If you had already known all the CofE stuff... but you personally (& hubby) didn't have/couldn't have the christian faith..... would the rev still have insisted you do the alpha course then?

Is that compulsory for him to christen your daughter? 

Gutted if its true.... not for you, cos you are obviously very happy to do the course, and curious.... but it kinda rings bells for me ..... back to what the vicar said to me all those years ago.

I was always under the impression that a christening symbolised the child's introduction to the church (not the parents)

No no Ditty , sorry I probably didn't make myself clear. Aila was Christened just before her 1st birthday without any need for the course.

I think he just feels we would be able to guide her better after the alpha course and I asked if I can be done after the course

Thanks Angelic, I'm happy you've found something that comforts you.

Oh... oh ok!   Yay!   

Thanks for that Arwen!

Phew!  lol!

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.

My two are now in year 9 & 10 and it's compulsory to GCSE in Wales - is that the case elsewhere in the UK? Son chafes about it but I don't mind simply because they look at all major world religions (I'm a little wary as the teacher is a committed RC but so far she seems OK, albeit a touch crabby) and the more understanding we have can only be for the good. I have an O and A level in RE - it was called "Scripture" back in the 80's and all we studied was the bible. To me it was like an extended history/philosophy course - it would have been far better to cover other religions though. I might think it's a load of baloney but it's still interesting to me. 

I was christened, mainly brought up as  Church of England. However l define myself as Wiccan.

Hi Cariad, 

No, at my daughters school they all did RE in years 7, 8 & 9... and then had the option to take GCSE in year 10.   My daughter would have quite liked to have done the GCSE but it clashed with her other options.

In the end, it turned out for the best, as the girls that did do it for GCSE hated it, as they got a different teacher, who killed any enjoyment.  I do think (as with most subjects) its all about the teacher.  The year 7, 8 & 9 teacher was a bit of a star.

Up until then, hubby & I had never dared to discuss religion.... some of the questioning self discovery exercises set as homework by this  teacher facilitated us to discuss this as a family for the first time ever... and, hubby & I found out that underneath it all we aren't that far apart on our beliefs after all.

The teacher had this knack of covering all the factual stuff about each faith... but in a way that guided the girls to think each faith through for themselves and identify common areas and stuff.   She also encouraged them to separate the religion from the politics in the name of religion...  I think all the girls came away from it with a positive informed view of all the major religions.

I spoke to her once on parents evening about it all.... and asked her if RE was taught in the same way across the road at the RC school.   She laughed and said "kind of.... well when I went over there talking to my counterpart about it all last week.. and I had to suppress a smile at the rows and rows of Christianity based reading... and then the tiniest Koran you have ever seen... tucked in the corner." 

Oh, and throughout the three years she taught them, she refused to tell them what her own personal religion was... saying things like "its very complicated to explain... I will one day".   I asked her in the end... and she said something along the lines of "doesn't agree with structured religion... with a bit of Karma, bit of love etc etc"

I have no idea how a RC teacher will tackle the subject diversity.  If my husband, or Essix Angel are anything to go by, she will probably end up arguing with herself most of the time!  (

sorry Essix, but you don't half remind me of my other half on this subject

My two eldest nieces attend RC primary and secondary schools. The eldest is in year 9 like my daughter and her RE classes are very bible orientated. I overheard daughter saying to her last week "You don't actually believe this sh*t do you?" Oh dear....

I remember my ex telling me that when he was in RC secondary school in the early 80's any section of his biology text books that mentioned sex were blanked out with indelible marker pen (even the bits with plants). And this at a time when he and his brothers found condoms and porn under their parents mattress.  

  I like her!

My son went to CofE primary school.  I always tried to umm and ahh my way through any after school conversation with him about religion... not wanting to disagree with any of it, not wanting to support a lot of it either.

In Year 3 or 4 he asked some very direct questions about Father Christmas and I just couldn't lie to him, so I admitted the truth.   Within days he had decided that the tooth fairy, father christmas & god were all mummy pretending!

Thats how it was though Ditty, I'd walk into an RE lesson get told something and say

Riiiiiiiight Sista, only I've just come from Geography and Sista Vincent just told me I was a Monkey.     Don't forget the noodles Ditty

I HAVE the written down recipe here... I photocopied it off me mum today.  BUT Mr Ditty has refined it since then....

I have asked him to update it for me....  

I'll tell him you are asking for it.. (he likes you.... Ursuline bird n all that

I was brought up by a Father who was an Atheiest and a Mother who was Catholic. Although my Father made most decision it was my Mother who decided I would go to a Convent for Catholic teachings and schooling. We had the regular curriculum of Math, History, Geography etc as other schools but also Catholic studies and ceremonies, I preferred that to the regular curriculum which I found quite boring.

After leaving the Convent and experiencing the real world by working in London I gradually left the Catholic teachings, Mass, and weekly Confessions behind. A few years later being more adult I had several years that were extremely painful and challenging and I totally, eventually, hit rock bottom. Very long story short is that after coming through such a very dark period I started to question many things about life and looked into many different belief systems. I found them all interesting whether they were Western or Eastern beliefs but none of them really caught my attention in a strong way that made me feel I wanted to commit to them. Then I came across Spirituality and everything changed for me in so many many ways and it has continued and I know it's the path I'll always be on as it's right, for me. I've not discarded everything from Catholic teachings, I've remembered what's still right for me to remember and discarded what isn't.

I respect every belief system as I believe there's one for everyone, even those who call themselves Atheiests or Agnostics, that's they're belief and they have a right to it just as everyone has a right to believe whatever they do, or don't.

