ps “but I’d rather live a life believing that God exists and then I find that there is nothing” – exactly how are you going to find out there is nothing ? If there is nothing, when you die you won’t know…

Well, the Swedish Church is utterly boring, so if what you are saying is true (which I actually doubt) I think a possible reason is the long dark winter nights and very rainy summers, which we Swedes have been tormented by for too long.

I think my views on the eucharist have been made well known in my previous comments so I won’t pursue the argument.

“ I take witches and wizards over that [ pretence that a piece of bread gets turned into flesh and wine into blood] any day of the week.“ . So it is a deeply held belief after all – so much for laughing it off………

Bantering apart, the minimum that Christians believe is that God, who is all omnipotent , so loved the world { that means also future generations and includes me – and you too I suppose } that He sent His only Son Our Lord Jesus Christ to live amongst us whilst He was on earth. As a natural follow- up to this, we go one step further and actually believe that He still keeps His Presence amongst us in the Blessed Eucharist .He is truly present Body Soul Blood and Divinity .

Actually loads of Swedes and Norwegians are converting to Catholicism . You need only watch a programme on EWTN which is sometimes hosted by a Dane who interviews Swedish and Norwegian converts on Monday nights at 23.00 to realise this. On Tuesday nights another programme at 22.00 hosted by Marcus Grodi , a former Lutheran pastor, interviews former atheists , agnostics, Lutherans , Protestants, a former gangster, a Mormon Bishop – the widest spectrum of belief possible { except that , so far, he has never interviewed a wizard or a witch. }

One can even be an atheist or non religious, no harm by that too. Trouble begins with fundamentalism of all kinds.

….but I’d rather live a life believing that God exists and then I find that there is nothing….than living my life as if there is no God then ….there will He be ready to judge me.

Andrea:
If you were treated by the homeopathic remedy, rather than any surrounding treatments or psychosomatically, you would be a first.

I’m sorry to hear you suffer from an autoimmune disease, but I can assure you that any homeopaths around you have been taking you for a ride and probably at a pretty decent profit as well. Selling water in pill form is a good deal only for the purveyor.

We all love to gossip and to hear a good fall-guy story. Yet in public, oh shame, how could you say that/how could they do that…oofff…

Connolly forces me, in his merciless diatribes, to regularly examine my own comfortably maintained stereotypes and standards (even those I pretend not to hold) and redefine. For that exercise in re-examination, he is the Divine voice.

Anyway, I haven’t read your reply to mine yet but am calling off this conversation as it really is getting boring, to me at least. We will never agree, be honest, and faith should be a personal matter (I know nobody told me to butt in) so I call it quits on this topic.

As you said, to each his/her own, whether you believe in a magical pumpkin or whatever as long as no harm is done, and no impositions are made we can all live together after all.

I don’t have statistics at hand, but the Scandinavian countries generally rank, alongside places such as Japan and the Netherlands as the least faithful nations. I have no idea what an “agnostic theist” is supposed to mean.

I agree with you hundred percent though on not being a free choice in many places. This is why I’m for religious education, in the sense to provide children with comparative religion and understanding of all faiths. I don’t like telling children what to think, although I realise in many some areas you sometimes have to, but rather how to think for themselves.

Hi Pat,
now you’ve got me and you made me laugh as well!
Holy joss stick, I feel like one of those esoteric freaks now.
I didn’t know that someone has to ‘believe’ in homeopathy.
Those hocus-pocus globules actually helped my sister, my nieces and myself to surive since we all suffer from an autoimmune disease. We can’t take conventional medication.
I assure you, there are no shamans in my family, we don’t ‘chant’ and I don’t even practise yoga. Just a few of those odd magic pellets every now and then.
Mamma mia and I thought I am pretty down to earth.