when I was about 4 years old it was easter and I thought easter was about the easter bunny. My mom was very religious though and tried to explain the real reason for easter. she told me that jesus had died for us. that night as we went to say grace i said thats okay we dont need to pray God is dead.

Anon

I always wanted rainbow-colored eyes because I dont like my original eye color. My dad told me "God grants your every wish if you pray to Him." I was so excited then I prayed and prayed that I wanted rainbow colored eyes then I checked the mirror every minute if I have it yet. It never worked then I told my dad God is fake!!!

Anon

I never did understand why it was "Our Father, who aren't in heaven".

Edith

My Mum tells me that when she was a child she used to think the words of the Lord's Prayer were "Our Father, we chant in heaven". She thought, we chant in church so we must surely also chant in heaven.

Alan

There's a line in the lord's prayer about Jesus being "crucified under Pontius Pliate". In my 3-year-old mind, "Pilate" became "Pilot", so I always had this image of the Red Baron circling in his bi-plane over the site of the Passion.

It was not until 6th grade social studies that I learned the true spelling of "Pilate", and that "Pontious" is not an adjective.

Liz

When I was a child, I had a little debbie oatmeal pie every day as I watched Sesame Street and Mister Rogers. After Mister Rogers, it was time for my nap. As I lay in my Aunt's bed trying to sleep I used to pray that Jesus would show himself to me so that I could REALLY believe in him. He never did, but I can still envision him the way I wanted to see him, standing at the foot of the bed.

Jay

At the pre-Vatican 2 Mass' finish, a prayer to St. Michael the Archangel was recited. I used to say,"St. Michael the Dark Angel...." IT was followed by a prayer the Hail Holy Queen which refers to, "St. Joseph, thy most chaste Spouse". I always used to say, "St. Joseph, thy most chaffed Spouse."

Ken

I used to believe that when you prayed, your hands acted like an antenna. So whenever I prayed I put my hands together and pointed them straight up to make sure they got to God and didn't go the other way

L

A few years ago a friend of mine called Peter came round to my house and my little sister confidently told us that he had the same name as God. It turns out that all these years instead of saying "Thanks be to God" she has been saying "Thanks Peter God"!!!

Claire

I am a Catholic, and as a child I naturally got some words confused as many other people here did. At one point the church says "I am not worthy Lord, but only say the word and I shall be healed", I believed it went "only say the word and I shall be YOU" (our priest has a bit of an accent). I thought that being God would be a terrifying duty, having to take care of everyone in the world at once, and that we should scared of taking on such as task. I always said this line a little smugly however, knowing that if God ever asked me to take his place i would take on the responsibility full throttle.

Sarah

From my father: the prayer goes like this>> "To thee do we cry poor banished children of Eve." His version as a child was "to thee do we cry poor bandaged children of Eve."
From my brother: the Act of Contrition goes "O my God, I am heartily sorry". His version as he prepared for First Penance was "O my God I am partly sorry"!

Anon

I use to think God's name was Harold. I thought this because in the Lord's Prayer we say:
Our father, who art in heaven, Harold be thy name."

J. D. Morgan

At infant school we said a prayer at the end of each day -

Hands together softly so
Little eyes shut tight
Father just before we go
Hear our prayer tonight.

And I used to say 'mother' instead of father because she was the one waiting for me at the gate not my 'dad'!

Anon

I believed that "Our Father, who art in heaven" was about my own father, who had died when I was 2. I never realised the reference was to God until I was about 10

Flwrchyk

my brother used to think god was called peter because when you go to church you say thanks be to god, and he thought it was thanks peter god. god being his sirname. obviously. Also, he thought when you say let us pray, he thought it was lettuce pray and always started looking for lettuce!

Anon

"...Forgive us our just passes, as we forgive those who just passed against us..."

Speed Racer Fan

When I was about 3 years old, my mom notices that when I was saying the "Hail Mary" I would say "...and pray for us cinders" instead of "...pray for us sinners". She thought it was pretty funny, and didn't correct me till I was older.

Kris

Actually my brother's,but here goes-in the Catholic Church we have a prayer containing the words "and may the souls of the faithful departed to the mercy of God rest in peace,Amen".

My mum told me that my older brother always thought these were the "playful departed".I thought that was cute.

Frank

I went to a catholic school, so they teach me to pray as a way to speak to God, and said we must pray every night (so I did). But I couldn't imaginate how God could speak to everybody at the same time. My mum told me God has a huge pbx with answer-machine so you can leave a message that sure he will listen to. And for a long time I used to leave messages.

jordi

When I was young, I thought we closed our eyes in church during prayer because I was convinced that God and/or Angels came down from heaven to hear our prayers, so I would always open my eyes to see them. And I was always disappointed when I didn't.

woah