Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

[Lunacie]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

[quote author=B. de Corbin link=topic=1077.msg19774#msg19774 date=1291465706]
Michigan (where I live) is a good case in point bout the regional differences in attitude toward Christianity. Michigan is in the north, which, technically, puts it outside the Bible belt.

In the area around the big cities (Detroit, Pontiac, Saginaw, etc.) most people are pretty cosmopolitan - they really don't' give a hoot about your religion. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part it's a matter of casual curiosity, if that.

However, up here in the rural part of the state, the assumption most people make is that you are a member of one of the Christian churches. Which one doesn't matter so much, but if you let it be known that you aren't a Christian, or are an atheist, you'll get evangelized - the tone of the evangelizing depends on the people who are doing it, but you will get it.
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It's much the same in Kansas. Metropolitan areas like Kansas City, Topeka and Wichita are places where one can be open about following an alternative religion, or none at all. It can still depend on where you work. There are a few companies that are openly Christian and still discriminate on that basis, although they have to be careful to avoid being blatant in their discrimination.

However, in smaller towns and even at times in smaller suburbs of the cities, you'll still find people who think everyone is - or should be - Christian in some form. I've been somewhat careful because I don't want people to look askanse at my grandchildren because I'm open about being a Wiccan-Witch. And I don't need people knocking on my door every week to "invite" me and the kids to attend their church. My granddaughter has actually lost a couple of friends once she visited their churches with them and then told them she wasn't interested in going with them regularly. After all, their bible tells them not to spend a lot of time with "unbelievers."

[Amber]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

[quote author=Lunacie link=topic=1077.msg19792#msg19792 date=1291476844]
It's much the same in Kansas. Metropolitan areas like Kansas City, Topeka and Wichita are places where one can be open about following an alternative religion, or none at all. It can still depend on where you work. There are a few companies that are openly Christian and still discriminate on that basis, although they have to be careful to avoid being blatant in their discrimination.

However, in smaller towns and even at times in smaller suburbs of the cities, you'll still find people who think everyone is - or should be - Christian in some form. I've been somewhat careful because I don't want people to look askanse at my grandchildren because I'm open about being a Wiccan-Witch. And I don't need people knocking on my door every week to "invite" me and the kids to attend their church. My granddaughter has actually lost a couple of friends once she visited their churches with them and then told them she wasn't interested in going with them regularly. After all, their bible tells them not to spend a lot of time with "unbelievers."
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Agree! I live right outside of Kansas City (on the Missouri side) in Independence and its pretty open untill you get into the sub-burbs and then you get a big mix from your evangalistics to your regular christians and everything else. I'm from the big RLDS/Mormon town so sometimes you have to watch who you tell and who you dont.

[Agamemnon]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

I my experiences with Christianity has been that if you proclaim your religion and it is different you might have a problem. As long as you are respectful and do not throw your religion around in peoples faces then there isn't really an issue. I do not wear religious icons. No one ever asks my religion and probably ussumes I am a lazy christian.

[Lunacie]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

[quote author=Agamemnon link=topic=1077.msg19804#msg19804 date=1291481365]
I my experiences with Christianity has been that if you proclaim your religion and it is different you might have a problem. As long as you are respectful and do not throw your religion around in peoples faces then there isn't really an issue. I do not wear religious icons. No one ever asks my religion and probably ussumes I am a lazy christian.
[/quote]

Have you ever asked for a religious holiday off work that wasn't Christmas? I don't think that's throwing your religion in their faces, but it can still get you fired in some jobs. Of course they'll find another reason so it won't look like discrimination.

Have you ever had people knocking on your door to invite you to attend their church? Just saying "No thank you" can cause some pretty negative reactions, without throwing your own religion in their faces. Same with friends inviting my granddaughter to attend their church - when she said "no thanks," suddenly they didn't want to be her friends anymore.

Wearing a pentacle isn't being disrespectful of other religions, and it's not throwing my religion in people's faces. It's saying we expect to be treated just as fairly as anyone else. We shouldn't have to blend in to prevent discrimination.

[Dez]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

[quote author=Tylluan Penry link=topic=1077.msg19752#msg19752 date=1291444387]
Stalwart members of the C of E don't really mention god if they can help it..... [it's a bit of a standing joke here.... after all the Archbishop of Canterbury , who is head of the C of E is also a Druid.... I kid you not]
[/quote]

Wow...this just kind of boggled my mind.

