AIBU to think that Easter is very English?

[SodaStreamy]

It is though isn't it?

England shuts down for 4 days .....Scotland doesn't

Why change the tv schedule .....I wanted to watch this monring but it's off 'for Easter'

I went to England 8 year ago on Easter Sunday and it was shut! England was shut not a single shop open

[Talkinpeace]

I was not aware that the spring holiday is always the school break in England,
but then my kids are only teenagers and DH only works in education

the late may bank holiday in England is technically Pentecost but has become locked ....

[Mrsdoyle1]

Talkinpeace... " if Jesus existed....but he didn't so"... Bit inflammatory and disrespectful when there are clearly a lot of Christians on this thread.

So Christians are permitted to talk about the existence of Jesus as a fact, but non-believers are not permitted to talk about the non-existence of Jesus as a fact? Why do religious people think that their beliefs deserve to be treated differently to any other beliefs, ie that they cannot be questioned or challenged and that they should command a special respect over and above that accorded to other subjects?

[orangebuccaneer]

MrsDoyle - it is an undisputed historical fact that a person named Jesus existed at the time the New Testament claims.

It's whether or not he was the son of God which is up for debate.

[orangebuccaneer]

Sorry - that should have been aimed at Talkinpeace

[Talkinpeace]

Mrsdoyle
Do not worry on my part.
I am much better educated about Christianity than many Christians.
I have been baptised and confirmed but decided I did not believe a word of it as a teenager. I love singing the songs though.
I also have a rather better record on doing good deeds without wanting reciprocal thanks than many church goers of my acquaintance.
I do not need to think I am being watched over to have a strong moral compass.

[Talkinpeace]

orangebuccaneer
it is an undisputed historical fact that a person named Jesus existed at the time the New Testament claims
UTTER TOSH.
Sorry but there is absolutely no historic evidence for Jesus - and the Romans were deeply pedantic record keepers - they crucified lots of self proclaiming prophets. He's not on their lists.

[grovel]

Well done, Orange. I struggle to believe but I'm inclined to.

[determinedma]

I'm in Scotland and our office is closed for Good Friday and for Easter Monday. I love Easter, so much more relaxed than Christmas and a chance for a lovely family meal and usually - the first signs of spring

[Mrsdoyle1]

Thanks for clarifying that, orangebuccaneer - my comment sort of assumed that the reference here was to the 'Son of God' version of Jesus rather than any other run-of-the-mill mortals who happened to be called Jesus at the time!

Talkinpeace - glad that you feel free to direct the odd gentle swipe at churchgoers in your comment above. A little strange, then, that you should be trying to persuade others here to subscribe to the idea that Christians and Christianity are above questioning or criticism of any kind.

[Lessthanaballpark]

I always thought Easter originated from one of the pagan goddesses of Spring, or Dawn, or something new beginning-ish and that Christianity did the usual thing of appropriating pagan festivals, like they did with Christmas.

[Ploom]

I'm in deepest Bavaria - everything is shut today, Sunday & Monday. The church bells dont ring today out of respect for Jesus but instead the Catholic dc walk through the village with clackers to tell you what time it is .
Loud music and dancing are banned - dh likes to break this rule by dancing round the house.
We are athiests so arent involved in the celebrations directly but it is definitely more than I ever saw in any part of the UK.

[QuintEggSensuality]

It is a pretty unfounded belief that Jesus did not exist. [buwink]

[Mrsdoyle1]

Sodastreamy - I wonder why the obvious inconvenience of Easter to yourself was attributed to it being 'very English' rather than to its religious origin?

As many here have pointed out, plenty of English shops remain open during the Easter period, except for Easter Sunday, although this obviously varies depending on location. Is just one day without tills ringing and consumer consumption such a disaster? Is the fact that the 'This Morning' show was rescheduled so terrible? May I suggest you have lots of chocolate eggs to hand over the Easter weekend to help you through should any of these disastrous events reoccur?! [buwink]

[Mrsdoyle1]

QuintEggSensuality - It is a pretty unfounded belief that Jesus did not exist.

No more unfounded than the belief that he did.[buwink]

[QuintEggSensuality]

Yeah, that was my point!!!

That Jesus did not exist is a belief commonly held by atheists - people who has chosen Atheism, not Catholicism, or Buddhism, or Yoda-ism to believe in.

