Rudderless! Directionless! Cast adrift without compass on an ocean of ecclesiastical possibilities!

[chaletian]

Further to my voyage of religious discovery, I have spent the last couple of hours talking to half a dozen of my nearest and dearest, canvassing their opinions on the existence or otherwise of God. Is it strange that I have never known what anyone in my family actually believes on that front? Anyway, the results were pretty much as I expected, and I had a couple of very interesting discussions with Daddy and Grandma on the subject (Daddy and I, not surprisingly, having fairly similar views, being as how we have pretty much the same brain). Neither Rosie nor my mother showed much interest in the subject (Mummy believes; Rosie doesn't, which did surprise me a little), and Grandad didn't discuss it beyond answering the question (he said yes he did believe, though oddly Grandma said she thought he didn't), but said it would be interesting to talk about it more when I go to stay. Chris believes basically the same as me, I think, but is far more cynical about the role of organised religion in society. So there you go. The collected religious views of the Hallatt/Webster clan. (I imagine it goes more or less without saying that where there is religious persuasion, it is of the Church of England variety, and none of us are church-goers, even the ones who believe.)

As a final tally of my mini survey:

7 people were consulted (yes, I include myself)
3 men, 4 women
6 with a university education, 1 without
6 were brought up with a C of E background, including some form of regular church attendance (forgot to ask Daddy, and actually that maybe ought to be 5, because my regular church attendance was at a Methodist church)
5 were confirmed, 1 was not (again, forgot to ask Daddy)
3 believed in some kind of God, 4 didn't

Comments

[nicolap.livejournal.com]

So the God you do not believe in is the C of E God?

I'm pretty sure I stole that line from somewhere and then mangled it, but have no idea where... I have this vague half-memory of someone saying it on TV a few years ago, whilst describing their adherence to the moral precepts of the church, an appreciation of the art, architecture and choral music, but a complete inability to actually BELIEVE in the basic tenets of Christianity.

[chaletian.livejournal.com]

No, I don't believe in any God. The incidence of my having brought up (more or less) with a C of E background is neither here nor there when it comes to my reasoning for not believing in a supernatural whatnot bobbing around creating things; I suppose it just means that if I *did* believe in God, that's the most likely prism through which I would conceive him, if you see what I mean? After all, when there's a dominant religion in one's culture, it's hard to completely avoid the impact of that. I quite like going to church. I believe in parts of Christian teaching (the whole being nice to your neighbour thing has always struck me as a winner). But I still don't believe in the existence of God. And it's not that I'm not aware of other religions, or other Christian doctrines, and might find those more palatable to me. I just don't believe in something that's outside the, I don't know, bubble of our own universe. I admit that it's a possibility, but without any proof, I'm not going to believe in it.

Sorry, that's possibly far more rambling than you anticipated... *g*

[chaletian.livejournal.com]

And yes, slightly missing the point. I have been in a rather strident mood all afternoon... so unattractive in young woman...

[nicolap.livejournal.com]

*pats gently*

You did miss the point splendidly, well done.

*sends a nice calm soothing ladylike hobby instead*

Or we could do politics next, should we ever exhaust religion as an impolite conversational topic?

[chaletian.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think we should skip religion and go straight to... THE GOLD STANDARD!!

Cast adrift without compass on an ocean of ecclesiastical possibilities!

[balooky.livejournal.com]

What faboolous language. ILU ♥

Re: Cast adrift without compass on an ocean of ecclesiastical possibilities!

[chaletian.livejournal.com]

Alas, I wish I could take credit for it. But it is from yonder Babylon 5 ep, Passing Through Gethsemane (I didn't have enough space for quote marks). It's a marvellous programme...