Let’s get this straight before we begin: I’m a Christian. I may not be a shining example, but my faith is important to me, as are my views on the Church. I know that I can’t comprehend the Word of the Bible myself, which is why Priests train for years to be able to guide others. This requirement of the Christian faith – that to be a good Christian you must believe in what other people say – is a difficulty for many who are Atheists or Agnostics. However, God gave me ears to hear but he also gave me a mind, and a mouth. Just because you are told something does not mean it is right, and one thing I admire about my own Church is that sermons are usually given as miniature arguments in themselves, relying on scholarly interpretation and clear reasoning about particular aspects of faith. Sometimes, if I disagree, I have spoken to the preacher afterwards, sometimes at length, to gain a greater understanding of his/her viewpoint. But this still doesn’t mean I have to agree. There are many more discussions to be had here about whether or not this completely invalidates the point of Faith in the first place (I know that it doesn’t), but that is not what I’m here to talk about. As you may have guessed already, the things that I respect about my faith are those which CICCU seems determined to eradicate, and it’s people like me who are feeling the heat from them the most.
