Comment 5 by rod-the-farmer :

I was hoping there might be some callers who said they belong to the group for whom religion "never took". They were exposed to religion as a child, but by 11 to 14, they had already made up their minds it was not for them. I think that is a subject worthy of further research.....what is different about such children ? The child him/herself, or their environment ?

I think of myself as a congenital skeptic. I occupied myself in my preliterate days with a deep appreciation of the natural world. I understood the evangelicals' all-or-nothing approach to the bible at a young age, and after a cursory examination I opted for nothing. I felt no pressure in either direction. I already had a monster under my bed -- why invite another?

My environment was unusual in that it was a series of [mostly] overseas military communities which tended to be self contained, and they never really needed religion as a social focus. After all, the military explicitly provided the social standards for the communities. The general attitude was civil libertarian.