I've been turned off by my religious experiences. As a kid I went to Catholic church with my grandmother, studied with my Jehova's Witness friend, went to a 7th Day Adventist school for jr. high, and a Baptist school in 10th grade. Once in a while our family would go to a Unitarian church, which is really liberal and out-there.
By the end of 10th grade I was completely terrified and confused. Given my tendency to take things to heart, I was afraid of going to hell (score for religion), and didn't know which church's beliefs to follow to prevent that from happening. It seemed that the only way to avoid it was to become a nun. Each religion has its own strict rules that you MUST follow if you are to avoid eternal damnation, and they all conflict with each other! Things began changing for me at age 18 when I began reading psychic Sylvia Browne's books who is a Gnostic.
You may think "oh weird," but the spiritual viewpoints she, with a Catholic/Jewish/Episcopalian background has, make much more sense to me than all the crazy BS of the various churches I've attended. I also like that she isn't trying to push anything on anyone, saying to take what you like and leave the rest. I needed whatever spiritual support I fouund in her books, because the next year was the beginning of the darkest years of my life. I needed that spirituality to keep me going. You need something to give you some kind of hope, otherwise....I don't know.
Even though I found spiritual beliefs that resonated with me, I'm far from one of those blissfully-happy churchgoers (who frankly scare me) who have complete faith in God, and that life will turn out okay.
Even though I feel like church may be a place I could find a support system, I don't go because I despise the negativity and hellfire-and-brimstone lectures. Although I have been thinking about going back to the Unity church which is much more liberal--a far cry from the traditional church mentality. I mean, it's gotta be if it has a gay/lesbian support group which I don't think the Catholics or Baptists are considering any time soon (lol). The Unitarian church is a little "woo-woo" for my taste sometimes, but overall it's pretty cool, and a welcome change from the traditional idea of a church. Hmmm...maybe I will try it again.