I can't even imagine the people I know being that laid back about religion, but then again, I've lived most of my life in communities (or a smaller community within a larger one) in which the entire culture revolved around the religion. In very Mormon-centric areas community social life revolved around the church, and if you're not a member, you're usually forgotten or left in the dark, often simply because people don't know their neighbors who they don't see at church, mutual, relief society potlucks, church-run scout troops, etc, etc.

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

[quote author=Deseret link=topic=1077.msg19814#msg19814 date=1291486091]
Wow...this just kind of boggled my mind.

I can't even imagine the people I know being that laid back about religion, but then again, I've lived most of my life in communities (or a smaller community within a larger one) in which the entire culture revolved around the religion. .
[/quote]

In the UK the CoE is unlike anything else.... the Prime Minister gets to choose the Archbishop of Canterbury for a start, so it's not a religious choice as such. And the Bishops of the CoE get to sit in the House of Lords and vote on our laws etc .

Someone once described the Church of England as the Conservative Party (a political party somewhere along the lines of the Republicans) at prayer....

[Evergreen]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

[quote author=Agamemnon link=topic=1077.msg19804#msg19804 date=1291481365]
I my experiences with Christianity has been that if you proclaim your religion and it is different you might have a problem. As long as you are respectful and do not throw your religion around in peoples faces then there isn't really an issue. I do not wear religious icons. No one ever asks my religion and probably ussumes I am a lazy christian.
[/quote]
This has been my experience as well. Living in rural Ohio there are more conservatives, but most of them are just political conservatives. Nobody really cares about your religion unless: a- you attend a service at certain churches. They will ask for volunteers to come up and be saved. When you don't you can get a lot of angry looks and possibly lose some friends. b- they are Jehovah's Witnesses. They are generally good natured about it, but all those who go door to door are well informed on the bible and are usually really good debaters/convincers. They are also ready for refusal and come prepared.

[quote author=Lunacie link=topic=1077.msg19806#msg19806 date=1291482513]
Have you ever asked for a religious holiday off work that wasn't Christmas? I don't think that's throwing your religion in their faces, but it can still get you fired in some jobs. Of course they'll find another reason so it won't look like discrimination.

Have you ever had people knocking on your door to invite you to attend their church? Just saying "No thank you" can cause some pretty negative reactions, without throwing your own religion in their faces. Same with friends inviting my granddaughter to attend their church - when she said "no thanks," suddenly they didn't want to be her friends anymore.

Wearing a pentacle isn't being disrespectful of other religions, and it's not throwing my religion in people's faces. It's saying we expect to be treated just as fairly as anyone else. We shouldn't have to blend in to prevent discrimination.
[/quote]
I have no experience with asking for religious holidays off work. Most of the employers I know would, I believe, give you the time off, but they would take it from your given vacation time. Most of those I know who are non-christians just take vacation time when they want time off for religious holidays.

Most of the people around here who knock on doors for religious reasons are JWs. They are trying to "inform" you about their religion more than trying to get you to attend a service. If you say no thanks they are usually understanding and move on. Though a few are very persistent. I've had friends, both JW and non, invite me to church services and I've accepted a few times, but they know church isn't my thing. When I decline the invitations they generally shrug and don't mention it again; though my JW friends continue to invite me. It's the same with children/teens. Most just stop inviting you, but continue to be your friend. They don't really care.

Again I have no experience with wearing a pentacle. I've seen a few people wearing pentacles around town. Most people don't give them more than a glance. Some will ask questions, but what results I have no idea. I wear what I call a Celtic balance symbol a lot. It is basically a clay circle divided into 4 equal parts. It is decorated with Celtic scroll work, vines and leaves. I get a few questions about it, "What is it?" "Why are you wearing it?" but mostly people just say it looks cool and ask where I got it.

[DanieMarie]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

Not that I'm from the UK or the States, but coming from Vancouver Island, Canada and Berlin...

