Sunday here a religious question

[malleefarmer]

I was bought up with a quite religious parents and good moral upbringing.
Attended church weekly only a mile away.
Has waned in my adulthood.

But so so many small towns villages if you like my town wynarka has population of 23 to 25 had one thriving church closed in late 90s. Our next biggest town were schooling happens 11 miles away had population maybe 450/500 had 5 churches now down to 2 and they share bi weekly services.

Same situation in canada?

As i stated in not overly godfaring man but decent morals but often wonder if demise of western society to degree has anything to with lack of religion.

Im in a philosophical mood this morning lol.

Conversley though just about all wars are in part caused by religion and differing beliefs.

Guess you guys think if there was a god he would stop the effing rain so you can finish harvest.......

[ajl]

I am a Christian believer and regularly attend church in a town of about 2000 located about 15 miles away. We will typically have around 100 but it can go as high as 130 on a given Sunday. There are about 5 other congregations in town with just guessing similar sized congregations.

[farmaholic]

I am a much nicer person than farming brings out in me!

I like to swear.

I can't stand people who hide their true colors under the cloak of religion/spirituality.

I know many people who almost died falling off their Moral High Horse on their way home from church---for some it's a much further fall than others.

Live by example...actions speak louder than words...

Look around you and soak in the beauty and awe of Nature.... you're part of it!

Obviously I think you can tell...

[farmaholic]

....then for some they will sacrifice money for God on Sunday but the rest of the week they sacrifice God for money.

Probably not the best topic in the world.

Go Riders.... One last game for Jones to assess the talent. Oops they play away from home.one more time!

[malleefarmer]

yeah your probably right farma not best topic but just kinda comparing rural western canada with rural australia some parrallels at times.

One of my good freinds a hard living lutheran leader like a drink......party hard at times repent even harder on sundays lol he doesnt hide the fact he likes a beer or a whiskey.

Nah just chewing the fat markets are boring your weather gross needed a new topic

[Blaithin]

Any small town I've lived in has a large population of churches. Not being even a little bit organized religious myself I couldn't say how much they get used and by what size congregation nowadays as compared to times past.

I wouldn't say any deterioration in society is because of a lack of religion though. That would imply that not only are all churchgoers morally upstanding people, but that any society with little to no recognized religion should be chaos.

Although a distinction should probably be drawn between not religious at all and just not going to church. Most people I know would consider themselves Christian most likely yet I'd probably struggle to think of five under 50 that go to church.

[malleefarmer]

maybe the context i said it in is most people who went to church in there say from birth to 15 yrs of age have some sort of moral grounding wereas those didnt havent had the moral grounding oppotunity.

same breathe good parenting is just as important

starting to think i shouldnt have raised this topic if its gonna get prickly mods can delete if they wish.

just seems religion is almost dead in rural australia when it was once thriving guess thats point i was trying to make.

[blackpowder]

Yup, same here I'd say.

[farmaholic]

Apologies to anyone who took my posts as a condescending sermon. I guess my point was you don't have to go to church or be "religious" to be a good spiritual person.

Born and raised Catholic
Altar boy (I corrected Alter boy..lol would that make me a eunuch)
Got all the sacraments except annointing of the sick/dying and the Holy Order one (no I'm not Father Farmaholic).
Raised kids with sacraments
Try to live right
Live and let live. ...

I can see the rural Catholic churches consolidating/amalgamating just like schools and grain elevators, banks, etc.

Dramatically less families living in the rural areas with dramatically smaller families.

[Oliver88]

In Saskatchewan I'd predict a town with 1000 people will have between 3 - 5 churches.

[stonepicker]

I think there's a connection between christianity ( declining ) and declining morals in western society. I said christianity because north america was founded on it, now God isn't even allowed in schools

[GDR]

I enjoy debating this topic but hard to do without offending someone. My mother played the organ at the local church so as a child it wasn't very often I could escape from Sunday church but as an adult have only been maybe a couple times.

Definitely there are less churches and lower attendance in our area. I think that society does suffer from this not so much from a religious teachings but from the structure and sense of community that it brings to people. It's much easier to let your kids play video games in the basement than it is to drag their buts to church in their Sunday best clothes but what does that teach them.

I've tried to teach my kids the story of the Bible but still let them decide what to believe. It's very important to know the basic story to understand world events and history.

My biggest issue with religion is intolerance. Each one feels they are right and you are either with them or you are wrong. Kind of impossible for everyone to be correct. Better pick the right team!

To each their own, I believe there are great people from all religious backgrounds.

[checking]

It was put to me that only a Catholic, and a Jew can be a Christian.

I absolutely know that we are made of star dust. Some of us are dirtier than others, and many of those are religious.

[GDR]

One funny comment, I have a very Catholic neighbor, great guy but if your in the field on Sunday he will look away as he drives by. Very smart man, invented a couple things, travelled the world, is a welder by trade and can fix anything.

One day he starts telling me about the visiting at the local jail, had done it for years and was on his 7th inmate match up. (Guess they pair you up for the duration) I thought this was odd from knowing this fella so asked him why he had chose to do it for so long. He replied completely serious that he didn't know where he might end up and thought he should have friends on both sides!

[Blaithin]

I don't think anyone whos commented has come off as offensive. As long as people realize everyone can't and won't have the same opinions and views as them then they'll get along fine.

I find myself leaning more towards GDRs opinion of lack of community structure, not necessarily religious.

I lived for quite a few years growing up in rural Manitoba. The whole town got together for fun games - think three legged race, sack race, etc. - on Canada day, winter sleigh rides and other winter games around Christmas, many many many curling bonspiels, 4-H get togethers, Ukrainian dance get togethers, community swim lessons at the lake in the summer, volunteer skating rink on the weekends in winter... As kids we were always going somewhere and doing something together in large groups. It was a blast! I miss it quite a bit actually as I've never ran into this same level of close knit community here in Alberta.

With that sort of support group and structure, working together, playing together, learning, partaking, winning and losing... That is what's important. Everything else is just another added layer.

As a side note, if anyone knows of a community in Alberta that's like this let me know! Lol