i love the bit where they tell children that they will burn in hell forever if they dont believe in what they say


:love:

who doesn't like a frisson of danger in a story :hee:

.....child abuse, sexism, cruelty, the lot

don't forget avarice, the church can be very greedy for donations

Indeed

Do you know what an actual Christian is ?? I doubt it :whistle:

No I have no idea and that is my point

But feel free to offer up a description that is not just a cut and paste from google

For the most part Christians are people who's parents were Christians so they then passed it along and were told this is how it is, don't ask any questions. That's my experience of it anyway. People choosing to be Christians of their own accord are much more rare I think

Yeah I figured

Wooo, I agree with this... I enjoy going in w my grandmother to her church... it feels quite lovely

But that's like saying Atheist parents so Atheist kids ,but it doesn't always go that way.

But I know what you're saying, if you have a religious family then you're likely to be brought up in the faith and taught the values .
The "don't ask questions" doesn't sound healthy to me :nono:, if you're unsure or want to learn more that's the whole point to ask questions . Maybe you have had a stricter upbringing? .

I'm not sure if it's that rare , you hear about Born again Christian's and people converting to different religions :shrug: .

Well not really, atheism isn't a belief as such, it just means you don't believe in a god or gods.

I didn't have a strict upbringing both my parents are pretty laid back and neither are religious at all eventhough they still got us baptised and made us go to mass cos that's just what you did (neither go to mass now though funnily enough) but here over 90% of state run schools are actually Catholic ethos because it was the church who originally set them up so religion is taught in schools and you didn't question the stuff you were told in Religion class because it was taught as fact which imo is incredibly wrong. The sooner we get that out of our schools here the better. Thankfully that grip the church had is getting very weak

Yeah!!! I'm RARE. :laugh:

Seriously, Niamh you are correct.

I was not raised as a Christian (my immigrant mother was Buddhist) and I never thought about any type of religion at all whilst growing up, but then in my 20's I started to search (for want of a better word) philosophies and numerous Religions and even mysticism and the paranormal, and it was as a result of this that I 'discovered' Christ and the more that I researched, the further convinced I became that Christianity was for me.

I do not try to impose my personal beliefs on to anyone else - not even my children - but I do vigorously defend my faith when I have come under attack or jeering for it (which has happened).

Each to their own, I say.

yep no one cares what stuff people believe but get it out of schools, politics and off Radio 2 and 4

Why would I force a definition onto a group of people I'm not even a part of?

Which church is this? Certainly not a Catholic one.

I do find Religions in general quite interesting, funnily enough I think I'd enjoy studying them :laugh: Buddism actually is an intriguing one. I don't know alot about it but I always thought that it was more of a way of life though rather than a religion as such?

I don't set out to mock people when I post in this threads but I feel like I have every right to give my opinion on religion especially since it was forced on me for my whole childhood, i think that gives my the right to comment

yes unbelievers are cast into hell and even believers i think get purified in fire


purgatory etc


either way catholics are told that death is not a good thing for unbelivers


A priest told my pal Steven that every time he sinner a black cross was written on his heart and if he got too many he would die, only by going to confession would they be removed

it terrified him as a child

Oh, I did not mean you, Niamh - not at all. I was speaking generally and more about in real life than TIBB.

Let's face it - NO ONE on here takes the piss out of Christianity more than old baiter LT and if I can remain friends with him then nothing that anyone on here says about Christianity is going to upset me :laugh: (apart from personal attack).

But, anyway you are correct - Buddism is a way of life and not a religion.

Neem there is still a very prevalent belief in the UK (and in this thread and others) that religion should be looked at with respect and reverence and of course that is how it was designed to be to protect it

its utter bollocks and thankfully now that attitude is dying out but its still there

Not from me, LT - fire away. I'm used to you. :laugh:

My 31 year old brother was told something similar when he was in primary school because he forgot to bring money to buy some religious necklace thing

Honestly i don't know how anyone would have the cheek to say the catholic Church deserve respect after all the atrocities that's come out about them in the last few years especially anyone in Ireland, we've had some bad ones

I know Athieism isn't a belief but I'm saying if parents are atheists it doesn't always mean the kids will stay NON religious.

Nothing wrong with teaching Religious Education in schools as long as it's taught properly, when you're being taught in schools unless it's a Catholic school etc I can't imagine them teaching it as "fact" :conf: . They never did that when I was at school , it was more a case of this is what it says and you make your minds up .

Even when kids showed disinterest or said they don't believe ,the teacher wouldn't challenge the student ,it was just a response of " well if you don't believe it ok ,I'm just telling you the story " etc .



However I think RE exams were extremely difficult back then , and I wonder what point of view they wanted people to use :suspect: . Maybe religious studies are different today.

Well like I said 90+% of state schools here are Catholic ethos plus they gave priority to kids who were baptised (which has literally only just been made illegal to do this year) It's a funny one because like i said the schools in Ireland were all set up by the Catholic Church which is why they've got their grip still on there however they're now paid for by tax payers so there's the conflict. Non denominational schools are few and far between so you'd end up having to travel and the kids not wanting to do that because they'll want friends in the area etc etc and logistically it's a nightmare so people were literally baptising their kids to get them into schools and then they had to go to religion class which isn't a fact based class it's further indoctrination. Both my kids are in Secondary school now so the last couple of years I've been putting N/A on the part where it asks what religion they are just to see if anyone would say anything but they haven't :laugh: