Nazggul

Personally I was raised Roman Catholic, I received my first communion but never made it to Confirmation. My family started losing touch with the church around that time and I went right along with. I did attend a Catholic High School however.

I think the fact that my family wasn't pushing the doctrine down my throat (as was the case for some of my cousins) I had the benefit of deciding on my beliefs for myself. Eventually I came around to the idea that I just don't know.

Any Church out there will give you their version of what is and isn't, but from my point of view they are just repeating doctrine and that doctrine isn't based on any historically accurate facts because the facts are colored by thousands of years of interpretation designed to control and influence the hearts and minds of the people. That debate aside (because its a hot one for those with faith), I never had a need to explain this to my parents, they were already there ahead of me, although they still believe definitively that there is a God and I don't necessarily.

To answer your question, yes I have had this conversation with my parents but since we were both on the same side of the conversation it was short. However, discussing this with my cousin it is a very different story. While I totally respect his ability to "keep the faith" so to speak, it is a dicey conversation. He so vehemently attacks anything that challenges it. I knew that topic was off limits with him when he vociferously professed the Prime Mover argument as a proof that there is a God. I ended the discussion there since logic clearly wasn't going to be part of it.

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