Excellent posts, Freda! I went through a process quite similar to yours. There was certainly an Anti-Christian undercurrent in my parents and in my upbringing...not that it was very overt...but it was there in the form of a sort of humorous (if tolerant) contempt for church people and religious people. It took me until my middle 20s to become aware of this kneejerk form of judgement I was applying to people just because they belonged to a religion, and I've been working to get rid of carrying that prejudice ever since, because, like any other prejudice, it's an ugly thing.

I am well aware of the bad things done by religious people over the ages. And the good things too. And I am well aware of the bad things done by anti-religious people over the ages. And the good things too.

But I have no basis for making automatic negative judgements upon other individuals because they are or are not "religious". Nor do I have to take sides in some sort of crusade to either promote religion or stamp it out.

People have to look at their own grudges that they've been carrying around for most of their lives, and question them stringently. Most people don't do that. They just go on carrying the same old grudges until the day they die and inflicting them on whoever crosses their path. That's not thinking behaviour, and it doesn't help resolve anything. It just repeats the negativity of the past and produces more negativity in the future. It's an indulgence that the indulger would be wise to let go of. If he did, he'd be a lot more enjoyable to be around.