At Catholic mass, I used to believe that the priest would make spikes come out of the seats if you didn't stand up on time. He could also make a giant buzz saw cut your head off if you did not kneel.

Tyler G.

I used to believe for some strange reason that the money you gave to the offering at church was flushed down some special toilet that would transport the money to where it was needed!

C.R.

I was brought up a Catholic and attended a Catholic school. When we had RE classes the topic was regularly raised "Is masturbating a Mortal Sin?" The answer from the teacher was always "Most assuredly YES!!" I was terribly confused as I, not having come accross the word before, had misheard the question as "Is MASS DEBATING a Mortal Sin?" For several years I thought that groups of people having a discussion together were condemned to an eternity of Hellfire when they died!

Chris

My dad is a rabbi, so I was so used to seeing the Star of David, and I figured that this is what all stars looked like. So once I drew a sky full of six-pointed stars, and my dad absolutely adored it... they were just supposed to be stars, but I couldn't tell him for years because he'd looked so proud of my religious statement. ^^

Stargirl

I used to believe Nuns are a third gender, a cross between men and women:)

Anon

We weren't really religious, so i became curious at the age of 3 or 4 why people went to Church or Temple and what the difference was between the two. My parents told me that at temple they worship God and at church they worship God and Jesus.

I was torn because I thought "temple" was a really cool word, but at church you clearly were getting a two-for-one deal!

Elise

When I was young I went to a Catholic school and the only other type of school I knew of was a public school. One day I asked my cousin, "Are you Catholic?" When she answered "no" I said, "Well then you must be public."

Kelsey

When I was a little girl, i recall going to my Catholic church. If, you're not familiar with it, before given communion we would shake hands with the people around us and say "Peace be with you". I always thought they were saying "Peace baby Jew" which also made sense since Jesus is Jewish.

Kristina F.

i used to think that the pope was married but also i thought howcome her wife never appeared on TV

jp

Although my family wasn't Catholic and I didn't even know any Catholics, I did know who the Pope was. When I couldn't figure out why Easter was on a different date every year, I assumed the Pope decided every year when Easter would be celebrated.

Anon

When I was a child attending Catholic church my Mom would tell my sister an I not to let the communion host touch our teeth. It was Jesus's body and if we bit it we would be biting Jesus and He had already suffered enough when he was hung on the cross.

Annmarie

When I was too young to go to confession, I'd watch my parents and others go behind the confessional curtains, and imagined that there were stairways that led down to a dungeon-like large space . . . but I don't think or don't remember what I thought went on down there.

Roger Mexico

I used to believe that religion was something that was in another language. I was raised a Catholic. When I was young it was in Latin at church. My mother is Mexican so it was Spanish at home. It was a long time before I knew otherwise.

Judy

I used to believe God lived in the altar, because ordinary folk were never allowed beyond the altar rail. One night I crept into the church and peeked under the altar cloth to find a very ordinary looking table underneath. That's when I started to get very suspicious about religion.

Shantavira

When I was little, on days when we visited my grandmother, we would go to a different church than we usually did. At the back of this church, on the second level, on the balcolny, there was a huge gold organ. I thought it was the gate of Hell.

Z. Maus

When I was small, I used to believe that behind the altar at church where the priest used to stand was a sweet shop. I became very very jealous and when ever he bent down to kiss the bible, he'd be snaffling sweets from down below. Not surprising when you consider I thought communion was white chocolate buttons and I got really annoyed all my brothers got to have one but I had to wait till I was 8. Huh!

Lil devil

Iused to believe the statue of Jesus was really him and our church got mad at him and nailed him up there.

The Fidiot

When I first heard of the Pope I misheard it as The Poke, apparently he was above even Kings. That fitted because he had a taller crown than was ever seen on a King.
He was called the Poke because he carried this big staff thing and if anyone, even our King, contradicted him he'd poke them in the eye with it.

eppenguin

As a child, one church I was sometimes taken to was of the denomination called Disciples Of Christ. I learned much later that that denomination is sometimes called "Campbellites" (with varied connotations) after it's founder, Thomas Campbell. My father called it that sometimes, but I thought then he was saying "Camelites". Then one time I went to a Greek festival at a Greek Orthodox Church. Some of us toured the sanctuary, where there were murals, showing, among other things, the three Wise Men riding horses, not camels, as I was more familiar with. The guide told us that that was more historically accurate, that their likely means of transportation at that time would have been horses, not camels. I thought then and there that I'd learned why my more familiar church was sometimes called "Camelite" -- because of a belief not shared with certain other churches, including the Greek Orthodox, that the Wise Men rode camels.

Lucy

When I was little to keep me from going to the bathroom during church sermons my grandmother told me the men who stood in the back had the job of spanking children who tried to go to the bathroom during the preaching. I didn't know they were just ushers and I believed this. One day I almost peed my dress. My grandma told me to go to the bathroom and I burst into tears. I didn't want a spanking! She had to drag me to the bathroom. Guess she realized telling me that wasn't the best thing to do...

Scared Of The Ushers