Growing up Anglican

By Lola --

I was sent to an Anglican Boarding School in Kent, England, when I was 3 months shy of my 11th birthday. It's the English way - or was.

Image by jimmedia via Flickr

I was lucky; middle class boys get sent away to Prep School at eight! My parents were separating, unbeknown to my older sister and I; my father ( a Navy vet) was going overseas again, and my mother was going to live with her mother. My sister and I were inconveniences, so we got sent to Boarding School.

WE had not been raised as strict Christians, my mother had a muddled upbringing between her Catholic Aunt who raised her, and her birth mother, an Atheist by choice. We were nominally Anglican, and my father attended church when he was home, mainly I suspect so that he could sing in the choir (he had a remarkable baritone).

I am not sure if they knew how "holy" the boarding school was when they sent us, but we soon found out! Assembly first thing in the morning, with prayers and hymns, prayers every evening at 7:00 p.m. before a snack and bed at 7:30. Mandatory Morning service every Sunday (including the infamous "crocodile" parade through the small town so that the locals could gawk at us); and tea with the vicar once a month after service.

It got worse after confirmation (which in High CofE happens at 13). Woken up at 7:00 every Sunday to forcibly attend Communion, morning service at 11, and Evensong at 6:00 p.m.! We also had Religious instruction as part of our curriculum, so I was WELL educated by the age of 16.

Between 14 and 16 I "had a personal relationship with Jesus", I had been "born-again" at confirmation and it stuck for 2 years.

Then I took a comparative religion class (amazing that they permitted it on the curriculum!) and it opened my eyes to Judaism, Muslim, Confucianism, Shinto, Hinduism and others. I learned the similarities between them all, and began to question why the differentiation?

I became a deist, still believing in God, but not organised religion. I have rarely been in a Church, except for weddings and funerals, since.

With all this religious information in my head I seriously question the right of most fundamentalists to call themselves Christians. So much of what Christ (putatively) taught is about acceptance of others, forgiveness and rejection of the blind faith which he grew up with: but these Fundamentalists are practicing Old Testament, not New Testament values! I question the New Testament too. Surely the whole Bible is a collection of works by many, most of whom are reporting after the fact. The Bible is not the book of Judaism, the Talmud is, the New Testament is a collection which was chosen by men, (many similar gospels were rejected.)

I am glad to have found this website, since now I not only question organised religion, but the very existence of a god who allows atrocities to happen. If He ever existed He has forgotten about his creation, much like most of us forgot about our Terrariums, or Lego creations. "Oh yeah, where is that thing I created?" More likely we are a result of some cosmic intelligence too huge for our minimal intelligence to comprehend, that may be god, but it is definitely not an old white haired grandfather sitting on a throne!

My current belief is that God was created by Man, because we need to have a purpose in being! I am still open to suggestions however - any offers?

Comments

So Just How Dumb Were Jesus’ Disciples? The Resurrection, Part VII.

By Robert Conner ~ T he first mention of Jesus’ resurrection comes from a letter written by Paul of Tarsus. Paul appears to have had no interest whatsoever in the “historical” Jesus: “even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, we know him so no longer.” ( 2 Corinthians 5:16 ) Paul’s surviving letters never once mention any of Jesus’ many exorcisms and healings, the raising of Lazarus, or Jesus’ virgin birth, and barely allude to Jesus’ teaching. For Paul, Jesus only gets interesting after he’s dead, but even here Paul’s attention to detail is sketchy at best. For instance, Paul says Jesus “was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” ( 1 Corinthians 15:4 ), but there are no scriptures that foretell the Jewish Messiah would at long last appear only to die at the hands of Gentiles, much less that the Messiah would then be raised from the dead after three days. After his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus—an event Paul never mentions in his lette

Are You an Atheist Success Story?

