God is Dead

[andrewducker]

And 2/3 of people just don't care.

Two-thirds of those polled had not been to church in the last year, except for baptisms, weddings or funerals - but 53% identified themselves as Christian...compared with almost three-quarters who had in the last census in 2001. Regular churchgoing was also three times higher among adults from black ethnic groups than white.

Comments

[andrewducker]

It's clear to me that this is entirely Not My Friends. But I'm always aware that I hang out with freaks, geeks and weirdos, so I'm not sure which group of people still are going.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I've said often before that I'd go to church if I had kids, and take them with me.

[andrewducker]

I went to a church school. It felt pointless and ridiculous, because there wasn't anything behind it that I could see. Just spent lots of time feeling bored.

What would you expect them to get out of it?

[marrog.livejournal.com]

A sense of structure to their weekend, a free course in bible studies, and a better understanding of the culture from which they came.

I'm not religious anymore particularly, but when I meet people who grew up without that structure and education in their early lives, who know nothing to speak of about the faith of their forefathers - whatever that faith might be, I just think it's weird and kind of sad. It's like History, except History class never teaches you that stuff; Church does.

I wasn't remotely fucked up by my religious upbringing (okay, that's a lie, but it wasn't the Kirk that did it), so I don't see the issue. Kids are capable of grasping far more complicated concepts than they're given credit for, I think - I've been an atheist all my life, essentially, since even as a very small child I remember not believing in God. Kids don't just believe everything they're told.

Naturally, they'd also be told about the Celtic festivals like Beltane and Samhuin, and the other origins of Easter and Christmas...

Also, the atheist kids I knew in school were shit at sitting still and listening in comparison to the kids who were churchgoers and had far less respect for comparative religions, so I think there are definite life-skills that are gained there.

[andrewducker]

I can think of better things to give structure than a church (not that I'm in favour of vast amounts of structure at the best of times), don't feel that studying the bible is terribly useful, and don't feel the church actually makes an effort to teach actual history - they teach the myth, not what actually happened. At least, the churches I went to never gave anything other than a terribly one-sided view of things.

I have pretty much no respect for any religions, and I feel that's a positive thing.

I'm not saying kids would just believe it. I certainly didn't. I just dont' see the point in making anyone spend time listening to myths, even if they were the myths their grandparents believed were true.

And are you saying that you can't sit still and listen?

[marrog.livejournal.com]

Okay, should've said 'non-church-attending' - I guess I meant 'brought-up-to-be-atheist'.

I think lack of respect for religion is a huge mistake in a society where it holds so much power.

There's anything pointless about listening to myths? That's news to me. I love myth and legend - be it Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, Sumerian... or Christian. And only through seeing the progressions between these mythologies and understanding of their place in the whole can one truly begin to see where the basis for modern faith comes from.

If I'd told you that at an early age my children would be educated in Seamus Heaney's Beowulf, Edith Hamilton's Mythology, and the epic of Gilgamesh, you might see me as cruel and unusual, but would you think it pointless? And those texts don't really have a bearing on the way my country's society today works... which the Bible most certainly does.

Also, the type of education you get at Church depends very much on the church you go to.

[andrewducker]

If I'd told you that at an early age my children would be educated in Seamus Heaney's Beowulf, Edith Hamilton's Mythology, and the epic of Gilgamesh, you might see me as cruel and unusual, but would you think it pointless?

Nope. But I'd see it as pointless if you sent them to classes run by people who thought that Beowulf was true every Thursday :->

I think lack of respect for religion is a huge mistake in a society where it holds so much power.
I think that being disrespectful to power is a very important part of being human and free. And being disrespectful to lies and control even more so, especially when there's nothing behind them that deserves respect. Also, I don't see religion having all that much power any more - certainly nothing like what it used to have. Most of the churches in the UK came out against the Iraq war, for instance, to absolutely no effect.

(And yes, I'm happy to admit that there are religious organisations and people that have done good things.)

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I think the US is a pretty good indication of the sway that religion today can still hold. And by 'respect' I suppose I just mean an understanding and appreciation of the huge influence religion can have on society - the UK, in the grand scheme, is very secular - at least in terms of organised relision - in comparison to (I'd hazard to suggest) most countries of the world.

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

You know of at least one person who goes all the time (not me obviously).