The Slow, Whining Death of British Christianity

[skepticscott]

Also posted in GD.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-slow-whining-death-of_b_676613.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=081010&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Great article

[RKP5637]

2. Excellent! n/t

[handmade34]

3. rec

[bbgrunt]

4. ....why is the opposite happening here?

..."Yet the opposition to this sensible shift -- the separation of church and state Americans have known for centuries -- is becoming increasingly unhinged."

[rbixby]

10. I actually think it is happening here

and all the screaming and yelling you're seeing is the death throes of a dying faith.

[Warpy]

5. There are a lot of gems there, but the one that stood out for me

is this one about an angry and red faced former Archbishop of Canterbury, "When I saw Carey make these threats on television, red-faced and rageful, it made me think of a nasty child in the playground who had been beating up the gay kids and spitting at the girls for years and is finally told to stop - only to start bawling that he's the one who is being picked on."

It's too perfect for the bullying right wing Christians here who shriek about persecution when they run into the body of law that has served us so well for over 200 years that says all faiths are basically equal and that none of them belongs running the government. Or vice versa.

[DeSwiss]

6. K&R!!! n/t

[onager]

7. Thanks! You beat me to it!

I read that article during lunch at work today. Thought about bringing it in here, but I knew I could count on one of you grumps to drag it on over!

Great article, and refreshingly blunt.

I needed to see this again...

...it turns out faith schools do less well than other schools - which isn't surprising given they waste so much time teaching them crazy nonsense like Virgin births and Noah's Ark.

:rofl:

[starroute]

8. Somewhere in a non-existent heaven, John Lennon is smiling

:-)

[Nihil]

9. FYI ...

> Every school in Britain is required by law to make its pupils engage every day
> in "an act of collective worship of a wholly or mainly Christian nature".
> Yes: Britain is still a nation with enforced prayer.

Well, actually, no ... that is theoretically the case but not actually so.

Despite there being a statutory requirement for schools to hold a daily act
of collective worship, many do not. OFSTED's 2002-03 annual report stated
that 80% of secondary schools are not providing daily worship for
all pupils.
(OFSTED = Office for Standards in Education, the agency in charge of school
inspections & such-like).

Just thought I'd explain that bit before we get people piping up on how
religiously indoctrinated all British schoolchildren are ...
:hi:

[dimbear]

11. There's an outline plan in the poem

Dover Beach. Considering how long ago that was written, the Brits are taking their time.