Dod101 wrote:The Church of Scotland is in exactly the same situation and many of their churches are being sold off. It is no loss in some cases but in many it is a great shame. The irony is that when plans are announced to close a village church, the locals, who may attend church only for the occasional christening, wedding or funeral are usually very vocal in their opposition to closure. Unfortunately they are not prepared to sign up to financially support the church.
Congregational numbers are dwindling and there seems nothing much can be done about it, although churches have always played a significant part in ‘welfare’ within a parish and still do with the promotion of foodbanks, child minding in some cases, and the like. What I mourn is the loss of wonderful music and amazing architecture in some cases at least.
And I like to think that the church provided some moral guidance which helped promote a civilised society. On a much broader issue, none of us knows whether there is a God or not and by the time we find out it will be too late. So I can understand agnostics but I find taking a stand as an atheist to be rather odd. I do not have the certainty for that.
Dod
I think the damage caused by the many sordid sex cases that have come to light has cancelled out any good they may have done. Same as the Catholic church - its influence on Irish society is a fraction of what it once was.