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My parents always took us to Baptist church when we were little. We stopped going when I was about 10. My parents were into an alternative lifestyle, and I think they felt uncomfortable about it. I started going again when I was about 14 due to a friend of mine. The youth group was cool, and the services were uplifting with the music. Personally I didn't know much about the Bible at the time. Some of the extremism in the church bothered me (talking in tongues, people telling us we should burn all of our records because of back masking, etc.). I remember a lesson in school about how a different interpretation in a couple of passages in the Bible made it politically acceptable for the Church of England to break away from the Catholic Church. I remember asking someone in church whether there were other discrepancies in the Bible, and he screamed at me that there were no discrepancies. That was it for me for church for years.
Fast foward about 10 years, and my wife was going to church every Sunday morning (Catholic). I went with her a few times and thought it would be good to go back but not to Catholicism. We ended up settling on Congregationalism (United Church of Christ) which is extremely liberal. I found that the only way I could take organized religion was if it gave you the freedom to believe what you needed to believe. I have yet to find two people that can completely agree on the nature of God. I find aspects of many different religions appealing, and I use what I need to reach what I consider to be my higher power. I'm probably more faithful now than at any time in my life, but it is only because I have the freedom to worship the way I choose around others that support that freedom.
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