Dont confuse Christianity with religion

[The Spanish]

give christianity its due most of the UK goes into unofficial lockdown in 2 weeks time for the best part of a month. while you are on the piss and putting of work its perfectly feasable you could do before 2013, on the basis of 'its christmas', think of the baby jesus and the part state religion plays in facilitating this month long slack off of shit telly adverts and having to listen to the f***ing pogues and that f***ing dire tedious song in every shop and pub in the country .

 

[The Spanish]

most of the churches round my way are businesses designed to rip off gullible west africans. and there are HUNDREDS.

 

[pastafarian]

most of the churches round my way are businesses designed to rip off gullible west africans. and there are HUNDREDS.

they must put back a fortune in business tax related income back into the UK coffers

 

[HovaGirl]

People don't need religion or faith any more, because they have so much more man-made stuff they can believe in instead. Being an Albion supporter could be construed as having a Faith (where Palace are seen as The Devil). You can follow your favourite soap opera "religiously", or bow down in thanks to the likes of One Direction, Angelina Jolie or even Barack Obama. But that is because we have so much more choice as to where to put our Faith these days, with the internet, television, Heat magazine or newspapers to help us make our choice between worshipping The Albion, Katie Price, Jesus Christ, Brad Pitt, Che Guevara, Mohammed, Mother Theresa, Princess Diana, The Beatles, the LA 49-ers, the man in the moon or Nelson Mandela. Before we had all this choice, religious faith was the only way to learn about love for humanity, to nurture our morals, and to look outside ourselves for our place in the world. The church, or religious meeting place, was the local community centre, health centre and giver of benefits, and it was the place where we learnt the news (The King is dead! Long live the Queen!) before we all learnt to read newspapers. But modern faiths are self-based and not about the wider, global community at all. The tenets of faith are not the important part for people. It's the sense of belonging which is, and always was, important.

 

[BadFish]

Teaching children about homosexuality is child abuse. Children don't need to know about sex at a young age, and then they only need to learn stuff piecemeal from their parents, one stage at a time, as seems appropriate for their age and the questions they ask. To teach them about homosexuality before they have even left junior school, is just to muddy the waters, because they are still learning about life itself, never mind how babies are made, or about same-sex love affairs. As teenagers, with all the confusions that being a teenager entails, their sexual curiosity is rife, and that is the time to teach them about sexuality in the widest sense of the word.

What a load of shit. The very basis of your point as you express in the first line is warped. My Children know about heterosexuality without knowing about sex why is homosexuality any different? My children know homosexual couples and they now that they love each other just like mummy and daddy do.



Sex doesn't even come into it and my children have not been taught about sex..they have been taught more about love (relevent to them because we are friends with gay couples). Not sure if you realise it but implicit in your post is the suggestion that i should shield my children away from my gay friends because there is something wrong with it.

and teaching my children those kind of values is in my opinion 'Child Abuse'.

 

[pastafarian]

Out of interest does anyone know what sort of tax religious institutions pay

is the income of a pastor/priest/religious leader liable for income tax?
do churches pay any sort of rates/council tax?
are sales of dvd`s etc liable for any sort of tax?
are ticket sales to an event taxable?

what sort of financial contribution do religious organisations make to the UK coffers?

im genuinely interested and do not have the slightest clue as to the correct answers.

and i mean every religion across the board even the cu*ts(its not the word some of you may be thinking) like scientologists

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

Out of interest does anyone know what sort of tax religious institutions pay

is the income of a pastor/priest/religious leader liable for income tax?
do churches pay any sort of rates/council tax?
are sales of dvd`s etc liable for any sort of tax?
are ticket sales to an event taxable?

what sort of financial contribution do religious organisations make to the UK coffers?

im genuinely interested and do not have the slightest clue as to the correct answers.

and i mean every religion across the board even the cu*ts(its not the word some of you may be thinking) like scientologists

churches have charitable status as non-profit organisations and are (i believe) tax exempt, apart from VAT on things like utility bills

the pastor/priest/religious leader and all other staff pay income tax and their home is liable for council tax

as for sales, i doubt it.....may be wrong but i thought you were only taxed on your profit? ticket sales and dvd sales are generally used to cover running costs (ie. heating and lighting a big f*** off building, paying for food to feed the homeless etc.)

so very little contribution, is the answer to your question

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

Religion is merely a function of geographical and historical conditioning, faith or belief doesn’t really come into it. If the Christian posters on here had been born in Saudi Arabia they would be Muslim or if they had been born in Israel they would be Jewish. Had they been born in Central Mexico in the fifteenth century they would have worshipped the god Xipe Totec. This is not rocket science guys and once you realize this it’s very difficult to take any of it seriously.

Having said that I’ve just realized had I been born in South Croydon and not Brighton I’d have been following the scum which is far more worrying in the grand scheme of things.

 

[GNF on Tour]

I like Jelly.

 

[GNF on Tour]

most of the churches round my way are businesses designed to rip off gullible west africans. and there are HUNDREDS.

