Are We Christian By Default.?

[modeller]

Do we in the UK register a birth and are baptised because WE BELIEVE WE HAVE TO !

A vicar once told me most people are Three Wheelers . They only go to church for Baptism, Marriage, and Death.

[Deskdiary]

That's what I'm doing.

Playing football at 10.30, into the pub by midday, and then persuading my wife to come and pick me up at about 5pm.

Have been doing this for 20 years, so you could say I do it religously.

Can't wait.

[ummmm]

Naomi - most of the people I mix with are Irish Catholics and religion is part of their lives....out of habit. They are no more Christian than me but it seems the label makes them happy.

[Islay]

You don't have to go to church to see yourself as a Christian.
That being said I grew up in a house where my mother was brought up as a Christian and my father was not, they made the choice that as youngsters we should attend sunday school and church until we were old enough to make up our own minds. We were all apart from my sister baptised and funny enough she was also the only one never to attend church as a child, she was also the only one to get her children baptised!!
My father despite hating everything the church stood for would attend because of his job and because he was proud of what his children doing, he was also very pleased that the padre was there to help my mother when he was serving in the Falklands. I think the point is that everyone gets a little something out of religion at some point in their life.

[naomi24]

ummmm, I'd hazard a guess that they believe they're going to heaven when they die though. No?

[ummmm]

I don't even think they think about it, Naomi. Like Modeller says...they are Catholic by default.

We used to sit through mass and not pay attention to what was being said. We just went through the motions waiting for the boredom to be over.

[naomi24]

ummmm, //Modeller says...they are Catholic by default. //

Exactly.

[mikey4444]

Just like me then Ummm !

But, as a boy in the 60's, I used to enjoy midnight Mass at Xmas, when we would sing carols.

[Khandro]

Zacs; //Can I just go down the pub and just not think about it at all, like an awful lot of other people? //

What a daft question; of course you can.

[Zacs-Master]

Ah, good. It's just that when you wrote 'the events of that day should be ever on our minds' I found it to be something of a sweeping statement fuelled by an incorrect assumption.

[naomi24]

Khandro, I don't know why the events of the day should be ever on our minds either - and since you don't believe that Jesus died on the cross I'm at a loss to understand why you say that.

[Garaman]

Yes, I think we are Christian by default. As I said on another thread, I do think people are more likely to declare themselves nones now than they were years ago. Some might give you a funny look, as Naomi says, but a lot more people respect that view than used to, and I feel that number is growing.

[-Talbot-]

If Jesus died for me he wasted his life , I have no appreciation for it what so ever.


Yes I think lots of people are Christian by default very lazy Christians, but non the less they do consider themselves as Christians. Some like Catholics are well indoctrinated (I love telling my Irish mates that they've been radicalised ... never fails to get the laughs going)

[Khandro]

n. Today commemorates the crucifixion, my personal beliefs don't come in to it. Survival or not, the crucifixion denotes the end, there was no more direct teaching after that.

[NellieMay]

I was christened but do not class myself as a Christian. I have some spiritual beliefs that i have acquired myself during a long lifetime but do not relate to any religious affiliation. I got married in a registry office and my children are not christened. I would rather they make their own choices. They have chosen to be unbelievers and it's great that they are such nice compassionate people and very open minded.

[modeller]

'I said " Are we Christian by Default ? " I didn't say Catholic or any other version. There are thousands of versions of Christianity . I believe there are 4000 registered in the UK alone, with the name Christian in their name, and as we know there are huge differences, in the way they practice their faith. I know a number of Catholics who are too frightened not to attend church , whilst many CofEs don't even know where one is.

[Khandro]

Are We Christian By Default? not entirely, but what we have we could easily sacrifice at our peril. European western civilization is a vision in which Christianity integrated Jewish wisdom, Greek philosophy and Roman law, thereby giving Western culture its distinctive character which through painful, hard-fought transitions gave us the ethos for our freedom of speech, freedom of the press, equal justice under law, the primacy of the individual, separation of religion and state, freedom of religion (and from religion), property rights, sexual equality, an independent judiciary, and independent education among other values, which include our art, music and culture. In other words, western civilization as we know it. This is what radical Islam wants to destroy. That is why terrorists are attacking our churches, the State of Israel and why they are subverting democracy in an attempt to turn Europe to Islamic sharia fascism.

[Garaman]

Western civilisation as we know it was shaped by The Age Of Enlightenment.

[vetuste_ennemi]

//Western civilisation as we know it was shaped by The Age Of Enlightenment.//

I think "Western civilisation" has older roots: Greek, Roman and Judaeo-Christian. The enwas not born from a vacuum, but from a deep cultural history.

[Garaman]

//I think "Western civilisation" has older roots: Greek, Roman and Judaeo-Christian. The enwas not born from a vacuum, but from a deep cultural history.//

I am not for a minute suggesting is hasn't, VE, but the way it is now and our thinking was shaped by it, as it will continue to be shaped by intelligent people who challenge age-old beliefs.

[vetuste_ennemi]

//... it will continue to be shaped by intelligent people who challenge age-old beliefs.//

And so it should be, Garaman.

Democracy was invented in 6th century BC Greece. A potent idea which has survived, but which has been refined, although slowly and imperfectly. We've got rid of slavery, and the female half of the population now (but only recently) has the vote.

What do you think (and what might the Athenians in Pericles' time have thought) of advanced thinking like gender being a subjective choice rather than a biological datum?

Is this latter a product of intelligent challengers?

You might have thought that traditional Christianity, common sense and even self-preservation might protect us against nonsense.