Quote from Kollin;531824:
the mere mention of a mythiological man who lives in the clouds and has the ability to do whatever he wants makes me think you are crazy.
The concept itself is crazy, but, the people themselves can be nice, and are perfectly mentally sane. Chalk it up to years of persistent force of beliefs and concepts. I call that social engineering and indoctrination, not crazy. If one grew up without any exposure to religion and a good education, I'd imagine many wouldn't believe.
But yeah... On topic, when I was young I had a great interest in the origins of the universe, life, etc. So I made the decision to attend classes at my local church, as recommended by family. I thought what I learned was fascinating until I got older, started questioning things, etc. My family isn't religious at all, yet they believe in the christian god, for the record of the story. One day, I don't know why, my mom decides it would be a good idea to go to church and drag me along. At this time I didn't care much for religion, yet still believed in a god. I told her I didn't want to go, but, apparently I had to. Long story short, people gave us dirty looks because I used the kneeling rests at the bottom seats as a foot rests while sitting down, and didn't want to join in on singing or whatever the hell they were doing. Ridiculous. Never went back again. Sadly at the cost of embarrassing my mom though.
Forcing kids to go to chrurch when they don't care defeats the whole purpose of religion. I've always been under the impression it was supposed to be something you need to actually believe in yourself, otherwise going to church, etc. is pointless.