Well there would be, you live in Ghana!

 

[pastafarian]

churches have charitable status as non-profit organisations and are (i believe) tax exempt, apart from VAT on things like utility bills

the pastor/priest/religious leader and all other staff pay income tax and their home is liable for council tax

as for sales, i doubt it.....may be wrong but i thought you were only taxed on your profit? ticket sales and dvd sales are generally used to cover running costs (ie. heating and lighting a big f*** off building, paying for food to feed the homeless etc.)

so very little contribution, is the answer to your question

ok thanks

does that mean a church/mosque/synagogue/cult meeting room does not pay any rates/taxes on the building premises itself?

 

[pastafarian]

and i dont have any agenda here (up to a point) i am genuinely interested given the state of the finances in this country

 

[HovaGirl]

What a load of shit. The very basis of your point as you express in the first line is warped. My Children know about heterosexuality without knowing about sex why is homosexuality any different? My children know homosexual couples and they now that they love each other just like mummy and daddy do.



Sex doesn't even come into it and my children have not been taught about sex..they have been taught more about love (relevent to them because we are friends with gay couples). Not sure if you realise it but implicit in your post is the suggestion that i should shield my children away from my gay friends because there is something wrong with it.

and teaching my children those kind of values is in my opinion 'Child Abuse'.

Children cannot know about any kind of sexuality without knowing about sex itself. My point is that children don't need to be taught about sex or sexuality until they are ready. In no way did I suggest you should shield your children from your gay friends. That is your interpretation. What my implication might be, is that you shield your children from your gay friends' and your own sex lives. It's not necessary and it's not relevant to them.

 

[BadFish]

Children cannot know about any kind of sexuality without knowing about sex itself. My point is that children don't need to be taught about sex or sexuality until they are ready. In no way did I suggest you should shield your children from your gay friends. That is your interpretation. What my implication might be, is that you shield your children from your gay friends' and your own sex lives. It's not necessary and it's not relevant to them.

So your point is that children should be shielded by sexuality? If so i entirely agree entirely but your post read as if it has a homophobic slant suggesting that homosexuality is more about sex than heterosexuality..

The opening statement of your post was "Teaching children about homosexuality is child abuse" not "Teaching children about sex is child abuse". I am sure you see where my interpretation came from and possibly why it got my back up (it is not every day i get accused of abusing my children).

My children are 7 , 5 and 4 and know nothing of sex. However they do know that my gay friends love each other just like their mummy and daddy love each other. So i disagree, children can know about homosexuality and heterosexuality without knowing about sex. In my view it is more about love than sex.

 

[beorhthelm]

The world is not perfect and I might even dare to say, perhaps controversially, that God may not be perfect.

an interesting gambit: god isnt great, so we have to live with the cock ups. its more honest i suppose, but rather goes against a few millenia of teaching.

 

[KJP]

I went to a christening the other day, it was during normal Sunday service, I couldn't stop laughing at the ridiculous things that were said and sung

 

[El Presidente]

I like Jelly.

So do I, but not LIME jelly.

 

[El Presidente]

I'm an atheist, which means that I don't believe in any of the 2,700 Gods that have been worshipped over the years. (not even Thor!)

Christians are nearly atheists, as they don't believe in 2,699 of the Gods that I don't believe in.

I think the OP is trying to say there is a difference between spirituality, which is essentially harmless, as it is an individual choosing to ignore, despite overwhelming contradictory scientific evidence, in the idea of an external creator, and religion, which is a control mechanism and is exploited by its leaders to divide and rule amongst the general population, and encourages intolerance of a variety of issues that the religious leaders deem to be abominable ( Abortion, Homosexuality, Equal rights for blacks, women etc.)

 

[HovaGirl]

So your point is that children should be shielded by sexuality? If so i entirely agree entirely but your post read as if it has a homophobic slant suggesting that homosexuality is more about sex than heterosexuality..

The opening statement of your post was "Teaching children about homosexuality is child abuse" not "Teaching children about sex is child abuse". I am sure you see where my interpretation came from and possibly why it got my back up (it is not every day i get accused of abusing my children).

My children are 7 , 5 and 4 and know nothing of sex. However they do know that my gay friends love each other just like their mummy and daddy love each other. So i disagree, children can know about homosexuality and heterosexuality without knowing about sex. In my view it is more about love than sex.

Unless you have used the words "homosexual", "gay" and "heterosexual" to your children, then your children remain unaware that your friends are homosexual and assume they are "best friends" like your children's own best friends. The minute you try to explain that your friends are "in love" with each other, then you have to explain that concept and all it entails, including love, sex and marriage.

 

[Titanic]

I'm an atheist, which means that I don't believe in any of the 2,700 Gods that have been worshipped over the years. (not even Thor!)

Christians are nearly atheists, as they don't believe in 2,699 of the Gods that I don't believe in.

Does that make you nearly a Palace supporter?