Anyone know anything about The Christian Community?

[nosleeptillbedtime]

I am looking for a church to join. Near me there is something called The Christian Community. According to their website Rudolph Steiner was involved in their establishment in 1922. Does anyone know if they are generally regarded as a christian group or are they a bit culty and out there?

Do think about it carefully (particularly if when you chose each other part of the reason was both being atheists). I know one friend in part divorced his wife because she utterly changed (I mean 3 times a week prayer meetings in the house, she housed Kenyan missionaries in the family home - the full works down to beards and sandals)....

Atthe from looking at your previous posts here I'm not sure on what basis you declare 'How rude!'. You did say that you could not be in a relationship with a Christian as you value emotional and intellectual discussion, and you seemed to compare the lack of this in your upbringing. So it was hardly unreasonable of Dione to make the comment she did within this context. It was also arguably rude for you to suggest that being with a christian precludes emotional and intellectual discussion (and for your information my husband and I spend much of our free time at lectures, debates and discussion groups, including those covering religion and philosophy, and will continue to do so).

I'm another one with an atheist dh. But thankfully we both respect each others' beliefs and he fully accepts how important my faith is to me. Just as I respect the fact that he doesn't believe.

Good luck in finding a church nosleep.

nosleep - Just to say that I also have an atheist DH. My return to faith after many years (starting before I met him) of agnosticism (I would never have described myself as atheist) was challenging for both of us, but, precisely because we value open debate and intellectual discussion, we have been able to work things out. As in other aspects of our lives, we make compromises for each other (he has the beard; I have the sandals ); and it was always clear that I was not going to stop believing in some of the other things I've always believed (like feminism, gay rights, science, and what have you) just because I also believed in God. I have never asked him to believe what I believe, but I do think that he has come, cautiously, to understand it a bit better and to view it with slightly less suspicion. That's a start. I hope it'll be the same for you. Keep talking, and good luck.

Thanks tuo and sunny. I think how one handles these things does matter. I had a friend who became vegan and lost her boyfriend and some friends. She said she was confused and upset that her beliefs meant these people went from her lives. But I wasn't confused! She kept on and on and on at them to become vegan and couldn't accept or respect her bf's point of view at all. Eventually they got tired of it and left. It wasn't her beliefs that bothered them it was her behaviour to them.
I respect dh's point of view and have no intention of trying to make him believe what I do.

Apologies Atthestroke, I thought that you meant growing up. Even so, your experience with your family cannot be extrapolated to everyone. I came to faith late in life, as did my boyfriend's dad. He spent the first half of his adult life traveling the world, learning and teaching physics (he has a PHD in the subject). He acquired faith in his fifties. The only change in him, according to himself and his family was that he became less angry and more happy. It didn't result in him losing a lifetime's knowledge.

By contrast my ExH became a Dawkins atheist. He always was atheist and I bought him the book for Christmas. About a year later he became abusive and when he didn't have anything else to abuse me over, would start accusing me of being misogynist/homophobic/responsible for death and destruction. All complete nonsense. I do not judge all atheists as though they were him. That would be ridiculous projection and displaced anger on my part. And I would have lost out on amazing friends and my gorgeous boyfriend.

When it comes down to it I am more interested in whether you are an inquisitive, emotionally mature, interesting, kind person than what you think about god or the afterlife. Indeed, for me, to judge people on this criteria is trite and superficial.