[Misc] Religion - the Church of England - what future?

Brian Parsons · Jul 15, 2018

Not everyone, none of my children have been christened and my late wife had a humanist funeral.
I saw too many dreadful things during my two years in Aden for there to be a God.

Wrong-Direction said:
What I find weird is, nobody I know is religious but everyone I know gets married in a church, christening's, funerals all with lashings of the God waffle!
I think the only good thing about it is the architecture.

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Raleigh Chopper · Jul 15, 2018

I believe.
I believe that Jesus would, if he could, have voted remain, so he's alright by me.
Amen.

Eeyore · Jul 15, 2018

Giraffe said:
So last night I went to a religious show at a church, due to a family connection.

It’s the first time I’ve been to a church or similar for some time and it made me think.

What do the religious leaders need to do to encourage people to believe again? The Church of England to me seems totally out of touch with the majority of the country. Most of the people present were over 60. The vicar seemed like a good chap who was well intentioned but I just don’t get it.

I think most of us could get on board with the good and bad thing, like Star Wars, but all the talk of God is to me just unintelligent. I can’t believe in one great God. Life happens and clearly for most logical thinkers the existence of God can’t be a thing.

Flip this over though and the Muslim faith appears to be growing in this country. What are they doing that the Church of England isn’t?

Is it already too late to encourage people back to church? Is that it for the C of E?

You need to remove the word 'faith'.

Islam is where the church was 400 years ago. It is a cultural and political movement. God, Allah, whatever, is the catalyst.

Christianity is now back at the root stage. It is a faith. Younger people are more likely to attend church because it's something they feel inspired to do rather than just do. Hence the rise of the charismatic movement.

You don't need to preach Allah to encourage the advance of a political movement with willing subscribers. You do need to preach Christ risen to fill a church.

drew · Jul 15, 2018

Kneon Light said:
I'm a Christian and have been all my life.
I used to go to church regularly but tend to go less and less now.
My beliefs haven't changed at all however.
The reason I am going less is that quite frankly I find it very boring a lot of the time. I don't particularly like hymns and lots of the sermons are simply "God loves you" etc which gets very repetitive!
A few weeks ago at a service the minister was talking about the Christian view on divorce. It was far more interesting BUT I think would have been far better if it could have been debated, people ask questions etc.
I'm a teacher and we, as a profession, have moved on from simply lecturing students to get them more involved in their learning. I think the church need to do the same and move away from the lecturing, preaching style that hasn't changed for decades!

So if you don't mind me asking what exactly is it that you believe? For example, do you believe that by praying these requests are answered or is it more down to the thought that there is some existence of some kind once you die?

dejavuatbtn · Jul 15, 2018

I have always taken the view that religion is a code you can live by (the song teach your children well comes to mind), introduced to keep the multitudes in check, which to some extent it did. I don’t generally have issues with the ten commandments - a set of rules that can be applied. I don’t have problems with people making up stories to illustrate what is good and bad behaviour etc. When I was young most kids went, under orders from parents, to sunday school and to an extent it did teach right from wrong. I am not saying “god-fearing” but I can see where the phrase must have developed from.
Today, few go to church and a person’s moral compass only comes from their parents or significant others. If their parents have none, then it is unlikely that their kids will either. The fewer with no compass, the worse modern life will be for the rest of us.
There is still a role for church-like instruction (call it what you like) but there needs to be one hell of an incentive to get today’s youngsters anywhere near it.

Wilko · Jul 15, 2018

Mustafa said:
I personally think it's a great shame that modern society is becoming atheist. Christian values are in part what made the the generations of the early 20th century so great. The loss of Christian values has been hugely detrimental to the morality and wellbeing of society.

You mean we should go back to being sexist, homophobic and threatening people with hell? I would say the loss of religion in the last 50 years has allowed us to move towards gender equality and sexuality rights, countries that are still religious are a long way behind in these respects.

Surrey_Albion · Jul 15, 2018

All cults are bad in my opinion we should all stop having imaginary freinds when we are adults

Surrey_Albion · Jul 15, 2018

Mustafa said:
This is quite a radical association, it's not what I meant.

When I say society is missing core Christian values, I mean things like love thy neighbour, fidelity in marriage, forgiveness, unconditional love, and so on. Really positive things that frequently disappear with Christianity. Values which in part made the greatest generation so great.

You can have morality without god, infact if we took on everything in the bible some murders would be justified , slavery would be a good idea along with the surpression of women . Religuis people cherry pick the rules in the bible. Morality come from society and within ones self

Wilko · Jul 15, 2018

Mustafa said:
This is quite a radical association, it's not what I meant.

When I say society is missing core Christian values, I mean things like love thy neighbour, fidelity in marriage, forgiveness, unconditional love, and so on. Really positive things that frequently disappear with Christianity. Values which in part made the greatest generation so great.

I do not need the threat of a man in the sky watching everything I do to be good and moral.

Brian Parsons · Jul 15, 2018

What I find unacceptable is the double standards set by some religious organisations. There is no doubt the Salvation Army do very good work with the homeless but it's their actions on a Sunday claiming those who drink will burn in the fires of hell but are more than happy to go around the pubs on Friday/ Saturday night rattling their collection tins.