On Vancouver Island people are sort of "small-townish" but still pretty liberal. There are a LOT of Christians there and my hometown of Campbell River has pretty big Baptist and Mormon churches. Likewise my Aunt and Uncle's Catholic church in Victoria seems to have pretty good attendance. It seems like the more moderate churches like the Anglican church and the United church are the ones that have dropping attendance. Those are the ones that have more young people heading towards atheism or alternative religions. But that being said, there are a LOT of Pagans on VI (the hippie influence maybe?) and there are a lot of atheists as well, so it's a mix. No one would really be able to shun you because of not being a Christian, because there are a lot of other non-Christians around.
I guess part of it is also the secularist attitude of the public sector in Canada as well. It's just not really acceptable to bring religion into schools and it's not supposed to interfere with stuff like sex ed or teaching evolution.

Berlin is officially "Christian" in majority but I'm almost positive that this just means "Christian background." There are a LOT of churches here but most of them suffer record low attendance (I was in a choir once and we sang there as a thanks for them letting us use their space to practice. There were maybe like 15 people attending the service). I think it's a combination of factors. For one, Berlin was long-time protestant and tended to hold a more liberal rather than conservative type of protestantism. There were also a lot of Jews here, before the war, and a few other people of "minority" religions because it was such a cultural hub. At the turn of the 20th Century and until the Nazis came in and ruined everything in 1933, the city went pretty decadent and I think religion took a big slide. The city was pretty much destroyed in the war and I don't think people really turned to Jesus so much for comfort on that. Then it got split and the communists in the East promoted atheism, and if you were a good communist worker you didn't have a religion. So by unification a lot of people grew up without religion. The west city was divided between conservative, traditional types and liberal, artistic types, and a lot of Turks came in to do the leg-work on rebuilding the city, bringing Islam with them. Post-reunification, you just get a meld of all that, and the city has become pretty artistic, liberal and global, so people kind of have a "do what you want" attitude toward religion.
I think the church tax (something like 5% of your income, but because I'm not Christian or Jewish I don't pay it so I don't really know) that Christians and Jews who attend church/temple have to pay isn't too encouraging either. Berliners tend to be really thrifty and the economy hasn't been so good since the 90's...

[DanieMarie]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

even in Germany in general, only 47% of Germans say they believe in god (I'm assuming this is multi-faith), 25% are spiritualists, 25% are atheists and 3% don't know or don't care.

[nickywilliam]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

All i can say is that we Christian must unite for Jesus,i was hurt to heard that we all people was broke into many ways because of some arguments or belief that has no bases. I address my message to all people of the world that we must respect, and love each other because this will give happiness to the our mighty one.

[MaskedOne]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

I'm all for seeing new Christians on the forum NickyWilliam especially if they decide to stay long term. It rounds things out a bit. With that said, do you have a comment relevant to the topic?

[DanieMarie]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

[quote author=Deseret link=topic=1077.msg19814#msg19814 date=1291486091]
Wow...this just kind of boggled my mind.

I can't even imagine the people I know being that laid back about religion, but then again, I've lived most of my life in communities (or a smaller community within a larger one) in which the entire culture revolved around the religion. In very Mormon-centric areas community social life revolved around the church, and if you're not a member, you're usually forgotten or left in the dark, often simply because people don't know their neighbors who they don't see at church, mutual, relief society potlucks, church-run scout troops, etc, etc.
[/quote]

The church I used to go to in Canada (Anglican...kind of on offshoot of Church of England) is also pretty laid back, will accept people of other religions to come to services, and will marry gays and have women ministers. I'm not a Christian anymore, but I think they're an awesome church.

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

Mr Penry once heckled the Archbishop of Canterbury....

He is a very naughty man (Mr Penry, I mean :P)

[thalassa]

Re: Christianity in the States vrs. Christianity in the UK

[quote author=DanieMarie link=topic=1077.msg22327#msg22327 date=1292360024]
The church I used to go to in Canada (Anglican...kind of on offshoot of Church of England) is also pretty laid back, will accept people of other religions to come to services, and will marry gays and have women ministers. I'm not a Christian anymore, but I think they're an awesome church.
[/quote]

Ditto. I was brought up in a UCC (United Church of Christ) church, which is a congregationalist organization (meaning that individual congregations determine the exact nature of what is preached, and how they interpret and implement policy and such adopted by the bigger organization. We had a female minister when I was a kid, and in the US the UCC was one of the first churches that performed gay marriages--which is something that individual congregations are allowed to decide upon. In October, Scott and I went to the church I grew up in for the month, because they were actually having classes on Islam and Judaism, taught by an imam and a rabbi between services.