Spanky

Predominately Christian society??? Is that better?

Roger Pearse

I wish.

'Historically Christian', perhaps (although the experiences of John Wesley might be adduced against this). At the moment this is a society in which Christianity has no power and no role.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

blue_haired_devil

I live in the UK too (apparently 60 million plus people do!) and I'm guessing you're not aware that the Queen (Elizabeth II, 40th monarch since 1066) is head of the Church of England? She's also the head of state. Bishops sit in the house of Lords, through sheer virtue of their Bishoprics. School children are required to have daily (Christian) worship. The Church of England is subsidised by the state. Our national anthem is GOD save the Queen. We (atheists) have no protection in law from religious indoctrination of our children, at state funded (sometimes religious) schools. It's also true that many selective state schools are religious in nature. Some of these school require, for entry, the regular attendance at Church of both child and parents, prior to admittance. These are schools funded by the state! Our blasphemy laws are Church of England specific (our established Church, the one our taxes fund) and private prosecutions using said Blasphemy laws occured as late as 1977. A man (John William Gott) served 12 months in the 1920s for comparing Christ to a circus clown! No, we're not very religious (add your own ironic tone).

We're also the likely exponants of Puritanism to the new world. Matthew Hopkin's did his bit to inspire the people of Salam (though, for once, America was a bit late on the scene with witchcraft trials). We fashioned the King James Bible. We did such a great job of being secular, that we inspired the founding fathers to reject our "enlightened" parliament (consisting of only those willing to take the Test and elected by those with enough land or money) and proscribe a seperation of church and state. We still have daily prayer in parliament. I believe Tony Blair is also a theist (Christian), if that's an example of Christianity having no power or role... I'm a blue haired duck!

Thank God we produced Darwin!

Oh, about the Bible quotations. Mine starts with Genesis and ends with Revelation. Although the story of Lot is pretty distasteful. Rape, homophobia and incest... not bad for just one story!

Roger Pearse

You seem to have managed to heap up a great number of facts, few of which you seem to understand, but miss the point entirely. The UK is not a Christian society.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Cheerful Charlie

He pointed to laws in England that assume legally that England is a religious nation, still. The only one who missed the point of that post was you.

CC

blue_haired_devil

Thanks CC (I'm a she, but I'm sure Roger wont like that any better than most Christians do. Women should know their place)

It does make me chuckle when Christians mention "understanding" of "facts" in the same breath. I would have thought they would be the first to shy away from such terms.

I live in the UK and "darkie" is definitely not an accepted term, unless you're at a BNP meeting or perhaps in certain Churches.

andrewcriddle

FWIW parents whose children object to religious worship at school assemblies and RE (religious education) are legally entitled to withdraw children from such activities at UK state schools.

(In practice this option is used mainly by parents from religious sects who object to the particular brand of religion on offer at the state school.)

Again in practice, from my own experience, the religious activities at most state schools in the UK are more likely to undermine religious orthodoxy than uphold it.

Andrew Criddle

Roger Pearse

I think so too. Indeed it was only long after that I realised that all the 'religious' bits at school were done by people who clearly didn't believe a word of it.

I suspect that this probably applies to most CofE schools too, and just as much to the public (US people: that means 'private') schools. At all events I went to a lot of schools in my time and I never encountered anyone who supposed for a moment that religion was anything but window-dressing or convention, at best. This view was taken for granted, as I remember.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Clouseau

No country has ever been Christian. Christians are always a small minority, like salt in food.

RED DAVE

From Clouseau:
Well that depends on what you call a Christian country.

From Clouseau:
AHEM!

The percentage of Christians in the US population in 2001 was a whopping 76.5%.

http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html#religions

RED DAVE