to be amazed at people going to church

[Hullygully]

I really didn't think anyone still did the whole church on Sunday thing (this is not meant rudely, am just genuinely amazed).

Why do you go?

Don't you go out dancing and drinking on Sat and have a terrible hangover?

Or don't you want to have a lie-in with the papers?

Do you have roast dinner after?

Where do you live?

sometimes I go on weekdays late morning or in the evening so not sure the Sunday and lunch questions apply

although recently have been thinking 'I DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD AND THIS WHOLE INSTITUTION IS HORRIBLE AND A PILE OF WANK' which is rebellion, which is a quite bad sin apparently but I can't help it

am in East Angular

when am in The Mood I love it though

I think that says it all Lucie-you can't tolerate it-terribly narrow minded.

I would much rather be a tolerant person- and hope that I am.

To judge someone based only on their faith is narrow minded. How could it be anything else?

That would be like me saying I only want to be friend with people who are christian, or I only want to be friends with people who have blonde hair. It shows a great lack of ability to look at the whole person.

"Why is is narrow minded to have a preference about who I'd want to friends with? I find organised religion abhorrent and so could not tolerate that in a friendship."

That comes across as bigotry to me. I have friends who are Christians, atheists and anything in between. (We live in an area with a minimum ethnic minority so there aren't any other religions round here). I don't judge my friends on the basis of whether they are religious or not. Like exotic you wouldn't know if I went to church or not because it wouldn't crop up in conversation.

People are free to go to church but I'm free to not befriend them surely? I like to have common values with my friends. I disagree with organised religion so it is only logical I wouldn't be friends

Lucie, you are proving yourself to be more narrow minded and more of a fundamentalist than any of the church going people who have given quite reasoned responses.

I say this as an atheist.

what are you going to do with all this information? You're not going to tell God what I said are you?

Personally, I pick friends who are kind and enjoy the same things I do. Religion doesn't play a strong role, expect that people of my religion are more likely to enjoy the same things I do (specifically, activities that do not involve alcohol).

I have friends of all religions or with no religion-I take them as I find them. To rule someone out because their beliefs don't match mine in childish at best and bigoted at worst.

Lucie do you also avoid being friends with anyone who has different political views to you or just religious?

Do you give them a tick list first-or do you make friends and then have to drop them?

Well I couldn't be friends with a Tory voter no but that's the only political exception.

I never tell people what I vote either.

Me either exotic - My mum has never told anyone who she votes for (even my dad who she has been married to for 33 years). I wonder how Lucie would decide if she should be friends with us or not? I don't tend to mention my faith unless it comes up in conversation either.

Why don't you tell ppl who you vote? Are you ashamed? Strange, if I'm passionate about something then I'm not afraid to discuss it.

Why do I go? To worship the God I believe in. And eat biscuits. HTH.

Would you have started a thread along the lines of 'AIBU to be amazed at anyone attending a mosque / synagogue / temple?' Or it is just Christian worship that you find so utterly incomprehensible?

Whats it got to do with anyone else?

Certain things are like that are more obvious about people than you think. People can believe in what they want and I'd never be rude or discriminate against someone on religious or political beliefs, but they are not people I would choose to become close to. It isn't fundamentalist or bigoted to choose the qualities of one's friends.

see up there frozen^^

rtft in other words

I don't know anyone who goes either although I wouldn't be friends with them if they did

Well I couldn't be friends with a Tory voter

Now Lucie surely you can see how the above two comments contract your comment saying I'd never be rude or discriminate against someone on religious or political beliefs

Lucie, so you don't have friends who disgree with you? Sounds bizarre, not to mention arrogant and insecure to me, tbh.

(Sorry - just had to add that.)

To answer your question OP, I do go to church. I also get a lie-in on a Sunday. DH gets DD up and I lie in till 10. I buy the paper after church and read it after lunch (sometimes a roast dinner, sometimes not). Why do I go to church? To worship God, pray, medidate, have fellowship with other believers, sing great hymns...many reasons.

I think Lucie makes a fair point. We are most of us drawn to others of a similar bent, we may enjoy speaking to and debating with those with different outlooks and points of view, but to really claim them as friends there is usually a degree of likemindedness.

Perhaps we should define "friends"

I'm an atheist (heading towards anti-theism) humanist & secularist - I make Richard Dawkins look like Archbishop Desmond Tutu .

But even I can see the attraction of going to church (not that I ever do). There is a goodwill to all men kind of atmosphere going on in most of them (iirc), a sense of community support & cohesion - and lots of calming, traditional stuff. I suppose if you're a believer, and really think it's a building that brings you closer to your god, then going has to be a happy experience, right?

Just my view.

Crikey - of course. These social structures wouldn't have evolved and persisted if they didn't offer some benefits to their groups, would they?

1. Why do you go?

Because I find it peaceful, and a moment of stillness and reflection in my hideously busy life, and I like the liturgy and the music. Oh, and I still vaguely believe in God, and I like plugging into whatever s/he is for a bit.

2. Don't you go out dancing and drinking on Sat and have a terrible hangover?

God no. I'm not 18 any more and just the thought of it makes me feel ill.

3. Or don't you want to have a lie-in with the papers?

Our service starts at 11, so that allows for a pretty good lie-in with a toddler beforehand.

4. Do you have roast dinner after?

Sometimes.

5. Where do you live?

South-East.