General Chat

Yep, hope and charity are good. Faith is, well, not something i put any store in. Not blind faith, anyway

Correct me if i am wrong, but i understand that the UK church(es) receive more in charitable donations than they give out......?

:-D :-D

Eldrick, I obviously was under the wrong assumption that most people knew about Easter and Christmas hijacking other festivals in order to get their message across. In the same way I thought that most people knew about the naming of the days of the weeks or months of the year.

Thorsday was always my favourite :)

Strangely enough it was my Church based primary school that educated me in these matters - I thought that most people learnt these facts at Primary School. Maybe it wasn't the case.

Fortunately, my faith ain't blind..........but sometimes it is absolutely blinding :-)



Doubt it on the donations bit........many churches struggle to make ends meet. It costs us over £1,800 per week .......to keep running etc. and we still make charitable donations and do outreach work. It's the Quota we have to pay the diocese which is a burden.......ours is between £30-40,000 per year.



:-( :-(

"Correct me if i am wrong, but i understand that the UK church(es) receive more in charitable donations than they give out......? "

That actually seems to make sense to me Eldrick as I would expect there would be the upkeep/heating of the churches and the paying of the clergy as well as administration etc.

If your faith aint blind, then show me the evidence and I shall join you :-)

Now thats a lot of dosh to be giving to the diocese.i hope they put it to good use! I never realisd it cost so much to go to church! I wonder why god always wants money. To paraphrase the wonderful and sadly missed George Carlin - 'He's omnipotent, makes sunsets and butterflies, but just can't handle money. Always needs more money'

Perhaps there is a clue there somewhere......but whatever, if you can fundraise enough to pay that bill, you have my admiration in many ways, but I cant help thinking that you could put the money to better use. Some childrens charities would love that sort of income!

But it isn't God who wants money is it? It's the churches.....not always the same thing.

SRS - it makes sense to me as well, in as much as I agree about the running costs. Whether it should have charitable status is arguable. I would, predictably, argue against as I would maintain that it is of benefit to a minority who mostly dont need charity. I include all churches in this, not just CoE, though.

lol, SueMaid. Why does believing in god have a price tag in that case? Why does he need such elaborate and expensive places to worship him? Why do his representatives on earth need such obscene teeth rattling wealth and special cars to drive round in whilst the faithful are largely kept in poverty?

Why does god not tell his officials that he doesnt need all that? I suspect you know exactly why, the same as I do!

we have a big pagan following here in north wales,im etheist,but had my children christened,my daughter is getting married on Aug 3rd.cost for church £6oo extra £120 for bell ringing. :-)

I see your point Eldrick - but I'm thinking that his reps would ignore him anyway. They have always been good at feathering their own nests. I don't have a lot of time for organised religion - they have used religion for wealth and control of the masses through the ages.

the CoE property portfolio is worth 1.6 BILLION poundsout of total assetes of over 6 billion.

And you still pay through the nose for hatches, matches and despatches.
And they still have the nerve to put a collection plate out at funerals. lol.

The combined assets of religious organisations in the UK must be absilutely astronomical.

good point sue :-)

I'm too tired to argue, and too vague at the minute having just woken up...but you have to remember Eldrick that the vast majority of churches were built at a time when congregations were large, even the small Welsh town I used to live near had 4 chapels, a 'church in Wales' and an RC church...all I believe full to capacity in the 1800s..... those churches which still have a congregation do need to be maintained, the clergy don't just see their parisioners on Sundays, the best are out their in the community, in hospitals, among the poor and sick....even were I not a Christian I would still recognise that as valuable, giving comfort where it is needed ... and personally I would prefer churches and chapels to be maintained as oasis of calm for those with faith or without ,rather than turned into temples to the gods of the 21st century ( retail tat shops and bingo lol) .

Put it this way would I rather the churches maintained St Pauls and Westminster Cathedral or that they be maintained as architecturally 'special' buildings by the government? Guess lol.

Waking up a little lol, can I add

Cynthia "I use the word 'offended' when, sometimes, I actually mean 'saddened' " .

That is very well put :-)

It doesnt really bother me personally, as I cant imagine ever giving any money to any church in any form, but I do query why it is necessary to have such trappings of wealth and the special tax status I wont deny that many clergy do a good job, if you are a member of their congregation and believe in what they preach. They need to be paid and housed the same as any worker, but why Lambeth Palace?

I mean, look at the profligate wealth of the Vatican! I defy ANYONE to justify that with a straight face!

Joy Kentish Maid - you are ass u ming that I am just talking about the CoE! I'm not, I lump them all together. The CoE are probably the most benign of them, I accept that, but if one of their priests wants to preach without being paid, then good for him or her!

Can women be Bishops yet? Or is there still that glass ceiling on earnings?

Eldrick "I wont deny that many clergy do a good job, if you are a member of their congregation and believe in what they preach. "

and a fair few who do a good job amongst those who are NOT a member of their congregation and who don't believe perhaps?

Hmm. I remain to be convinced that there is very much unconditional work done by the church. Soup kitchens...? Theres always a cross somewhere or exhortation to join in christ or accept jesus into your heart. But I have to admit that you may be right, and I just havent noticed or looked.

Good post Eldrick. Made me laugh. Good to see it returned.

Many religous festivals are old pagan ones which were hijacked (it helped keep the peasants in line). I wish "Good Yule" and nobody has asked me what I mean. The Christmas tree was also adapted from a pagan festival.

If you feel like dancing at next full moon bring your robe (or long frock, whatever you'e in the mood for) and prance around the stone circle in my garden :-D

My umpty-great granny was born in Orkney, so she probably had viking blood, mix that up with Scottish, Irish, Spanish, French (and who knows what else).... add in an ancestor who was a Bishop (and his mistress) and you get.......... me :-D

On the subject of Easter eggs - I got my first chocolate egg when I was about 10, my father thought they were "an abomination". My mum would hard boil eggs, we decorated them and had to roll them down a hill, not allowed to eat them until the shell cracked. Supposed to represent rolling the boulder away from Jesus' tomb (so I was told).