[Misc] Religion - the Church of England - what future?

[Giraffe]

So last night I went to a religious show at a church, due to a family connection.

It’s the first time I’ve been to a church or similar for some time and it made me think.

What do the religious leaders need to do to encourage people to believe again? The Church of England to me seems totally out of touch with the majority of the country. Most of the people present were over 60. The vicar seemed like a good chap who was well intentioned but I just don’t get it.

I think most of us could get on board with the good and bad thing, like Star Wars, but all the talk of God is to me just unintelligent. I can’t believe in one great God. Life happens and clearly for most logical thinkers the existence of God can’t be a thing.

Flip this over though and the Muslim faith appears to be growing in this country. What are they doing that the Church of England isn’t?

Is it already too late to encourage people back to church? Is that it for the C of E?

 

[Bakero]

So last night I went to a religious show at a church, due to a family connection.

It’s the first time I’ve been to a church or similar for some time and it made me think.

What do the religious leaders need to do to encourage people to believe again? The Church of England to me seems totally out of touch with the majority of the country. Most of the people present were over 60. The vicar seemed like a good chap who was well intentioned but I just don’t get it.

I think most of us could get on board with the good and bad thing, like Star Wars, but all the talk of God is to me just unintelligent. I can’t believe in one great God. Life happens and clearly for most logical thinkers the existence of God can’t be a thing.

Flip this over though and the Muslim faith appears to be growing in this country. What are they doing that the Church of England isn’t?

Is it already too late to encourage people back to church? Is that it for the C of E?

If you think talk of god is unintelligent, why would you want to encourage people back to church?

 

[AmexRuislip]

So last night I went to a religious show at a church, due to a family connection.

It’s the first time I’ve been to a church or similar for some time and it made me think.

What do the religious leaders need to do to encourage people to believe again? The Church of England to me seems totally out of touch with the majority of the country. Most of the people present were over 60. The vicar seemed like a good chap who was well intentioned but I just don’t get it.

I think most of us could get on board with the good and bad thing, like Star Wars, but all the talk of God is to me just unintelligent. I can’t believe in one great God. Life happens and clearly for most logical thinkers the existence of God can’t be a thing.

Flip this over though and the Muslim faith appears to be growing in this country. What are they doing that the Church of England isn’t?

Is it already too late to encourage people back to church? Is that it for the C of E?

This was the case, when I was a yoof.
I used to attend the church youth club thing, mainly through peer prodding, whilst when attending church, it always seemed so dark, a very sombre occasion together with all that incense being woffed about.
Its a technological era these days, where nobody is interested anymore IMO

 

[albionfan37]

The sooner the better that ALL religions get kicked into touch they are completely irrelevant and continuously poison folk against each other and the sooner we can get back to disliking people because they’re rsoles and not because of their religion the better

 

[cjd]

The sooner we finally get rid of the C of E the better. Then we can concentrate on dismantling that other bucketful of s**t, Islam.

 

[GT49er]

So last night I went to a religious show at a church, due to a family connection.

It’s the first time I’ve been to a church or similar for some time and it made me think.

What do the religious leaders need to do to encourage people to believe again? The Church of England to me seems totally out of touch with the majority of the country. Most of the people present were over 60. The vicar seemed like a good chap who was well intentioned but I just don’t get it.

I think most of us could get on board with the good and bad thing, like Star Wars, but all the talk of God is to me just unintelligent. I can’t believe in one great God. Life happens and clearly for most logical thinkers the existence of God can’t be a thing.

Flip this over though and the Muslim faith appears to be growing in this country. What are they doing that the Church of England isn’t?

Is it already too late to encourage people back to church? Is that it for the C of E?

It's a difficult one. Christianity as a religion - especially C.of E - is on the wane; science has shown tat the one god and heaven ideas are a bit unlikely. So what does Islam do, that it keeps growing? Threat of death if you leave, for a start (apostasy is a capital offence under Islamic law), but I don't think that's the only explanation - but I don't know what the others are. Science has made Allah as unlikely as God (they're both the same person really) but it doesn't seem to have convinced the Moslems!
It's a shame in a way - there was much about C.of E/Christianity that I liked - Christmas carols, kids' school nativity plays, things like that, but yes, I guess it's got to go eventually as the west moves towards a secular society. That does leave me concerned about Islam; I'm not worried about people worshipping Allah or Mohammed, but there are aspects of Islam - the associated culture anyway - (see ISIS for example, fatwahs and 'honour' killings) that I do not want in this beautiful land of Britain.

 

[Da Man Clay]

The sooner the better that ALL religions get kicked into touch they are completely irrelevant and continuously poison folk against each other and the sooner we can get back to disliking people because they’re rsoles and not because of their religion the better

Couldn’t agree any more with this.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

So last night I went to a religious show at a church, due to a family connection.

