Catholic, I practice and I proudly take ownership of my religion.
Originally Posted by Garage Joe:
Mrs Jer always refers to herself as an escaped catholic.
I was brought up very "low church" C of E lite, in a small town. In our current town I was amazed to witness "high church" being as near as catholicism as can be.
Recently, at my father's funeral, I was surprised that people remarked on the fact that he had the vicar officiate. Apparently the C of E has a two-tier system where church goers/believers get the five star treatment, and the rest have a lay reader. Father as a regular communion attender received the full works.
I was never at ease standing by certain individuals in a church setting. There was a faint hint of hypocrisy and it led me to believe that if you want to converse with God, then you should go direct.
Religious fanatics do my head in, but they are nought compared to people who try to ram atheism down one's throat.
That may be the case with the church which held your father's funeral but that is definitely not official C of E policy. I'm a regular at my church which is C of E and I know that every funeral in our church is officiated by either the vicar or the curate of our church. After the service when the coffin is taken to the local crematory, the vicar or the curate accompany the family there in order to say the final prayers.
Although lay readers are allowed to officiate at funerals I would have though that this would, or certainly should, need the consent of the family.
Alas no! It's official local C of E policy.
The guy who does funerals for the also rans used to be a charge nurse at the local hospital before doing whatever it is that needs doing to enable him to officiate. Having said that, at least he is more sincere and caring than the university educated career minded incumbent.
(You wouldn't believe that I used to be a choirboy, server, and campanologist, would you?)
Originally Posted by Blizz'ard:
Catholic atheist.
Can't rid myself of the 'culture'. 
You and me both. 
I'm very much in the Richard Dawkins camp but I'm also a libertarian in that I generally believe in personal freedoms and that adults can make decisions for themselves without some arbitrary ruling from someone else's imagined higher authority. Dawkins is right when he says religion makes 'good' people do bad things because they believe they are doing good in the eyes of their deity (or deities). Politics and also anti-religious sentiment can do that too.
As a child I was forced into Catholicism by my parents. By 16 I was highly sceptical of the whole "God exists" thing. By 18 I'd quit church and was a firm Atheist (or as I like to called it; Liberated).