whole other layer to the conversation.
— Jerry
Thanks, Jerry...
Hey brother you're always welcome