How your parents handled your relationship with your extended family is kinda sad. I can relate. Because of my weird family structure, my friendships have become very important to me. So I say to you, find an atheist meetup near Thomas, WV. (Your gonna have to drive a while I'm sure) Make some friends that aren't gonna look down on you because of what you belief (or don't). Since I'm definitely a computer geek, I know on-line communities can be fun and rewarding. As you can tell i love communicating with people on line so send me a message on here anytime you want.

Just remember, our lives are to short for them not to be happy and loneliness serves no one.

Can i ask how long ago you sent that letter? I would love to give you better advice but i don't want to pry in matters that are none of my business. They say time heals all wounds, you never know how they will think of you in the future. You might be pleasantly surprised.

(rant on)

BTW, in a previous comment you said you were "alone". You better have meant you missed your family. Because based on the description of yourself (nice!!) you have no excuse for being alone. Its a pet peeve of my mine when hot chicks say they are lonely. "Boo Hoo I'm so sexy and everybody wants me but I'm all alone". Come on seriously.

(rant off)

OK...first thing i hope the "i'm mud" comment was a joke or at least how they see you and not how you view yourself. Remember, your not on the wrong side of this thing, they are. You have reason, logic and the wonders of science to draw upon. They have an old book. Finally, i'm gonna guess you were disfellowshipped like many of us ex-JW. It really doesn't matter if you were or not its jut that may who are disfellowshipped sometimes have a much harder time moving on. If that describes you, then you might want to check out this site http://www.jehovahswitnessrecovery.com/    Cheers.

Well you see my father was an elder and he led the rest of our family out. So my situation would not really apply to anyone else. Sorry, besides you found a way out, what was your path to freedom, so to speak? They (my family) ended up going to other churches and I am the only one who became an atheist. Just remember "You can't reason someone out of something they didn't reason themselves into." Hang in there.

I hear that, not much fun (even if you have a brother sharing the apartment with you). Would rather be out or with someone.

 

Hope you have a great weekend! =)

Hmm, that's kind of religion all over, isn't it?

Heh, holy crap.  Do your parents subscribe to the proscription of blood transfusions and all of the other insanity that goes with that particular denomination?

 

Yeah, at least Catholicism mostly just causes boredom.  I can't blame you for wanting to go back to it, at that age.  What sort of stuff did you hate so much about the Jehovah's Witnesses?

Ohhhhhhhhh.  Yeah, tourist locations are bound to be more liberal and accepting than similarly-small, backwater towns.  I didn't know that was a ski area.

 

And wow, what the hell?  I can understand Catholics ditching the Vatican and joining some generic, neutral denomination, like Methodism, Lutheranism, or Episcopalianism.  Jehovah's Witnesses are just lunatics.  What made your parents pick that denomination?  What made them leave the Catholic church, anyway?

Welcome aboard! =)  Hope you're doing well today...