Jojo at work was LYING to me?  I'm  going to have to reconsider  my conversion 

In Judaism, the divorce laws are also biased against the women.

fracas, don't tell Jojo what I said !  She was trying to butter you up to join, with the promise of handbags and shoes, and stuff.  Don't get sucked in by your love of shoes.  It's a lifetime commitment with drawbacks.
 

Seriously though, I watched a programme about Jewish families.  The woman does have a lot of say, but the man has the final say.  Because he is male.

I think a lot of the "Mainstream" religions are biased against women.I'm sure it's stated in some scriptures that we are "unclean" etc due to our cycles.Pah! Women are the nurturers etc.Maybe if I  felt at all religious I'd veer towards "Wicca" etc,with the earth mother and a celebration of nature.

i believe in vodka

ROFL!

The mud hut thing!  

Tribe in africa... the women are sent to a mud hut on the outskirts of the village when she is on the blob... she is not allowed to handle food, or interact with the rest of the village.

Personally... I would quite fancy that... if there was chocolate in the hut, it would suit me fine.

But... is cos of this that it is often referred to as Mud Hut Week in our house!

Mud hut, trashy zleb magazines, vodka, chocolate, telly and a sign on the door that says 'DO NOT DISTURB FOR ONE WEEK UNCLEAN'
That sounds like heaven

Ah well being an older bint me "Mud hut" days are no more. What am I thinking it's great,well apart from the hot flushes etc,,,sure to melt the mud huts.They are really made of chocolate ain't  they?

I am sure "hot flushes", hormonal mood swings etc etc would still qualify for hut time!

Its still "wimmins stuff" after all.

But the moment its all totally done and dusted.... then back to the village with you... no malingering in the hut

(I am never gonna be able to watch the Pizza Hut advert in the same light now)

I have a pair of house rabbits and when I want to shoo them to bed into their cages I still shout "Hut ,Hut,Hut! at them. Even the budgie joins in,he's picked up my voice.

Unless of course you were like my mum's friend 'Sadie Goldshaker' who never let on when her periods stopped. Hers continued into her 80's

Did she used to come round and announce it...   "yooohoooo... only me... Sadie... just thought I'd let you all know... is blob week for me... ta ra then!"

Aw... reminds me of when I worked in the Path Dept.... I popped down to see the Mortuary Manager, and he was looking all...  .... I asked him what was wrong and he whispered  "the pathologist retrieved this bit of rock from an elderly lady during post mortem....  I didn't understand... I kept saying I don't understand, isn't this a huge anomaly.  Then the pathologist quietly informed him it was a calcified tampon... probably the last one she ever needed, but forgot about"

Tampon fossils!!

My husband sometimes retreats to the shed, during certain weeks.
Is that a similar concept, or just for his own safety?

I'm of the thinking religion

She was an Hasidic Jewess. Men and women cannot have intercourse during a woman's menstruation and for seven days afterwards. She liked a rest. Apparently Abe was a randy old sod.

And for a week after???  Paranoid or what!

Blimey... that's reduced speshal cuddle opportunities somewhat!

I had a shed on my allotment---- It's for safety.

Gives a whole new meaning to an 'alloted period'!

Oooh... just had a thought.

Arwen... this was a fab thread... however, I do hope you read it through to the end before you print it off and take it for discussion to your class!

You may want to ditch the last page.... sorry about that!

I was at Avebury last Sunday, and saw a few Wiccan-types there. Lots of stone-hugging, face paint and swirling garments

Unclean cycles !!11!
That's ridiculous! Mrs Crossy and I keep an old towel in the garage and give 'em a wipe down after having a ride.
To ban women for not keeping their Raleighs gleaming is PC gone mad.
One won't be allowed to call Bruce a baldy napper next though but.

One of the best books I have read in the last few years: Anita Diamant, The Red Tent:

Skillfully interweaving biblical tales with characters of her own invention, Diamant's sweeping first novel re-creates the life of Dinah, daughter of Leah and Jacob, from her birth and happy childhood in Mesopotamia through her years in Canaan and death in Egypt. When Dinah reaches puberty and enters the Red Tent (the place women visit to give birth or have their monthly periods), her mother and Jacob's three other wives initiate her into the religious and sexual practices of the tribe. Diamant sympathetically describes Dinah's doomed relationship with Shalem, son of a ruler of Schechem, and his brutal death at the hands of her brothers. . . .

Diamant has written a thoroughly enjoyable and illuminating portrait of a fascinating woman and the life she might have lived.

 I had a friend who kept a towel under the bed for such purposes  I prefer a box of luxury tissues

V interesting thread this, and no fall outs so far
I'm a fence-sitter agnostic. Brought up as Roman Catholic as my mother and her side of the family were/are Irish Catholics who are absolute believers, never miss Sunday mass etc. etc. Went to Catholic primary school, secondary school run by nuns and VI form College run by Marist fathers  so had the whole catholic indoctrination thing both at home and at school.  
Did A level religion and an O/A level in Hinduism and Budhhism at VI form in the hope of ' deciding for myself' but got no futher forward! Absolutely abhor 'organised religion' and the oft associated hypocrisy, (my church  seemed to have a good number of people parading their designer outfits etc.,coming out to bitch about others over coffee afterwards and generally be as unchristian like as is imaginable!) That said there were plenty of 'good' folk too, (including my v lovely mum.)
So many absolute travesties have been/are committed in the name of religion.
Somehow I still want to believe that there is something 'more than us,'  'though, there is so much that we don't know/can't explain.
V v rarely go to church, but do occasionally pray/ have a word with my parents, just incase they are, 'up there' watching over me!  During my recent cancer scare I found a lovely pic of my mum at the Wailing Wall which I put  up, wore my mum's cross and chain throughout and just before my conoloscopy, ct scan and op I couldn't get the Our Fathers out for the Hail Marys!

