about a year ago i saw a documentry where bono out of u2 was chatting about various things in the uk ete. one thing he said which stuck in my mind was that he thought religion was a social thing more than anything else. what he was trying 2 say was that the majority of people in the british isleswho attend church on a sunday morning are wealthy people who polish there cars, put on there fancy clothes and drag there kids of screeming 2 church.id forgot about until recently when i saw a poll in south yorkshire which said that 75% of people attending church lived in affluent areas, ie the outer areas of sheffield as apposed 2 the more run down city areas. obviousley this poll was run on coe churches not ethnic groups. does is original point have a ring of truth 2 it

It might be that richer people have more sins to confess ;)

i think its more of a case of keeping up with the joneses and whos got the biggest car ete.

Originally posted by brooksy
about a year ago i saw a documentry where bono out of u2 was chatting about various things in the uk ete. one thing he said which stuck in my mind was that he thought religion was a social thing more than anything else. what he was trying 2 say was that the majority of people in the british isleswho attend church on a sunday morning are wealthy people who polish there cars, put on there fancy clothes and drag there kids of screeming 2 church.id forgot about until recently when i saw a poll in south yorkshire which said that 75% of people attending church lived in affluent areas, ie the outer areas of sheffield as apposed 2 the more run down city areas. obviousley this poll was run on coe churches not ethnic groups. does is original point have a ring of truth 2 it

You are absolutely right. I mean, I couldn't have put it better myself. Comign from a school in a deprived area to a 6th form in a richer area, my RS class, which had no Christians in at the 1st school, now has 60-70% Christians. Amazing.

if religion is not a social thing then why are there religious gatherings. religion is rediculous all of them equally. why what you call your spiritual enigma should lead you to war or gihad is just an excuse for hatred, because in our world now all religions are tricking people into a bloodthirsty killing match where the survivors will be those crafty enough to eradicate alternative religions. life is my religion and genuine deeds of help my contibution. maybe if people stopped talking about and comparing religions then we might slowly start reversing this trend of killing in the name of god or allah or mohomed.

I think this post would have been better worded, 'Is religion a class thing'....mods?

Thought I'd give a Christian view on this seeing as it was getting a bit biased. I don't feel that religion should be just a social thing at all, although I have to admit that there are many "Christians" out there who just go to Church for the social aspect. I don't actually think it's completely necessary to go to Church, I certainly don't go every week, because the only thing that really matters is your relationship with god, never mind which god you're talking about. The only reason I go to Church is to worship with other like minded people, and also to learn new things about God that I didn't know before. At the end of the day though, does it really matter if you do a bit of socialising while you're at a religious gathering? Christians are only normal people at the end of the day, not boring automatons or any other stereotype that they may be given! And about the whole "middle class" aspect - I have to admit that it's rarer for lower class people to go to Church, although I do, but that's probably to do with the fact that lots of middle class church-goers go for the wrong reasons, just to be trendy or something, but that shouldn't reflect on the whole Christian society! You're being a bit general here maybe! I know loads of really strong Christians who live in rough areas and have had really tough lives as well as those who just go to Church because they always have done, so the two go together I think really.