I came to Asatru after my mother passed away. She was Swedish, and was very interested in Norse mythology. She was a Christian, as far as I know. After she died, I started really wondering where I came from, so I began investigating the Norse myths, and started wearing a Thor's Hammer pendant in memory of my mom. After a while it just "felt right". One day I woke up and realized that I was no longer Christian, took off my cross and have been an Asatruar ever since. I tend to believe that most pagan pantheons have the same deities but give them different names. It's pretty plain that Thor of the Norse pantheon is the same as Indra in Vedic Hinduism. They're both portrayed as red-bearded thunder gods (one with a hammer and the other with a cudgel) who battle large serpents.

I was raised Catholic, but i never felt moved or accepted in the church. After some research and soul searching, Paganism help me find the spiritual fulfilment that I was seeking.

I was raised to be a christian. My parent were never very devout, however. I rarely attended church, despite living fairly close to it, and still am not sure which denomination we were, or whether we were non-denominational. One day, I came across a series of sites that centered around different subject that might by filed under the pagan beliefs, and eventually began noticing that it made a lot more sense than what I had been raised with, though the secular lifestyle is something I've not -yet- gotten past.

i was raised Catholic and protestant. i tried both and then i found pagan and something just clicked. i accept all the pagan gods as realities but i mostly worship the mother earth and the green man. they are the 2 main deities.

I accept the many gods, but IDK what exact path I am now. I was born and raised a Baptist Christian, I converted because I hate the thought of worshiping somebody who tortures people for eternity because they think differently than him.

Personal experience. I wondered if there were other Gods/Goddesses besides the Christian one, and I sought the Goddess out. She found me.

SInce very few people have addressed that part of the question: Generally, being a polytheist means that any god is possible, and should be respected. Once you believe in more than 2 gods, why couldn't there be more? Historically, pagans have been very accepting - Romans used to make sacrifices to the gods of cities they were about to attack, for example. Romans were very tolerant, religiously. Only when you were less tolerant of them did you get targeted for repression. As to picking and choosing - that depends on the path. Some traditions have methods for determining who your particular patrons may be. Others let you pick, or demand a ceremony of choosing. Some just go with a generic pantheon, with everything else that may exist being irrelevant and/or a version of their gods (like the Hindu idea that Jesus was an avatar of Vishnu). I was raised Charismatic Pentecostal, which has a high degree of hypocrisy, and why I left. I don't know that I consider myself a theist anymore, though I am a pagan. I am more of an animist, and drawing the line between spirits and gods is very difficult. So I go with the everything is a spirit... kind of like Kami in Shinto.

I was raised Catholic, but when I got to an age to really understand relgion I realized something didn't feel right. I first delved into Catholicism thinking that perhaps I just didn't know what I was practicing. When that didn't work I spent the first half of college looking into other aspects of Christianity, still to no avail. In the second half of college I began looking outside of Christianity and finally came upon Wicca. It was like love at first sight and I haven't looked back since. It just resonated with my soul and I honestly do not remember being happier. I worship the God and the Goddess as two opposite and equal parts of the All. I typically call them just that or Lord and Lady. However, I believe that all of the past gods and goddesses of other Pagan aspects are the same as my God and Goddess - just as my God and Goddess are aspects of the All. So I may use the name Athena in a ritual if I am beginning a personal battle or in need of wisdom (but Athena is only that aspect of my Goddess that suits these needs). Or perhaps I use Poseidon if I am performing a spell/ritual involving Water and it's power (but Poseidon is only that aspect of my God that suits these needs). And so on. No matter what though, they are still my God and Goddess.