To judge parents who do not even tell their children Easter is a religious festival

[Tuliptana]

I'm shocked that 12 out of 20 children in my childs class had no religious knowledge of the meaning of Good Friday or Easter Sunday for Christians.
All aged 9yrs old.

@pointythings As for Israel- they treat Palestinian people so well.

Israel has both Arabs and Palestinians with seats in their Parliament.

And meanwhile they allow settlers to attack Palestinians in the West Bank with impunity...

I couldn't care less.

That's got nothing to do with disestablishmentarianism.

Are you incapable of staying on topic ?

You asked for examples of established religions doing harm.
I gave some.
You quoted Israel as a state with an established faith where everything was great.
I pointed out that it wasn't.
You trotted out some apologist nonsense.
I pointed out that it was apologist nonsense.

So I was on topic within the framework of an ongoing and evolving discussion. You don't get to dictate what I say and when.

You asked for examples of established religions doing harm.
I gave some.

OK
You quoted Israel as a state with an established faith where everything was great.

No I didn't say "everything in Israel was great". I said that Israel gave equal status to all Faiths/Nationalities in their Parliament.

I pointed out that it wasn't.
You trotted out some apologist nonsense.

No. I gave you facts

I pointed out that it was apologist nonsense.
No, you just started banging the drum again about the Palestinian 'cause'.

So I was on topic within the framework of an ongoing and evolving discussion.
Evolving into what?
A platform for you to ride your favourite hobby-horse?

You don't get to dictate what I say and when.
I didn't try to do that.
I just asked you to stay on topic, no need to play 'victim'.

And what according to you does 'staying on topic' look like?

I contend that established religion does harm, and pointed out the harm Israel does to its citizens. You sweepingly dismiss this as 'the Palestinian cause' - that's your prerogative. I see it as concerning that one group of citizens is allowed to attack another group of citizens with absolute impunity. You may be fine with that - that says more about your character than about any other argument.

I note you completely not addressing any of my other point, but that's OK. I know where you stand.

They're mostly festivals/feasts/observances from before Catholicism was usurped by Protestants.

I agree and the same for atheists, parents that force thier children to think the concept of God is a load of old crap. Parents need to allow their children to read and to ask questions. My kids were baptised later on, one as a teen and one at 7 as I let them choose. I was previously agnostic and my other half catholic. My dd is into church, as am I now, but my younger son isn't so much. He believes in God and wanted to be baptised but doesn't enjoy going to church. (mass can be boring for young kids to be honest! he struggles to sit still and quiet) I don't make him come. (probably a bad catholic there but I'll deal with it.) He also asks questions, he likes the hindu idea of re-incarnation. He's also asked about this being a simulation. He also likes holy water and the idea it can protect, he put some on the dog! I like these conversations and think it's great he's questioning things and having his own ideas. If he decides he doesn't want to be confirmed later then that's fine. Maybe I'm more relaxed because I found God as an adult. It was never 'forced' on me.

DT’s were at an international school with friends from many different backgrounds, cultures and religions. Although religious education at school was banned, they were invited to ceremonies and religious events by friends and were free to make their own choices. Both have followed DH and I as being atheists. They have questioning minds and have been taught to analyse evidence and facts.

@pointythings And what according to you does 'staying on topic' look like?

What it says.

I contend that established religion does harm.

Really ?

The state Religion of Russia was Russian Orthodox
During the October Revolution in 1917 the Marxists came to power and their.
biggest targets have always been the family, religion, and civil society—institutional obstacles to the imposition of the omnipotent state.
Murder of children became a norm after he ordered the extermination of Czar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their five children. Millions of families were rounded up and forcibly relocated to remote and uninhabited regions in Siberia and Kazakhstan. Hundreds of thousands of children died of starvation or disease during their journey into exile and were buried in mass unmarked graves.
The Soviet Union was the first state to have as an ideological and practical objective the elimination of religion or, in other words, physical extermination of religious people. With Lenin’s decree of January 20, 1918, nationalization of the church’s property began: cathedrals, churches, church grounds, and all buildings owned by churches were looted, and valuables (gold, silver, platinum, paintings, icons, historical artifacts) were either stolen by Communist atheists or sold to the West via government agents, and communist sympathizers.

The cost to Russia in human terms was 61 million citizens dead.

The state Religion of China was Confucism. In 1966 Mao Zedong initiated the Cultural Revolution and formed a communist government. The result was 3 million dead (about 1/9 of the population.)

Anyone who wants to lay all the ills of society at the feet of established religion needs to read some history and give their head a wobble,.

So 🤷‍♀️. It’s all Christianity and

the religion of the Church of England is not
Protestantism

It’s half way between Catholicism and Protestantism.
hence it’s called the
Church of England not Protestantism

This is not correct.

Protestants are so called because they protested against (some of) the teachings of the Catholic Church.

The core beliefs of Protestantism and Catholicism are different, hence the 39 Articles of Faith set out by Martin Luther in 1571. These are reproduced today in the back pages of every Anglican Prayer Book.

HTH

Which is complete deflecting nonsense.

The very core is the unquestionable acceptance of faith for this grace or "gift", a self serving goal that grants access to heaven without question and regardless of any sin you commit - meaning it has multiple self serving elements to it.

Are you a Protestant?

I thought not.

And your post shows your misunderstanding and quite frankly is a load of misleading horseshit.

Protestants, including Luther and Calvin, firmly teach that the Christian must do good works and not sin, even though they do formally separate good works from justification salvation altogether and categorize them as non-salvific acts classified under a separate category of “sanctification.”

HTH

Last time I looked, even during the brief period where the Puritans took over and were none too keen upon actually having a good time, the marking of Christmas, Easter, Whitsun, Lent, Harvest, Hallowtide, assorted Saints' Days and suchlike aren't new things exclusive to the Church of England - they predated Protestantism, Anglo-Catholicism and Britain as it is now by centuries.

I know the UK has form for appropriation and colonialism, but to insist the Church of England invented the marking of the birth and deeply unpleasant death of Jesus/Yeshua is a bit much, really.

You can preach nonsense all you want, being protestant doesn’t make you magically right, and not being doesn’t make you wrong - says everything we need to know that you suggested otherwise.

Where did I suggest otherwise ??

@NeverDropYourMooncup but to insist the Church of England invented the marking of the birth and deeply unpleasant death of Jesus/Yeshua is a bit much, really.

I don't think anyone actually said that.