Treur grew up in a strict Reformed Christian farming family in her Zeelandic birthplace of Meliskerke . After secondary school at the Calvijn College , she went on to study psychology at Leiden University . Later she switched to Dutch language and literary science . In Leiden , she became a member of the Reformed student association Panoplia . According to a newspaper interview , during her studies she discovered the similarities between stories from Ancient Near Eastern cultures and those related in the Bible , which convinced her that such stories were merely invented to console human beings . Moreover , she had never actually felt the existence of God . She therefore eventually abandoned her faith , informing the board of Panoplia about it on 11 September 2001
on 11 September 2001
September 11 attacks
Franca Treur