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Are we really a Christian country?

TheCatWoman

I know in a calendrical sense we are, we arrange things like school terms and holidays according to church practices, but is that the same as being a Christian country? Church attendance is dropping especially the CofE, we seem to be default CofE in that if you don't know what religion you are or aren't bothered, it's often still put on forms that require a religious affliation. I've sometime been asked if I really want to put Wiccan down in writing on a form and yes I do, I wonder if others have found similar attitudes?

We seem to be a very religiously and spiritually diverse nation, not all Christian denominations celebrate things like Christmas or Easter on the same days, let alone all the other faiths, and what of those who have no faith or belief, do they deserve to be forced into celebrating something meaningless to them?

Apart from the very observant in non Christian faiths, I've noticed that those of many other faiths are quite happy to celebrate Christian holydays, in Islam, Jesus is seen as a prophet, many Hindu's being basically polytheistic join in and put thier own twist on it.

I know that MP chap got all offended about a public Iftar prayer and food distribution in Trafalgar Square last week and I could for the life of me understand why? I've been to many interfaith events and found them all incredibly welcoming, most people just want to share, not dominate.

Parents

  • I think we're post-Christian. I also think we're an inheritor of the philosophy of the classical world (along with the rest of Europe), much of which came to us from the Christian tradition, which was in itself changed by it. I don't think you can deny that we have a Christian heritage, but I think that's fading to a large degree, and I think its historical ubiquity is probably over stated. A lot of Medieval religious practice looks like a tolerated or 'baptised' form of folk belief. In the 19th century, around 50% of the population attended neither church nor chapel.

    I'm personally a humanist, but there are certainly aspects of the Christian tradition which inform my humanism. If I were an Indian humanist, it might be aspects of the Hindu tradition. But living in the 21st century and having easy access to a wide range of cultures and philosophies, I can find things from outside the Western religious and philosophical traditions that I find helpful and inspiring, such as the philosophy of Lao Tzu.

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  • I think we're post-Christian. I also think we're an inheritor of the philosophy of the classical world (along with the rest of Europe), much of which came to us from the Christian tradition, which was in itself changed by it. I don't think you can deny that we have a Christian heritage, but I think that's fading to a large degree, and I think its historical ubiquity is probably over stated. A lot of Medieval religious practice looks like a tolerated or 'baptised' form of folk belief. In the 19th century, around 50% of the population attended neither church nor chapel.

    I'm personally a humanist, but there are certainly aspects of the Christian tradition which inform my humanism. If I were an Indian humanist, it might be aspects of the Hindu tradition. But living in the 21st century and having easy access to a wide range of cultures and philosophies, I can find things from outside the Western religious and philosophical traditions that I find helpful and inspiring, such as the philosophy of Lao Tzu.

Children