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DavidinSouthampton · Jul 15, 2018

Frutos said:
Yet, in the course of human history, more wars and battles have been fought in the name of religion than anything else.

sir albion said:
Thought it was all about "My God is better than you God"

Frutos is obviously right, but in today's world it is not the case for the most part. The idea of Holy War is anathema to the Muslims I know

And for the "My God us better than yours" bit, it's mostly different ways to the same God..

DavidinSouthampton · Jul 15, 2018

Gwylan said:
A pedant writes ....that's a Nick Lowe song, not Elvis

Fair enough! I have it on CD by Mr Costello. Great song.

Megazone · Jul 15, 2018

These days, the only ones who know about the existence of God are the one's who don't believe in God. They seem more sure about their atheist ways than the religious folk do about theirs. I don't follow religion but I do find it ridiculous how 'non believers' go about preaching the non-existence of a god.

Religion is disappearing because people are finding their inner spirituality through different, more believable methods. I know one person who meditated and found himself connected to a higher vibrational level where his view on life and the continuity of his experiences all just seemed to great to call it coincidence. I respect his views and I can see he's definitely not talking a load of babble fed by some religious leader.

The problem with religion is that it won't allow evolution within spirituality. People are still having to follow the religious rules made hundreds/thousands of years ago.
Spirituality should be about individuality and the path to enlightenment. Not living by some out of date rules put into a book to direct you to a good afterlife. Spirituality should be about living the life you are in now.

dejavuatbtn · Jul 15, 2018

Wilko said:
I do not need the threat of a man in the sky watching everything I do to be good and moral.

It has nothing to do with men in the sky - it’s a belief in and a following of what’s right and what’s wrong.

Stumpy Tim · Jul 15, 2018

albionfan37 said:
As a moral compass the 10 commandments are as good a way to live as any but the fact that every religion has slaughtered the masses indiscriminately for centuries says we should find a better solution to religion

Are they though? A collection of nonensical ramblings and stating the obvious really:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me. - well isn’t god a bit precious, especially as this is first up
2. You shall not make idols - don’t make statues of God for example. Real important life lesson that
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. - it really is all about God isn’t it. Trump would be proud of this one
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. - I’m still waiting for something useful after four commandments
5. Honor your father and your mother. - ok that’s nice
6. You shall not murder. - only took 6 commandments to get to this one. Lucky it was mentioned as otherwise I would have been a mass murderer for sure
7. You shall not commit adultery. - ok I’ll try
8. You shall not steal. - another good one that I probably didn’t need to be told
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour - just my neighbour? Basically don’t lie.... what about little white lies?
10. You shall not covet. - well this sucks. I must see dozens of women every day I find quite good looking. Sounds like I need to wear a blindfold all day

What a sack of sh*t

dejavuatbtn · Jul 15, 2018

Stumpy Tim said:
Are they though? A collection of nonensical ramblings and stating the obvious really:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me. - well isn’t god a bit precious, especially as this is first up
2. You shall not make idols - don’t make statues of God for example. Real important life lesson that
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. - it really is all about God isn’t it. Trump would be proud of this one
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. - I’m still waiting for something useful after four commandments
5. Honor your father and your mother. - ok that’s nice
6. You shall not murder. - only took 6 commandments to get to this one. Lucky it was mentioned as otherwise I would have been a mass murderer for sure
7. You shall not commit adultery. - ok I’ll try
8. You shall not steal. - another good one that I probably didn’t need to be told
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour - just my neighbour? Basically don’t lie.... what about little white lies?
10. You shall not covet. - well this sucks. I must see dozens of women every day I find quite good looking. Sounds like I need to wear a blindfold all day

What a sack of sh*t

Ah, another idiot who doesn’t get it to put on my ignore list.

DavidinSouthampton · Jul 15, 2018

Frutos said:
Yet, in the course of human

Guinness Boy said:

Given Trump is a Christian, Reed-Mogg is a fanatical Catholic and ISIL are mired in fundamentalist Islam, a full atheist revolution cannot come quickly enough. Not many humanists carrying out suicide bombings or attacking the medical staff from abortion clinics are there?

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Trump professes to be a Christian, but it would not take long to find myriad condemnations of what he says and does from Churches and Church leaders both here and in his own country.

Rees-Mogg at least has the good sense to realise that his extreme Catholic views will never come in to law on, for example, abortion.

tip top · Jul 15, 2018

Mustafa said:
I mean things like love thy neighbour

You obviously don't live next door to Nibble / The Clamp

Stumpy Tim · Jul 15, 2018

dejavuatbtn said:
Ah, another idiot who doesn’t get it to put on my ignore list.

Or someone who thinks religion is a load of nonsense. If that puts me on your Ignore List then you'll probably only be able to see a handful of posts each day

Wilko · Jul 15, 2018

dejavuatbtn said:
It has nothing to do with men in the sky - it’s a belief in and a following of what’s right and what’s wrong.

Ok then, I do not need an out of date text to tell me what is right or wrong.

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