Strictly speaking, atheism is not a belief system as such.  It's an absence-of-specific-belief system.  Hence, a-theism.  Unless the atheist is convinced there is no possibility of a god, which most atheists aren't as that's technically irrational.

if it wasnt for bein a gayboy id be a muslim
i love their religon but its also the one that makes me most mad
to many rules that dont make sense

So what do you love about it Jamie, if it makes you mad?

You're only saying that to tease me because I was saying on another thread that I really fancy blokes in traditional dress coming out of mosques. 

i like how muslims are with each other they arent so angry as christians they know where they belong, if u read some islam sites i like how they explain things, i went on a christian chat room and an islam chat room i told them i was gay the christians said i will burn in hell, the muslims didnt, even tho they said its wrong not one of them said a bad word to me and just explained why they thought it was wrong and wished the best for me.
most ppl kno were i stand with places like iran and what they do with gays and i wouldnt ever agree with something like sharia law, but islam itself is a beutiful religeon
but theres loads i wouldnt be able to get my head around but some of that comes from culture.

lmfao ur gonna get a fatwa on your head or whatever its called

really?  I had you pegged as fancying the ones in the "Glam Islam" T-shirts myself

I get what you mean Jamie, Islam a beautiful, rich and poetic tradition... but not all Christians are like that (I agree that a lot are). 
The person that helped me in my conversion was an openly gay Vicar. Mass at my church is a stop over before the Royal Vauxhall Tavern for many of the queer and transgender members of the congregation.
Some of my more 'evangelic' friends think I'm mad to go to my church, I like to think of it as inclusive.

I had to stop going to my local gym because loads of tightly-muscled Pakistani lads went there.  It was just too much to cope with. 

Anton moment!

Noooo, it's the long white shirts, white hat, and brown waistcoats, against the dark hair, chiselled features, and light brown skin that does it. 

Anton moment!



since when?

As for religion - I'm an atheist,

Think the whole God thing is a load of bollocks. 

And I don't get the thing about having respect for other people's religious beliefs either.  If they belong to an organisation, or subscribe to a belief system, that preaches that women are a secondary sex or that gays are evil  etc..., then they deserve as much condemnation as I would give the BNP.

That's a word people have to be really careful of using.  It's mostly 'reclaimed' but still pretty offensive.  For all the same sort of reasons as Anton's word.

I'm teasing and being serious at the same time. 

In contemporary usage, some use queer as an inclusive, unifying sociopolitical umbrella term for people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual,transgender, transsexual, intersexual, genderqueer, or of any other non-heterosexual sexuality, sexual anatomy, or gender identity. It can also includeasexual and autosexual people, as well as gender normative heterosexuals whose sexual orientations or activities place them outside the heterosexual-defined mainstream (e.g. BDSM practitioners, or polyamorous persons). Queer in this sense (depending on how broadly it is defined) is commonly used as a synonym for such terms as LGB


My apologies if you were offended Dan J.......I use it as an inclusive term as per the wiki bit up there. I accept that some will find it off key. That other Anton word (to me) is clear cut WRONG.

Having spent many an hour hanging around outside mosques myself, I see where you're coming from, but I preferred the ex Mr Settee's Friday wardrobe myself...he had a whole host of brightly coloured dresses for mosque wear......he looked gawjus

I almost never get offended by forum stuff and certainly not now.

It is an offensive word though and I've been brought up hearing "dirty queer" at school, reading about queer-bashing, seeing 'queer' written in grafitti, and hearing 'queer' used as abuse or in a derogatory way.  You can see the heavy similarity here with Anton's word.  That some LGBT groups, who certainly don't speak for all of us, have tried to reclaim the word in some Gay Pride and Gay Scene sense, doesn't really negate that in a similar way to rappers and the word 'nigger'.  I've never liked the word 'queer' and I wince when I hear it.  I don't know what your sexual orientation is but I think 'queer' is usually best left to gay scene people between themselves or to contexts where people are explicitly comfortable with it, to avoid the risk of giving offence.

Well, I accept that and I will heed your advice. It was my mistake to assume that it was universally interchangeable with the word 'gay' as all the examples you use can  be switched, eg. 'gay' bashing etc... Just because I've heard my urbane straight and gay friends use it (like me) doesn't make it right.  I'll leave all this in (like my original using of the word), as I've learnt something today. Thanks, Daniel.

Tis a funny one that, eh?  I dated a lesbian on and off for a few years.  And I was brought up well short when she and her girlfriend referred to each other as dykes.

Were they a bit butch then?

lol, not in the slightest, no. 

Just had the JW squad hit my street just now.They all poured out of a big people carrier.I didn't open the door.I just cant be arsed with 'em.

It's the 9th anniversary of my mother's death today As she was a v committed Catholic my 'nursies' (my twin sis and my best friend from when I Ilved in Norfolk,) have gone here http://www.ladychapel.org.uk/ as there's a 'rosary vigil' and mass this afternoon. Unfortunately I'm not able to manage it so soon after my op as it's a  walk up a steep hill/unmade rd.  Wonderful place, amazing views, with a fabulous 'feel' to it and just about as far away from the normal ostentation of the RC church as you could imagine, a v 'spiritual' and calming place to , irrespective of beliefs/non-beliefs, just lovely.

That sounds lovely and a lovely place to remember.

This is my "peaceful place", a chance to get away from the world and just sit quietly and think.  I love it.

The Llanberis pass - North Wales.

Im more of a spiritual christian i.e I dont really attend church every sunday and that whole stuff but I believe there is a God and whisper a prayer everyday.

Super

It looks like a lovely peaceful place.

My sis has just bought me the most fab cross and chain from the Lady Chapel. I described to her last week that one of the consultants, (little Ms Estee Lauder for those who remember her on my earlier posts!) had the best cross and chain ever and she's bought me one just like it