harmony wrote:I missed out on some of the things I should have experienced, because of the choices I made. I listen to the new Brooks and Dunn song about being proud of the house we made... and I remember how young I was when I got married, how unprepared, how vulnerable, how insecure... and I never want my kids to go through that. But making that decision wasn't a totally bad thing. Because of that, I never experienced a hangover, never had to abort an unplanned pregnancy, never wondered where my next meal was coming from, never blew my money on drugs or binge drinking. I never had a police record, never got addicted to nicotine, never worried about a sexually transmitted disease. So maybe it's not all bad.
I agree, some people NEED structured religion telling them how to live their lives.
However, there are MANY who never lived lived a day in any religion and have had even less problems than you throughout their lives. Adherents to religion are not the only people to make wise choices, and conversely, non religious people are not the only ones to make bad choices.
Keep in mind it is hard to find people like this if you are buried in the middle of a religious area, Mormon or other. Living in Utah and Idaho made it difficult to see outside of the LDS society without a biased view of perceived non religious people.
Moving to California changed my world view. I now have long term relationships with friends that are from all walks of life including Atheists, feminists, unwed couples who have lived together for 15-20 years and gay/lesbian people and couples. There is good and bad everywhere, religion attempts to make it appear that they have the corner on the market of good.