It’s the first time I’ve been to a church or similar for some time and it made me think.

What do the religious leaders need to do to encourage people to believe again? The Church of England to me seems totally out of touch with the majority of the country. Most of the people present were over 60. The vicar seemed like a good chap who was well intentioned but I just don’t get it.

I think most of us could get on board with the good and bad thing, like Star Wars, but all the talk of God is to me just unintelligent. I can’t believe in one great God. Life happens and clearly for most logical thinkers the existence of God can’t be a thing.

Flip this over though and the Muslim faith appears to be growing in this country. What are they doing that the Church of England isn’t?

Is it already too late to encourage people back to church? Is that it for the C of E?

Fear and simply put C of E no longer has that in its armoury.

Religion is divisive and will always be.

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

The sooner the better that ALL religions get kicked into touch they are completely irrelevant and continuously poison folk against each other and the sooner we can get back to disliking people because they’re rsoles and not because of their religion the better

Absolute total garbage.

 

[albionfan37]

Absolute total garbage.

Care to elaborate?

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

Fear and simply put C of E no longer has that in its armoury.

Religion is divisive and will always be.

The main point of religion for the most part is to be anything but divisive.

 

[sir albion]

The sooner the better that ALL religions get kicked into touch they are completely irrelevant and continuously poison folk against each other and the sooner we can get back to disliking people because they’re rsoles and not because of their religion the better

Very much so and it's decline is expected although our biggest problem ahead is trying to encourage other religious people to leave their religions as we seem to be importing to many other religions which we don't need in our modern day society.

 

[Frutos]

The main point of religion for the most part is to be anything but divisive.

Yet, in the course of human history, more wars and battles have been fought in the name of religion than anything else.

 

[sir albion]

The main point of religion for the most part is to be anything but divisive.

Thought it was all about "My God is better than you God"

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

The sooner the better that ALL religions get kicked into touch they are completely irrelevant and continuously poison folk against each other and the sooner we can get back to disliking people because they’re rsoles and not because of their religion the better

Elaboration - the garbage thing was somewhat in haste!
The main intention of The vast majority of religions is not to poison people against each other. It is much more about what Elvis Costello said once: "What's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding."
As for irrelevant, I appreciate that many people would dismiss the Bible as "fairy tales" but it contains a great deal ofmoral teaching. I have heard the Sermonon the Mount described as the best political manifesto ever, and a great deal ov both old andnew testaments are about justice and fairness, welcoming the stranger, valuing people (everyone, not just the chosen) etc etc.

But I do take your point about just disliking people because they are ar53holes.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

The main point of religion for the most part is to be anything but divisive.

The main point of religion is to control the weak and to strip them of self determation. To your point what a load of tosh .

 

[One Love]

Yet, in the course of human history, more wars and battles have been fought in the name of religion than anything else.

In their recently published book, “Encyclopedia of Wars,” authors Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod document the history of recorded warfare, and from their list of 1763 wars only 123 have been classified to involve a religious cause, accounting for less than 7 percent of all wars and less than 2 percent of all people killed in warfare. While, for example, it is estimated that approximately one to three million people were tragically killed in the Crusades, and perhaps 3,000 in the Inquisition, nearly 35 million soldiers and civilians died in the senseless, and secular, slaughter of World War 1 alone.

 

[albionfan37]

Elaboration - the garbage thing was somewhat in haste!
The main intention of The vast majority of religions is not to poison people against each other. It is much more about what Elvis Costello said once: "What's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding."
As for irrelevant, I appreciate that many people would dismiss the Bible as "fairy tales" but it contains a great deal ofmoral teaching. I have heard the Sermonon the Mount described as the best political manifesto ever, and a great deal ov both old andnew testaments are about justice and fairness, welcoming the stranger, valuing people (everyone, not just the chosen) etc etc.

But I do take your point about just disliking people because they are ar53holes.

As a moral compass the 10 commandments are as good a way to live as any but the fact that every religion has slaughtered the masses indiscriminately for centuries says we should find a better solution to religion

 

[vegster]

I work with a young Christian, he is proud of his faith, however, he indulges in sex before marriage despite professing to his family that he would never do that , is homophobic, he is anti female Ministers at any level, very strongly right wing and anti-Europe, very pro -Trump and pro- guns and errs close to racism often in his comments. All this is a tad worrying when put in the perspective that he wishes to become a Minister.

 

[One Love]

As a moral compass the 10 commandments are as good a way to live as any but the fact that every religion has slaughtered the masses indiscriminately for centuries says we should find a better solution to religion

Eh, every religion has never slaughtered anyone. The people following, yes of course.

It's a human condition that is the problem. I hate to think what would have been left of this world if there hadn't been any religion.