You and i have similar backgrounds as I was very resistant to religion growing up as well. I was raised Catholic and I can remember when I was a little kid learning about Lent and wondering why an all knowing being would care so much about what type of food I ate during different days of the week. It never made sense to me. If you examine a lot of religion logically it falls apart.
There is no creator only the creation. All this talk about a master creator/sky daddy above us is nonsense. If you want to connect with the creation all one has to do is look within, not externally.