AIBU to ask whether you own a Bible?

[BeanQuisine]

Just idle curiosity, really.

We often hear right-wingers insisting "This is a Christian country", whether we're in UK, Oz or the US etc.

So I'm wondering how many of us actually own Bibles, and whether we ever read them. I did read assorted bits of it in my youth, but don't currently own a Bible.

YABU: Whether Mumsnetters own Bibles or not is none of your business.

YANBU: It's a vaguely interesting question.

I do find it weird...and a bit sinister...the way some pps are absolutely determined to deny the role and influence of Christianity on British culture over many centuries - from 597, to be precise - the conversion of the Saxons - and maybe before if you count Celtic Christianity.

Either these people are just not noticing all the stuff I see everywhere, or they have some kind of anti-Christian agenda.

Gosh, OP - that's mighty patronising!

'We people', whoever that's addressed to, might have very different experiences to yours and - newsflash - ours are just as valid. What a sweeping and crude statement: to paraphrase, 'You people are idiots who don't know what you're talking about - unlike moi!' OK.

It's not my experience that Christianity is a dead duck in the UK - I bet thousands of people would be amazed to hear this news! It might be for you, but you're just one in 70+ million and can't speak for us all.

Again, I say, I'm an atheist, but one who would NEVER mock anyone's religious beliefs and one who also feels culturally Christian and knows very well how much Christianity has moulded our history and still has a strong influence today.

Just saying stupid things over and over doesn't make them true. Open your eyes, ears and most of all, your mind.

There are plenty of sources that show that only a tiny percentage of people attend church or participate in a form of active worship.

https://natcen.ac.uk/news/no-revival-sight-church-attendance-britain-remains-below-pre-pandemic-levels-new-bsa-data

For example, which actually has the figure at 5% of the population attending church, and with a massive skew towards older people. Young people really have given up with the church.

I really do not think there is much of an argument against the statement that in the UK religion is irrelevant to most people's day to day lives. It certainly is compared to large swaves of the US.

I am a Hindu by birth- not really a practicing one any more as mostly agnostic- but I visit churches and cathedrals every chance I get because they are often so beautiful and peaceful, with incredible architecture and history.

I don't have a problem with acknowledging the Christian roots of this country, even if I personally lean towards a secular society. I expect most people these days cherry pick good bits of religion- maybe music, food, literature- and reject the rest? Nothing wrong with it.

For example, which actually has the figure at 5% of the population attending church, and with a massive skew towards older people. Young people really have given up with the church.

Where you live, maybe but not round here! (SE commuter town). The many churches, of all denominations, are full - and there are loads of young families an teenagers.

I remember years ago a C of E vicar from Bolton was looking to work in the South of England. I asked him why and he told me that the church in the South was thriving - they were building new ones!

There is lot more that 6% of 'religious activity' going on but that needs to be defined.

I don't believe that you're an atheist, sorry.

Far from saying "stupid things", I'm simply pointing out the obvious, whereas you have been burdening this thread with dishonest crap for too long now.

@CoffeeCantata

There is lot more that 6% of 'religious activity' going on but that needs to be defined.

Yes, what is specifically being included (or excluded) as religious activity? There are numerous activities that would come under that heading, but are they being taken into account?

I don't necessarily think that a majority of Britain engages in religious activity (of any kind) but non-attendance of church (or any other religious building) does not, in itself, equal non-religious or a lack of religious activity in other areas.

If people pray at home (or outside in nature) that would surely count as religious activity.

Yes although I just use the phone app these days.

Personally I've found all of @CoffeeCantata 's posts in this thread to be insightful and illuminating. I agree totally that British culture is interwoven with Christian culture and would have developed quite differently without that overlap.

Even @BeanQuisine herself says we're "post-Christian" - not post-Islam or post-Hindu or post-void-of-nothingness!

