On 14/02/2013 08:07, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
22:54:00 on Wed, 13 Feb 2013, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
And despite years of compulsory daily worship at primary school, I
don't know what Christians _believe_

That's a bit hard on yourself. What they believe in is living a virtuous
life as laid out in the gospels. (Other religions have their own codes
of conduct derived from other publications).

Well, yes, but I suspect few religions say you should be a complete
b*&%^$d and can ignore the manual. Although at university the religious
types played down the "be nice" stuff we got at school in favour of
emphasising blind faith.

Some years ago I took Japanese students to see Ely cathedral, and they
got confused by a reference there to three-in-one god(s), rather than
just the one in the sky and the bearded one wearing a towel who they
vaguely recognised. The professor asked me to explain what the third one
was, and I was completely stuck. Collective worship #fail.

Although to be fair, none of them appeared to be able to explain their
local customs beyond "There are things in rocks and trees" and a sense
it was long gone as a belief system.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK