I was raised in a Christian faith (Evangelical Lutheran Church). Went to Sunday school and Christian Kindergarten, prayed every night until I left the faith officially. The first time I remember questioning it all was when I was around six, and the teacher talked about The book of Genesis. It didn’t make sense to me and the God in it felt cruel and unfair.

My parents wanted me to go to a confirmation camp when I was 15. By that time, I already knew I didn’t believe. We negotiated, and my parents agreed to give me a three-week language course to London and 1k euros if I went to confirmation camp (my parents aren’t wealthy so this was a significant contribution). So I went, and I did my very best. I read the Bible and some other important books, had conversations with the priests and wrote diary about what we had discussed.

After all that, I still haven’t found a reason to believe. I separated from the Church as soon as I could. I’m rarely interested in talking about religion, because I have found that most people don’t really know much about anything, they haven’t actually thought about it. Religions are interesting, but because I don’t believe in any of them, I haven’t felt the need to define myself in that area.

One of my best friends is religious, and studies theology. In one of her classes, they had to write an essay with the title “Do atheists get offended if you question their belief?”, so she asked my opinion. I told her “there’s nothing there for you to offend”, because the whole question seemed paradoxical to me.