As opposed to Agnostics who cant be arsed/make up their minds.

[NoHaudinMaWheest]

The whistler.
I meant that to be a gentle prompt that many FC people do find it at least irritating to be called Wee Free rather than to say I was insulted.

I have pretty strong Free Church credentials myself and have been known to use the term myself too but it is different when you use it about your own clan so to speak.

Actually quite nice to meet someone on here who knows what the Disruption was!

[Mrsdoyle1]

QuintEggSensuality - yes, it's all a question of belief, but there is a little difference here: some atheists' beliefs are founded on scientific evidence rather than on what is written in an ancient manuscript, the contents of which seem to have been put together by a bunch of power hungry, mysognyistic bullies. And that's just the bible, never mind other religious texts.

Recently, a barista at Costa Coffee informed me that he followed the 'Jedi Religion', describing himself is a true believer. In a few thousand years' time, perhaps someone will discover an ancient text about the Jedis, and a whole new form of that religion will arise.

My point is that atheism isn't something that you make up as you go along - it's still a form of belief, but I believe it has a much more sound basis for the view that god does not exist than any religion has for the opposite view.

[QuintEggSensuality]

Can you quantify "scientific evidence"? Who is to say that science is not another belief system?

Science is evolving, as humans are discovering more and more. And any new proof is based on somebody believing something, setting out to prove something, and trying to make the answer and the hypothesis fit together.

As long as new discoveries are made, and new advances are made, we have yet to define "science" and what it actually tells us.

Science taught us the earth was flat, until it was discovered to be round.

Maybe one day science will prove the existence of God, or A God. Or a Space man.
But our minds can not comprehend this today, in the same way as humans long ago could not comprehend the idea of a round earth centering around a sun.

[Lessthanaballpark]

Science didn't teach us the earth was flat. The generally held belief of a geocentric universe (including it being flat) was pulled apart in various stages by the natural philosophers of Greece and later by scientists like Copernicus and Galileo.

Yes, each scientific wave made mistakes but they based their investigations on evidence they gathered (empiricism) and didn't usually claim to know everything in the same way as religions have done.

The Catholic Church has tried to suppress or appropriate scientific discoveries especially those that challenged the idea of Earth at the centre. Or God as creator. Evolution isn't a theory. It's an observable fact.

[LadyBeaEGGleEyes]

A lot of the Easter celebrations were nicked from Paganism.
The Easter egg comes from Spring and new life, the resurrection was fitted in nicely with those beliefs, much like Christmas.
I'll stuff my face with chocolate eggs on Sunday, and eat lamb.
I respect all Christians out there though, each to their own.
Now can someone tell me WTF the Easter bunny is about?

[AngryBeaver]

We're in NZ, everything was shut on Good Friday, and they can't sell alcohol. Sat is open but Sun, Mon AND Tue are holidays.

[EllenParsons]

I'm in London and everything is open as normal. Did my supermarket shopping, wondered round some shops and a market, went to a cafe, went to a bar tonight, took public transport etc as normal, bought some stuff from the corner shop... Nothing was shut down for Easter at all.

[sashh]

we are christians but don't celebrate Easter. I think many Christians don't. perhaps this is why America doesn't wholesale acknowledge it either?

How can you be Christian and not celebrate Easter?

Oh and the fish thing, it's supposed to be every Friday, if you are RC. Actually you don't need to eat fish just not eat meat.

[ComposHat]

OP what I do like is that Scotland has more sensible Sunday opening hours than England. No wanky opening at 10 and closing at 4 nonsense.
I always forget when I'm down south and find myself staring forlornly at shop shutters at 4:35 on a Sunday.

My experience comes from Edinburgh and Glasgow, although the Western Isles which are in the grip of one of the more austere protestant sects (I forget which bunch of arseaches, there are so many of them up here, all seemingly competing to be more joyless than the rest) don't open up at all on Sundays and forbid smiling, laughing or any form of pleasure on the Sabbath.

[WallyBantersJunkBox]

Talkinpeace there is no historical basis that Roman governors wrote reports about non-citizens who were put to death. So although they may have been great on the paperwork they had to do, they didn't have to worry about logging non-Roman deaths.

This is why the information purportedly given from Emperor Tiberius on the crucifixion of Jesus has been challenged as they didn't actually have to mention that they had killed a Jew.