Church & Religion

I was raised Catholic--went to Catholic school, church every Sunday and holy day of obligation and all that.   I went through a brief devout phase when I was about 15/16, then immediately after that started questioning things and eventually ended up being the atheist I am today.

I am also a Humanist.  I'm somewhat attracted to the idea of being part of a real-life community, Humanist or Ethical Union.  But I'm also pretty lazy and also shy about going into new situations with people I don't know, so I'm not sure that will ever happen.  Oh, I also have some interest in Buddhism--the practical aspects like meditation and the truths and path aspects resonate with me (not the mystical aspects).  But that's another good example of my laziness limiting my progress in something!

Try this link:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/uk_rel.htm

I'm a catholic, but don't really practice now.
I love the Church and have great respect for it, but I have to sit on the side lines as I don't quite agree with it all. Not just the rules, but the grounding of those rules.
If I were forced to say I was anything, I would say I was somesort of pagan/ amerindian concoction, with some art and poetry in there for good measure.
I do believe in God but he doesn't seem to fit the defination others have for him....

We're unitarian universalists (of the agnostic persuasion), ha, so finding a local church was not so easy.  We live down the train line from edinburgh, so we try to go every couple of months, but it's such a big production.  It's unfortunate for me because I have a hard time making friends, and those seem to be my type of people there :/.

Is there really separation of church and state now in America?

I was raised & confirmed in the United Methodist Church -- via 'You will go to church every Sunday or suffer your mother's wrath!'  Being able to consider things & think for yourself was never an option.  Fortunately, I am well on my way to recovery from all that now.  Whew!  Steve's dad is a vehement atheist although his parents do have some admiration for eastern religion such as Buddhism.  My second husband was an atheist & that's what got me thinking finally - when I was around 30.  I am soooooo happy to be England (and Europe in general) - on this particular score now -- vs being in the United States.  In the States -- to admit that you don't believe (gasp!) and that you are not a Christian (horror!) is to become an instant pariah (IMO).  I hated it.  So much for 'separation of church & state' and 'freedom of religion' -- i.e., freedom of religion as long as you practice religion and as long as that religion is Christianity...  I am simply appalled at the turn of events that has evolved on this issue stateside, through recent decades -- the founding fathers must be turning in their graves?  I am no big fan of Thomas Jefferson -- I know he had his skeletons in the closet (doesn't everyone?) -- but GREAT quotes on this very subject:

And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter. But may we hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this most venerated reformer of human errors.
--Thomas Jefferson

I do like visiting the beautiful old churches (like belindaloo) -- as a piece of history.  Great contemplative poem on the subject:  Church Going by Philip Larkin

http://edu.gsnu.ac.kr/~songmu/Poetry/ChurchGoing.htm

I love the line...In whose blent air all our compulsions meet

There is little separation of church and state. I work for the federal gov't (large agency, predominantly black coworkers and divided generations of new, young people and older-I’m ready to retire and don’t care anymore people) and currently in my 2 yrs of being here I heard the following:

1)   This is sister Dotson (her last name and she’s not Catholic or a nun)...
2)   Have a blessed day – many of my coworkers say this on a regular basis as a “goodbye” on the phone
3)   Asking me what church I go to and if I go on a regular basis when I arrived here my first week; also the same question went for my family
4)   Regular church discussions amongst coworkers
5)   If you mention something personal or discuss an illness that may be serious about someone – religion is always mentioned
6)   One of my coworkers is also a preacher and will preach on the phone so loud and over cubicles that we can all hear
7)   The best was today – I heard from my fellow young coworkers that when they had a going away party for one of our coworkers called to Iraq (he was in the reserves), they have a big prayer, made everyone hold hands, bow heads and pray for a good while before they had the party! I missed that day, but that takes the cake!

Frankly, I didn’t expect this here and am still appalled at some of the quite obvious displays of it. I am Christian, but I am not willing to become open about it in a professional environment. I find it to be the wrong place for this much expression and discussion.

Pittpanther...Heh! I'm not surprised. I used to know someone who worked briefly deep within the stinky bloated bowels of high-security-clearance-land DC...Reagan era, so it's been quite awhile ago...there (supposedly amongst issues of national security) they actually had BIBLE STUDIES at work. Unbelievable! I shudder to think what's going on now as it seems things have only gotten worse & worse.

I got fed up at my last job -- well with all the 'jokey' e-mails that get forwarded around...but particularly all the 'Praise the Lord' attached to jokey e-mails that got forwarded around.   I'm sorry -- there's a place for practicing faith & religion for those who believe...but that place is not in the national government or in the workplace.

As a Christian, I don't believe that at all. I've always be taught that even if you don't agree with what someone does/says, thats no reason to judge them. In the Bible, Jesus didn't hang out with the perfect people--he went to the tax collectors, people with leprosy, an adulteress and lots of other people who were rejected by others.

I think one major problems of the modern church is the tendancy to judge others.  All this does is make the church as a whole look bad.

Agreed.

I am a Christian, and sometimes Christians are confused with Christ. We are all sinners, regardless of the sin.

Anyway, I will miss my church (but they have internet broadcasts!). Does anyone know of a good church in London? I am not too picky about denominations. I would love to attend a historic church, but I must have a good teaching ministry to stay focused.

Thank you

found  cool quotes:   
Religion is the language we use to speak to each other about the Divine

...and the wonderful thing about religion is that it provides us with symbols and metaphors necessary to express our  ineffable experience of the transcendent.


and about that judging nature  religions tend  to have...

 "if you focus too narrowly on a single path to God, all you will ever find is the path" ... Meister Eckhart

There is little separation of church and state. I work for the federal gov't (large agency, predominantly black coworkers and divided generations of new, young people and older-I’m ready to retire and don’t care anymore people) and currently in my 2 yrs of being here I heard the following:

1)   This is sister Dotson (her last name and she’s not Catholic or a nun)...
2)   Have a blessed day – many of my coworkers say this on a regular basis as a “goodbye” on the phone
3)   Asking me what church I go to and if I go on a regular basis when I arrived here my first week; also the same question went for my family
4)   Regular church discussions amongst coworkers
5)   If you mention something personal or discuss an illness that may be serious about someone – religion is always mentioned
6)   One of my coworkers is also a preacher and will preach on the phone so loud and over cubicles that we can all hear
7)   The best was today – I heard from my fellow young coworkers that when they had a going away party for one of our coworkers called to Iraq (he was in the reserves), they have a big prayer, made everyone hold hands, bow heads and pray for a good while before they had the party! I missed that day, but that takes the cake!

Frankly, I didn’t expect this here and am still appalled at some of the quite obvious displays of it. I am Christian, but I am not willing to become open about it in a professional environment. I find it to be the wrong place for this much expression and discussion.

Pittpanther, is the religion something your bosses expect you to be involved in?  Because it sounds to me like this is not a "Church and State" issue-you're not required to be Christian to hold this job, are you?-but merely that you work with a group of very religious people.  I worked in a bank with a few very religious Christians-I didn't think the bank was involved in that religion, only that they hired all kinds of people.

I'm not trying to say you shouldn't feel left out or uncomfortable if it makes you so-just that it seems from what you wrote that it's your coworkers and not the government.