By Avangelism Project ~ F acts don’t spread. Stories do. It’s how (good) marketing works, it’s how elections (unfortunately) are won and lost, and it’s how (all) religion spreads. Proselytization isn’t accomplished with better arguments. It’s accomplished with better stories and it’s time we atheists catch up. It’s not like atheists don’t love a good story. Head over to the atheist reddit and take a look if you don’t believe me. We’re all over stories painting religion in a bad light. Nothing wrong with that, but we ignore the value of a story or a testimonial when we’re dealing with Christians. We can’t be so proud to argue the semantics of whether atheism is a belief or deconversion is actually proselytization. When we become more interested in defining our terms than in affecting people, we’ve relegated ourselves to irrelevance preferring to be smug in our minority, but semantically correct, nonbelief. Results Determine Reality The thing is when we opt to bury our

ACTS OF GOD

By David Andrew Dugle ~ S ettle down now children, here's the story from the Book of David called The Parable of the Bent Cross. In the land Southeast of Eden – Eden, Minnesota that is – between two rivers called the Big Miami and the Little Miami, in the name of Saint Gertrude there was once built a church. Here next to it was also built a fine parochial school. The congregation thrived and after a multitude of years, a new, bigger church was erected, well made with clean straight lines and a high steeple topped with a tall, thin cross of gold. The faithful felt proud, but now very low was their money. Their Sunday offerings and school fees did not suffice. Anon, they decided to raise money in an unclean way. One fine summer day the faithful erected tents in the chariot lot between the two buildings. In the tents they set up all manner of games – ring toss, bingo, little mechanical racing horses and roulette wheels – then all who lived in the land between the two rivers we

Christian TV presenter reads out Star Wars plot as story of salvation

An email prankster tricked the host of a Christian TV show into reading out the plots of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Star Wars in the belief they were stories of personal salvation. The unsuspecting host read out most of the opening rap to The Fresh Prince, a 1990s US sitcom starring Will Smith , apparently unaware that it was not a genuine testimony of faith. The prankster had slightly adapted the lyrics but the references to a misspent youth playing basketball in West Philadelphia would have been instantly familiar to most viewers. The lines read out by the DJ included: "One day a couple of guys who were up to no good starting making trouble in my living area. I ended up getting into a fight, which terrified my mother." The presenter on Genesis TV , a British Christian channel, eventually realised that he was being pranked and cut the story short – only to move on to another spoof email based on the plot of the Star Wars films. It began: &quo

On Living Virtuously

By Webmdave ~ A s a Christian, living virtuously meant living in a manner that pleased God. Pleasing god (or living virtuously) was explained as: Praying for forgiveness for sins Accepting Christ as Savior Frequently reading the Bible Memorizing Bible verses Being baptized (subject to church rules) Attending church services Partaking of the Lord’s Supper Tithing Resisting temptations to lie, steal, smoke, drink, party, have lustful thoughts, have sex (outside of marriage) masturbate, etc. Boldly sharing the Gospel of Salvation with unbelievers The list of virtuous values and expectations grew over time. Once the initial foundational values were safely under the belt, “more virtues'' were introduced. Newer introductions included (among others) harsh condemnation of “worldly” music, homosexuality and abortion Eventually the list of values grew ponderous, and these ideals were not just personal for us Christians. These virtues were used to condemn and disrespect fro

I can fix ignorance; I can't fix stupid!

By Bob O ~ I 'm an atheist and a 52-year veteran of public education. I need not tell anyone the problems associated with having to "duck" the "Which church do you belong to?" with my students and their parents. Once told by a parent that they would rather have a queer for their sons' teacher than an atheist! Spent HOURS going to the restroom right when prayers were performed: before assemblies, sports banquets, "Christmas Programs", awards assemblies, etc... Told everyone that I had a bladder problem. And "yes" it was a copout to many of you, but the old adage (yes, it's religious) accept what you can't change, change that which you can and accept the strength to know the difference! No need arguing that which you will never change. Enough of that. What I'd like to impart is my simple family chemistry. My wife is a Baptist - raised in a Baptist Orphanage (whole stories there) and is a believer. She did not know my religi

Search This Blog