to be annoyed that church is so boring and missing an opportunity to teach something inspiring

[somethingmustchange]

We rarely go except on visits to MIL. Each time the service is read from exactly the same booklet, the sermon teaches nothing and is just boring reciting of the bible, the hymns are dire and sung terribly by everyone including choir. I always leave feeling depressed and cross that the vicar doesn't try to inspire a new generation or give feelings of hope, happiness, community etc. Then the church goers (all 70 plus apart from maybe 2) have coffee and judge other people that are their supposed friends. How are churches supposed to have a future if they carry on like this?

Yy church is boring and i believe in god. Even as a kid just having to sit for ages i used to look at the windows. Sermons the worst as were the endless prayers where you have to say Our Father and another sentence.
I joined the choir and played organ to make it more interesting but no way would my kids sit through that nowadays. The C of E is ritualised and very MC.
Might try catholicism. Evangelist happy clappy or new life born again not my scene.

patriarchy you are just here to make fun now. You called my beliefs "wooly" but also directly blamed me personally for the wrongs in the World because of them; suggesting that by having a faith I am enabling genocide and condoning religious extremism. I'm not...

You've also referred to it as "any old nonsense". You are being hurtful and unkind and relentless. Just leave people alone, this wasn't what the original thread was about anyway.

I don't believe in God and/or Jesus but I love church services, especially ones in cathedrals and large very establishment churches. I like the ritual, and the reading out of centuries-old texts (King James versions only, none of the modern ones for me) and knowing that generations of people have sat in these seats listening to the same words and singing the same hymns. I even like listening to sermons for the intellectual exercise of working out how 21st century moral messages have been derived from Bronze Age belief systems. I don't like modern services with happy-clappy songs though. I appear to be the antithesis of the OP!

Oh, and evensong is brilliant. It's a free concert on at your local cathedral most afternoons. I go whenever I can which sadly isn't that often as I'm usually at work.

I think personal comments te personal beliefs are uncalled for imo.

I like some churches, others are very oppressive.
My local church dates back to the 13th Century, and in the 1600s was host to a Reverend who was particularly enthusiastic as a witch hunter.
Him and his like saw thousands of women being tortured and murdered.

Walking through the church and churchyard gives me the chills.

Church is boring and Christianity is synonymous with hypocrisy.

What would you like it to teach?

Starting with the 10 Commandments at the very beginning. It clearly states thou shalt not kill.

The very next thing Moses tells his people to do after he brings the tablets down from the mountain is to strap on their swords and slaughter 5000 people fot their profanity with the Golden Calf who had not yet heard of the 10 commandments.

Nice lessons to learn there from the beginning.

Belief systems as and of themselves are not necessarily worthy of respect

Except your own, obviously. Because you couldn't possibly be expected to go to church on a Sunday and lie because it goes against all your beliefs.

Other people's beliefs not so much eh?

That's not a belief system. It's just how I personally choose to live my life.

Why is that so hard for you to understand?

Is this related to why theists are so desperate to pretend that atheism is a "belief system"?

Elton

You are making a common mistake here, you are conflating secularism with atheism. They are very different things.

Atheism says that there is a very high probability that there is no God or Gods.

Secularism is a system where religion or lack of religion do not matter and are not taken into account.

Nobody is promoting or to my knowledge has ever promoted atheist schools in this country. What is being proposed is secular schools, where religion or lack of it is irrelevant and instead they just concentrate on teaching the curriculum.

It's really not that difficult and I don't know why you would want it to be any different?

You specifically stated earlier on that you believe in the separation of church and state. Yet you support state funded faith schools? Can you explain that for us?

Elton

Not believing in something is not a belief system or an ideology. Just think about the implications if it were.

There are a large number of things that neither you or I believe in, (in fact mathematically there are an infinite number of things that we don't believe in), so does that mean that we all (you and I included) hold an infinite number of different belief systems?

For example I don't believe in yogic flying. I think it's absolute nonsense. Does my lack of belief in yogic flying also constitute an ideology?

The argument against private faith schools is different, but still strong. Even if a church is prepared to fund a school 100%, it's still not acceptable for private institutions to teach children according to their own criteria.

So, we make all state schools completely secular. Fine.

So I send my kids to a private school, so they can be educated in a religious way.
BUT no, I can't do that, because they will still be learning about religion.

So I home ed. Or are we going to ban that too so I can't teach my kids religiously there either?

Do you really just want all state schools to be secular? Or do you want to then force all children to attend them so they can be taught how wonderful secularism and atheism is?

Why not just remove children from their parents at birth?

And Vitalogy, I don't see why there should be any state funded faith schools. I've never said that.

I agree op... It seems every vicar has same tone of voice I can barely stand it now, but I like to go church on occasion. So boring, so leadon... Definitely needs switching up

It seems every vicar has same tone of voice I can barely stand it now, but I like to go church on occasion. So boring, so leadon...
Well the two at my church aren't like that at all. I really enjoy listening to the sermons

Our vicar is amazing! He is so nice and he's funny too. He doesn't preach the whole 'holier than thou' way, he's just great.

When me and DH (DP at the time) approached him about getting married 'in a rush' I was quite embarrassed and was giggling nervously the whole time. He just said "There's no need to be nervous or embarrassed! You've done nothing wrong! Now enjoy the love you so clearly have for one another." No judgement, he even made a joke about condoms!

You're all talking about the C of E and England. I can imagine the furore if you suggested that all schools should be secular or non faith here in the West of Scotland.

hollow, my nan got a gay vicar at the age of 87. She goes out drinking with him and his partner and is rapidly becoming a fag hag. People have really odd perceptions of churches because they don't know much about them.

Every vicar has the same tone of voice? At DHs church they are British, Nigerian and Polish. So, em, no.