to think we no longer live in a Christian country

[orlantina]

More than 53% of people have no faith - according to a recent survey.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41150792

That figure changes to 71% amongst 18-25 yr olds.

It surveyed 3000 adults - so it would be interesting to look behind the stats but it seems that more than half the country have no religion.

Christianity is still probably the most common religion out there.

Should this have implications for areas of national life?

I respect all people of all religions and everyone should feel free to believe whatever they want.

However I don't respect their religions. I think they are all delusional and repressive and anyone that wants to say they are 'a crock of shit' should be able to do so.

missymoo- puddle thinking

I was surprised to discover (many years ago now) that the amount of countries with a state religion was very low. Maybe 50 out of nearly 200. The countries that we may think of as 'very' religious e.g. USA, don't have a state religion, ditto lots of Catholic countries. They practice their faith separate from government and school. I'm sure the CofE wouldn't lose members by disestablishment but it would be a whole lot better for us. No pretence of MPs, councillors, HTs etc having to 'fit' in, no prayers in the Commons, council meetings, school assemblies etc.

That's a nonsense comparison the puddle. The puddle is small so the odds are low. Can't compare something like that against the vastness of the universe.

That usually shame.

'is a' not 'usually'

I'm religious, but I want the UK to be a secular country. I don't think any religion should have any say in how things are run or in law making, (although I'm currently trying to square this with the bishops in the House of Lords having more compassion for others than the idiots who we've actually voted for.) I want religious organisations to get their beaks out of politics too, although that seems to be more of an issue in the USA than here.

A majority of the population may no longer identify as Christian, but our culture. laws, language (look at the book of common prayer and the KJB), morality etc are all broadly based on a reformed Christian ideology.

I may be happy to live in a dis-established country (and I agree that the time has come for "a concious uncoupling" of church and state), but to those who say all religions/cultures are equal , I would ask which countries look most attractive to live in at the moment, and which religion they were founded under?

I think we are on the cusp of throwing the baby out with the bath-water, and that we should be very careful what we wish for.

an old bloke with a beard sits on a fucking cloud

You are talking rubbish, juneau. This might be what you think Christianity is, but I can tell you now, Christians and Jews, and every probably Muslims as well (we are all people of The Book) do NOT believe that God is a bullying geriatric floating above us and picking on people.

No? Well then why did my DS come home from school asking me about this very thing? And how come just about every artistic interpretation of god/heaven uses this exact imagery? And if its so misleading why is that what children at school are taught?

That's a nonsense comparison the puddle. The puddle is small so the odds are low. Can't compare something like that against the vastness of the universe.

On the contrary. It illustrates the point very elegantly.

People asking for respect for crazy ideas - why? Do you respect everyone's beliefs? What if I said I believed in talking frogs? What if I hadn't seen talking frogs myself but my neighbour's aunt read it in a book written 2000 years ago? It's plain ludicrous. And that's what it's like for me, when religious people say there is a god. There is no evidence of any god(s) and you believing there is, just because you were told it is so, does not warrant respect.

And as for those dismissing atheists saying we don't know what we are talking about, ALL atheists I know, and I know a lot, all had a religious upbringing. I myself went to convent schools, and my mother was a Sunday school teacher. I was also packed off to xtian summer camp for all of my teenage years. Everyone bar one person I went to school with, that I am in touch with 30 years on, is a non-believer, and bless her, the one believer wasn't the brightest at school. I am so glad the youth are rejecting religion.

“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”

Hands up if you respect the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

I don't respect god or religion.

I respect people's right to believe what they want but I don't see why religious ideas should be respected.

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People asking for respect for crazy ideas - why? Do you respect everyone's beliefs? What if I said I believed in talking frogs? What if I hadn't seen talking frogs myself but my neighbour's aunt read it in a book written 2000 years ago? It's plain ludicrous. And that's what it's like for me, when religious people say there is a god. There is no evidence of any god(s) and you believing there is, just because you were told it is so, does not warrant respect

I'm an atheist: I don't respect the beliefs per se BUT I respect and defend to the hilt people's right to believe whatever they want. I respect their right to do so.

When I look at the solar system, I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance

OTOH - there are plenty of planets where life didn't take place.

So really, it did happen by chance as this planet was the one with the conditions compared the billions where life didn't. We got lucky.

I would ask which countries look most attractive to live in at the moment, and which religion they were founded under

Most countries don't have a State religion.

The ones that do have religion to live under aside from the UK include countries such as Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia...

It's a bit like someone winning the lottery saying that there must be a God.

No. Someone will win the lottery. Purely by chance. God has nothing to do with it.

The Earth just happens to be the lottery winner. Maybe there are other lottery winners out there we haven't met yet

Religious belief/faith is actually a very subjective experience. For some, it provides meaning and guidance in an otherwise uncertain world that holds no promises. People will believe what they want to believe to get themselves through life and the inevitability of death.

You know how a lot of people list America alongside other countries that have the death penalty? That's what that list looks like to me, orlantina :(
It's embarrassing.

oriatina only an atheist would look at it that way. Out of all the billions of planets in our solar system, and we just got lucky? The mathematical odds of that are so high as to be impossible. It's been compared to a blind man picking a coloured grain of sand out of all the deserts iitn the world. If i was an atheist i think i might find it hard to believe that one planet out of all the billions in our solar system is perfect for life to flourish. To believe that is a fluke or we just got lucky would to me, take a far bigger leap of faith than believing that it was created for us.

God gave us this planet, and created it for us, what we do with it is a different matter.

The mathematical odds of that are so high as to be impossible.

No it is probable.
Life can be started in a laboratory.

It's a very arrogant stance to assume that we are the only planet in the universe that supports life.

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It really is nothing like winning the lottery, it's not a proper comparison, you're talking of odds of 14 million to 1. Against odds that are incalculable.