[Livia]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I struggle with this... I know a couple of devout Christians and thwyre very nice, kind, generous people and they get a lot out of the church and the community that surrounds it, a lot of strength and support in tough times, which can only be a good thing.

However, trying to take organised reliion seriously is almost impossible. It's quite clearly ridiculous. They not only sound like fairytales but also it's very obvious (and understandable) WHY they exist (fear of death, fear of loss, fear of the unknown, a sense of belonging), which makes them even less believable, IMO.

It's like trying to keep a straight face whilst someone tells you in all sincerity that their best friend is Spiderman.

But each to their own... I suppose... so long as they're not hurting anyone (another debate, and certainly not all or even the majority of "believers" do harm) then each to their own. I personally find the whole concept as mad as a bag of frogs. And it's certainly not a "national disgrace" that the churches are seeing less attendance and support. Gone are the day's when "faith" was enforced through government, thankfully, and so keeping their flock is entirely their own responsibility. People aren't interested. It's as simple as that.


Side note on Christmas: it's true that it hasn't been a pagan festival for hundreds of years. But I'm afraid it also hasn't been a Christian one for at least three decades. You can't willingly accept the former whilst denying that the latter is also perfectly valid.

Because taking organised religion seriously is impossible for you, that doesn't mean that the faith of religious people is wrong. Comparing God to Spiderman is typical of the smart-arse, athiestic ridicule that non-believers think they have a right to throw at people of faith.

If you have no faith, that's your thing. I'm not going to laugh at you and I'm certainly not going to try to convert you... I respect your belief. And yet, you feel free, more than that, you feel entitled to laugh at me?

I also feel quite insulted when non-believers sum up faith by saying that people follow a religion because of "fear of death, fear of loss, fear of the unknown, a sense of belonging..." You have no faith, so what would you know about why people are religious? How about if I sum up all non-believers as being too shallow to truly comprehend what faith is? That'd be really insulting and ignorant of me wouldn't it. Yet it's the same thing as you trying to sum up why I am religious without knowing the first thing about either my religion or about me.

I'm not sure how you decided that for three decades, Christmas hasn't been a Christian festival. I think the 2 billion Christians in the world might disagree with you on that point.