For example, which actually has the figure at 5% of the population attending church, and with a massive skew towards older people. Young people really have given up with the church

Fits with my perception. I'm 50s, and I don't have a single friend, acquaintance, or workmate who ever attends church. Also not a single one I've ever heard describe themselves as Christian. A few Muslims, and they do go to Mosque, but I don't know a single person who attends a Christian church of any denomination.

I do have a few older relatives, 70s and 80s, who did attend church at one point, but every single one of them stopped years ago.

I'm in Scotland, so statistically less religious than other parts of the UK to begin with, but I'd say 5% attending church would be right around the figure I'd guess at given what I see around me. The only churches which ever appear to be occupied are the Evangelical ones, Destiny church and suchlike, and that's become more and more obvious over the past 5-10 years and goes hand-in-hand with the very obvious increase in the number of African/Caribbean/Asian migrants living here on Work Visas.

I have a tiny one I was given in school. Every so often I flick through the pages.

The irony is that if we take CoffeeCantata's claims at face value - that he/she is an atheist who just happens to be a kind of indulgent Christian hobbyist - that in itself amply demonstrates the post-Christian nature of UK society.

The CoffeeCantata message is: "Don't worry, we've debunked and de-fanged all this mythical nonsense, which no longer has any power to control or influence society except on the level of personal amusement. I, as an eccentric fan of the old mysticism, can join in the harmless fun in a way that would be impossible with a powerful religion that still holds sway, such as Islam in the Muslim countries."

I’ve kind of lost track of this thread- but are people suggesting that you can’t be interested and knowledgeable about religion AND an atheist?

Of course you can. The disagreement is over whether the UK is a "Christian society" or more realistically, a "post-Christian society".

Because CoffeCantata is enthusiastic about some aspects of Christianity (but not a believer), she would rather assert that this is still a Christian society, and call me stupid for looking at the question more objectively.

OP is taking my breath away with their (notice I don't presume to know their gender...) arrogance and - talent for mind-reading?

They tell me I'm not an atheist. OK, Mystic Meg - what else is in your crystal ball?

Words mean everything to me and I try to say what I mean and mean what I say.

I'm not going to waste precious time on explaining to OP - I don't think it would advance things much - but if OP wants to know what my religious views are, they are the same as Thomas Hardy's in his famous poem The Oxen and Philip Larkin's as set out in Church Visiting, both great poems about the loss of faith alongside the yearning for the safety and comfort which faith gave. They are superbly existential.

Philip Larkin, in another poem -was is Aubade? calls religion 'that vast, moth-eaten, musical brocade created to pretend we do not die'. That sums it up for me. I do enjoy lots of things about Christianity because it's my culture, and I don't mock believers.

But I won't hold my breath - I don't think OP does nuance or poetry, or existential angst! They like it black and white, I suspect.

Well the OP is!

But they claim to be omniscient about to pps' religious views.

Perhaps they are in fact the Divine Being??? 😂I wish I hadn't been so cheeky now.

Well I'm categorically an atheist, yet I have a theology degree, a number of bibles and I sing in a church choir so attend church every Sunday. I also love a sung Evensong service - it's very calming.
Takes all sorts 😆

Well, obviously, in some parts of the uk church going will be more common than in others. That doesn't prove anything though. Study after study has shown that religion is on the decline in the uk - and indeed in much of the western world.

It's well documented that as education goes up, belief in some form of diety goes down.

Good for you, I'm glad you have a hobby. 😁

But once again, English churches being apparently full of atheists playing dress-ups, clearly serves to underline the fact that we are looking at a post-Christian society.

No. I was raised Catholic but now atheist. Never read the Bible though apart from at school in RE class

I don’t

No. I think I was given a cheap one when I left school but fully expect it got binned.

I love a sung evensong service too. I love the music and buildings and ritual and community of churches especially high C of E but don’t believe it

Love this. My favourite book. Totally outing but my cat is called Ecclesall after this book.

Ye, exactly this. It’s a shame it’s so out of fashion but these things help hell communities.