I come from a family of Catholics, of which my father is the only one who doesn't believe. I think I lucked out, being around religion but not having to take part in church or belief, but it's still effected my life greatly.

They're not bad people, but I feel there is something fundamentally wrong with teaching anything you can't prove to be true as if it is fact, especially if it's meant to dictate morality, which religion often is.

This is the issue I have with the Catholicism Lite I was offered by my grandparents, especially. They would just say things about God as if they were true, so when I grew up and realized, hey, maybe I'm not sure about this, maybe I don't believe in this, it kind of messed me up.

It all basically came down to this: Not a good Catholic = going to hell. (Most every religion seems to have this same sentiment. Our religion is right, and the wrongdoers will be punished.)

Eternal damnation is a lot for a seven year old to take in.

I have a slew of doubts about myself and a terrible fear of death that I directly attribute to what I was taught as a kid. To be fair, I do have OCD, so it's not like I'd be just peachy had I not been exposed to it, but I believe my obsession themes are the type of existentialist nonsense they are because of the Catholicism I grew up around.

And I had it a lot easier than a lot of kids who grew up around religion.

This is a touchy subject, but I pretty much agree with your whole sentiment.