to be saddened when people tick the 'no faith' box.

[Funsponge]

on forms when there is a Religion or Faith box and people put none.

No faith.

Realy?

No faith in anything?

It makes me feel sad for them. How empty and meaningless and small they must feel. Poor things.

Oh no! I've just found that empty place inside me!

I'd better have some breakfast

Runningforthebus - I think WWJD needs to enter Mumsnet common usage, brilliant.

No need to feel sorry for me. I have no religion, but my life isn't empty without it. My life is not diminished by my lack of belief in the abominable snowman or fairies either.

I don't actually have faith, as such, in the big bang or general relativity or evolution either. They appear to be the explanations that best fit the available evidence. The incredible thing is that many of us have a sense of wonder about the universe around us, we can examine it and try to find new things in it and try to explain how things work. Ascribing these incredible phenomena to magic or God would take away some of the wonder for me.

Op never actually said they were a Christian!
You can find things sad, feel sorry for people without having the same beliefs as them

But bronze the OP is feeling sorry for the people because they do not have faith: the implication surely being that she does? or else she would have written "I feel sorry that I myself have no faith", would she not?

And she specifically mentions church going, not mosque going or gurdwara going, so the implication is very strongly Christian

Faith is belief without proof. I don't do that thang.

Oh, OP, the problem is in the wording of the tick boxy-thing.

It should read: religious affilliations. Then you wouldn't get you opportunity to patronise those who have no truck with woo.

cornish I'd prefer WWSD what would Scooby Doo?

Silly

Come on funsponge, you know those boxes are for organised religions. And tbh I feel sorry for you if you can't see beyond something made up by man to bewilder, befuddle and control man.

My 'faith' is in the world around me, my family and humanity in general I guess. I don't need pity.

I do like cory's posts here :)

Please don't feel sad for me, OP. I believe in the natural mystery of our amazing universe; I have a reasonable amount of faith that the sun will come up around 4am tomorrow; but that's not what the tick-box is asking. Do they actually say 'Faith', anyway? Why not 'Religion'?

funsponge, given that you had such a bad day yesterday I think you've just set yourself up for a kicking.

I find it insulting and patronising that people think church goers are fair game for piss tsking.

But those of us who tick 'no faith' are ok to be patronised.

Cory
She mentions church going because that's what the other thread says
People quoting things about Jesus at her are making assumptions.

Dual purpose thread.

1. Above responses confirm that people are allowed to make drrogitory commrnts about christianity. Although substitute mosque for church and thread would disapear quicker.

1. How long until it does disappear? I wonder if this counts as deliberately inflamatory?

Okay I decided to start reading the church thread backwards.

If anyone is in any doubt as to why the OP has started this thread it will probably be down to this:

To be utterly utterly candid and hope to not be rude, I really struggle to be really really close friends with someone with a faith because I do feel that they must be a bit nuts (for want of a better word) because it is so totally alien and incomprehensible to me.

That would appear to be as inflammatory as your initial post.

Tis all down to intent. If one wishes to be informed on something there is a wealth of info out there. But that does not a mass debate make. See what I did there?

as I said everyone seems to be more than capable of expressing their beliefs and at being called nutters essentially.

OP you are a patronising git.
I am absolutely fine in having no faith.

I'm actually a church attendee who ticks the "no faith" box. I attend to have a good sing support DH and DS and for the opportunity of reflection. I don't however receive communion.

But I don't believe in a deity who is interested in the detail of our lives. I have faith that most people are fundamentally good, that the universe is wonderous and governed by the rules of mathematics and physics that we are still understanding, but not that a deity who created all of that is interested in our lives.

So you can feel saddened, but my life is rich and I do have faith in things, but they just aren't things which have a tickbox on standard forms.

Funsponge I rather thought one could make derogatory comments about any faith. After all it's just a belief, like the tooth fairy. Who care what you believe?

Perhaps you're confusing it with "all should be set on fire right now". Kind of thing.

Actually I can't remember ever seeing a box marked "no faith" anyway. It's normally either a special box for "atheist/agnostic" or the category refers to "religion".

Either way no need to be cross. And starting a thread that is grossly offensive to one group to which they respond offensively does not prove anything.
If I started a thread saying "AIBU to be depressed by all the bloody English cluttering up Snowdonia" then I would not be surprised to get some anti-Welsh remarks in the responses; it would not prove anti-Welsh prejudice is rife on MN.

YABU

People can be perfectly happy with no faith, they don't need sympathy

They may have fatih that doesn't fit into neat checkboxes

I tick the no faith/other for my children, because dh and I have grown up in different faiths, and I want the children to make their own decisions when they are older, not allocate a faith to them.

FunSponge please don't try and play the "oh dear me, I'm a poor minority being picked on card" it doesn't wash. Please look at the statistics section on this page and note that you are the one who is minority bashing.

Much better to be honest. It all seems a bit cut and dried-perhaps they ought to have a box for 'undecided' or 'thinking about it'.

Funsponge, I don't have any more time for Islam than I do for Christianity so don't trot out that old chestnut about the poor wickle persecuted christians while all other religions are protected cos quite frankly it's utter bollocks.

And you still haven't responded to the point that you think it's ok to patronise people of 'no faith' (although that is disingeneous to say the least) but we're not allowed to respond.

BeardyDaddy...shouldn't it be WWSDD....what would Scooby Doo do?

Aside from that, I don't really know what I believe in so I guess you could say I have no faith, but don't feel like my life is empty (apart from my stomach which needs breakfast). I don't understand religious folks, but each to their own, if it makes them happy & they're not trying to convert me then so what?