Why religion should be a passtime..............

[10ClarionSt]

[craft1948]

How do you mean Clarion...........my religion is part of my life but I wouldn't class it as a pastime...

[craft1948]

I can't speak for others and I'm not a preacher or particularly clever......I learnt my faith very early in life and when needed find great comfort from it.........I hope other people get comfort from whatever faiths they follow....you obviously don't believe or find a need to......that's your choice.

[flobadob]

I agree. Almost everyone I know goes to mass. I go to weddings and funerals but while I sit there listening to the priest I just think that it's total bullsh*t. But I'm getting married next year and have a son who is interested in mass so I'm thinking of stating to go a few times for him and herself.

[tamborine]

Passover!

[flobadob]

Clarion by the way you can disprove a lot of religious theory. Also the vatican actually stated recently that there could be life on other planets. Surely that puts an onion in the religious ointment. Also they admitted to darwin's theory last year but it wasn't widely acknowledged. http://www.telegraph....o-Charles-Darwin.html I mean, come on, talk about moving the goal posts to suit yourself.

[tamborine]

If religion is written off then so is the soul and we become like aimless fish.

Religion is like a club/pub for like-minded punters to join and fit in with a community. It's best to find a niche that suits you, as if alone with hermit existance you're in danger of being seen as an 'odd-ball'.

Weddings & ceremonies are a community practise and such community will support you and your family. We dont need to be pedantic about it and force our 'club' onto others.

[flobadob]

I think we're in agreement tam.

[tamborine]

A good example flobadob is me this w/e! My son, after 10y wed & 3 kids has told me to attend his f$£%&*^" renewal vows - wots that about? Okay or Hello mag? He lives 2h away....4h travelling, church ceremony etc. He had the original full white at huge cost! Am expected to don hat & formal attire!! Am sure you can sense my dismay.

Dare I not show & my DIL may never forgive me.....so far am eating loads of rubbish to cry enteritis ;) If am not online Sunday I'll have succumbed to his will.

[flobadob]

Tam, I would do it if I were you. Just respect others wishes. I thought you felt that anyway. End of the day you wanna take an enjoyable way to next obstacle.

[flobadob]

Tam, go enjoy the day and your fam will appreciate. You too.

[tamborine]

awww p!!!!!s - thought I might get some support here flobadob! Work 2moro - am off g'nite!

[flobadob]

Sorry dude, later, hope to hear from you soon.

[naomi24]

Clarion, it's true that only a small percentage of people go to church in this country, but I think a lot of people who don't attend church regularly nevertheless harbour a belief in religion, so accurate statistics for the number of believers are really impossible to assess. I agree with you. Religion is given far too much prominence, and far too much respect, which means it impacts on the rest of us whether we want it to or not.

Tamborine, you said 'If religion is written off then so is the soul and we become like aimless fish.'

I disagree. I believe we have a soul, but I don't think it has any connection to religion. It's just a natural part of us, and something religion has hijacked to use as a big stick to beat us with. Do as we say otherwise you will imperil your soul and go to hell. What twaddle!

[123everton]

One of the impacts of religion in this country is that most people get to have Sunday off work, I don't, but I do get time and a quarter for working on a Sunday.
Do you want to give that up?

[naomi24]

Why would we have to give it up, Everton? Without religion, we could still decide to have Sundays off.

[123everton]

It's just another day, no different to Tuesday, so why pay an enhancement?
Bank holidays is another one, be honest, it only annoys you when it suits you.

[123everton]

Is politics a passtime?
Religion is a way for many people congregate around a group of values they hold dear, politics is the same.
Similarly, people who espouse a belief in one form or the other aim to live by the rules that it and they impose upon themselves.
Should we disallow political expression in the statute?
The law states and compels all of us to do things we disagree with, for example TUPE 2006, some think it wrong that we eat meat and so on and so on but the law allows it, abortion, custody of children after divorce, the death penalty (which even if the people voted for it wouldn't get back) the list is endless.
We cannot devolve or reject these things.
Politics and religion are the ways that different people express themselves, you can't and shouldn't seek to ban something, seek to mute something just because you don't agree with it.
If thine eye offends thee...

[naomi24]

Everton, I'm not annoyed. Good question. Why pay enhancement?