Atheists Unite

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by sexobon

You pick and choose what you will accept on faith. You belong to a church alright, the church of ME, which is why:

The thing I accept on faith is that Jesus endorsed it, the path stands on it's own merit.

Originally Posted by Sundae

In England, it is very rare to come across people who quote it chapter and verse. Even the Evangelicals don't tend to bring it into every day conversation.

I think I got what you meant, them understanding the history and meaning behind the traditions. Especially the traditions that are primarily from the Roman Catholic and Episcopal denominations. I think those are the dominant Christian denominations over there, aren't they?

In the small town where I was drug up, the protestant church was built by a federation of people from a bunch of denominations, so the customs and rituals were an amalgamation. Going to churches of different denominations, I'd pick out bits and pieces that had been lifted from them.

Over here, it's been my experience that most people don't bring religion into their daily social interactions at all, other than when somebody sneezes. If they discuss religion at all, keep it pretty general in concepts and preferences. The people that quote chapter and verse the most, are usually the most intolerant, often racist, usually sexist & homophobic, closed minded motherfuckers on earth. YMMV.

If someone starts quoting Bible verses, they're selling something, most often their religion... available on an easy payment plan, publications extra. If they are quoting Old Testament verses, they're usually trying to justify some abhorrent social behavior(see racist-sexist-homophobic above), win people over to a political candidate, or to reinforce a position that has no logical or reasonable defense. It's amazing how a sentence or two, can be "interpreted" to cover things which could not even have been imagined, by the people that wrote them.