I am agnostic, being quite open minded as to whether or not there is a God. I certainly don't believe in organised religion though. I did enjoy Sunday school as a boy and certainly some of my values came from the christian tradition!

I am open minded about God, having been baptised and brought up in the CofE, but only go to church for weddings and christenings, did not get married in church (as my hubby was divorced), but sometimes would love to go to the Christmas Eve services.

I believe in life after death, and think that your loved ones "stay" with you after they are gone and believe that every person has a soul which never dies, but find organised religion to be not for me, I appreciate the beauty of churches etc and visit them when on holiday but never get comfort from them, on saying that I have a statue of Buddha in my hallway and when I have a worry I do go and rub his tummy so is that religion or superstition?  It brought me luck once, so do I do it because of that.

Sorry this post may sound a little confusing, but it is a confusing subject for me.

All I know is too many wars have been/are being fought in the name of religion.

Brilliant first thread Angel, and one that has got people thinking and more importantly, not arguing over the subject.

It has certainly got me thinking (and laughing) over the past couple of days.

I class myself as spiritual.

I like to believe there's something, however I do not have a particular faith.

I like Angels and fairies!  nice and fluffy!

I love Buddhism....  

and forgive me for this.... I tried to sit on my hands and not be pedantic... but I can't help myself....  

if your statue is of the little fat bloke... then thats the Happy God (and he's cool).  Buddha was a skinny bloke (he only ate one grain of rice a day).

Is a common misconception.

Hi hun

He's the little fat guy, sits in my hallway.

Don't worry about being pedantic, I would rather know!!

If he's the happy God, then that works for me.

Another thing has struck me as well as the great amount of knowledge that FM's have rearding religion and their obvious beliefs which is great, that the majority of us are RC or CofE in upbringing, regardless if we are still following those faiths now.

I wonder how FM's of other faiths, regard theirs?  

I am interested in Sikhism, the different Gods and stories and the various festivals they have throughout the year, diwali being one I am particularly interested in as I like the idea of a festival of light at the start of the darkest time of the year. I believe it is the start of the year for the Sikh/Hindu religion.

I think that is how I always see Christmas, not the birth of Jesus and the stories around that, but as almost a Christian festival of light, shining in the darkest days of the year.

It would also have been good to get the views of our American friends, wish they could find their way onto this thread as I know religion is very important to a lot of Americans, it would be interesting to have their views.

I have the 'Happy God' in my sitting room, we always put money in his lap, really don't know where that came from.  I'm sure someone will help me please.

That is ridiculous!

You know full well that this is a Health and Safety Correctness Gone Mad issue!!

I learned alot about the other faiths from helping my daughter with her RE Homework.  I was really really impressed with her secondary school RE lessons.   Their teacher had a similar faith to a lot of the non-specific fm's faiths on here.

I like Buddhism & as another FM has mentioned... some of the bits of Hinduism that I am aware of.

My Uncle chopped & changed his religions regularly (each time deciding THIS was the real one... and spending hours trying to talk my father round to his latest craze).   He finally settled on one though.... Christian Scientist.

He got my Nana to convert too.

I only know so much about this religion... I suppose I know the worst side of it.   My Nana's funeral - the vicar bloke did not even mention my Nan.. it was all about the religion.   And, more recently, my Uncle & his family emigrated to Canada decades ago, but word reached us he had a stroke....  He was my dads little brother.   My Dad had been increasingly worried about the lack of contact with him (they had always been close).

When he had the first stroke his wife admitted to my dad that they were estranged.  Apparently my uncle had hypertension, but refused to be treated for it... this then seemed to cause him to lose the plot.   We still haven't got to the bottom of why he wouldn't take meds.... but, the Christian Scientist bit keeps coming up.  He was a preacher for them when he got ill.

My dad flew out to Canada... my Uncle was in a coma.  The church were outside the room... apparently the families wealth had been willed to the church before the rest of his family.

My dad was really shocked.   MY uncle did die.   And the fallout and stuff is still going on.

I know my Dad would be alot more comfortable dealing with this if it could be established that my uncles medical condition was the cause of the problems... I know it makes him feel very uncomfortable having to consider bad things relating to the Christian Science Church (my dad isn't part of the church... but he respects it cos was his mum & brothers church).

So for me, that religion is a no no.   Whatever happened... it hasn't brought any comfort to anyone following my Uncles death.

I was Brought up Church of Ireland. I was baptised, confirmed and took my first Holy Communion never missed Sunday school or church. My daughter was brought up the same. Living in Northern Ireland I went to a Protestant primary school and secondary school though I sent my daughter to an Intergrated primary school and as she passed her transfer test she wanted to go to the Protestant Grammer school rather than the Intergrated Comprehensive. I do still believe in my faith though I don't go to church as often as I should.

I like the idea of a hut once a month, fill it full of chocolate, trashy TV and some good books, and I'll be there!!

Har har , not a chance. I don't want to be the teachers pet

It has turned into a very interesting thread though. I was worried people would think I was trying to start an argument

It is interesting,I'm sure if folk didn't want to discuss their religion(or lack of)they wouldn't contribute to the thread.

I think it has been brilliant, and one of the most interesting threads I have read on the forum and no arguments either - brilliant.

What exactly is the Alpha course Angelic?

It's an introduction to Christianity beamers

I wanted my daughter Christened and decided I wanted to be myself and my local Rev is happy to do so but he wanted me and my husband to take the alpha course to ensure we know what we are letting ourselves in for (for want of a better expression ).