How many are Christian?

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Australia.



Excellent. Soon we will control the world!

3 hours?!?!?! I'd freak out if it were that long. Mass is only about 45 minutes (Fr. Dave keeps his sermons short and to the point).

Edit: Raised Catholic, but I go the Episcopal route now because I am intermarried. I disagree with a lot of the liberalizations of the American Episcopal movement, but they are still technically a catholic (lower-case) Church and I can participate there.

There is very little that is liberal in Texas, including the Anglicans. That's not all of America you're talking about. Mostly the northeast section. The church I go to has voted to side with the non-liberalized world Anglican church if there is a schism.

I don't really participate in Church other than going to mass. How can you tell how your particular church or diocese has voted?

I am from Texas, I live in a suburb of Houston.

Tim

I was a Lutheran (ELCA) for four years. I left because of a change in leadership in the church.

Tim

I grew up Methodist when I was a kid and then when i moved, i started going to a presbyterian church. Now that i'm in college, I find myself growing more and more as a christian.

They announced it once during mass at my church. You could probably ask one of the priests if you were curious.

Not, but find some truth in all. Also find a lot of filler, and the whole field attracts snake oil salesmen.

Truth is limited. The seperation of church and state is saying two wrongs make a right.

I am a simplest: The simplest explanation is most likely to be true.

Fifteen billion years ago, there was infinate nothing. No matter, energy, gravity, or time. The best science says the Universe was created in an instant, faster than the speed of light, not following natural principals, hence, Supernatural.

That it was created is a common term, from nothing, requires something else, a Creator.

At a distance from it's origen in a single point, it almost stopped, formed Hydrogen, which formed stars,, and the rest is solid Physics.

A beach ball 30 billion light years across, with most of the matter forming the skin. All is perfect order, the table of elements, the electromagnetic spectrum, gravity, Time.

Near half of the radiant energy is focused back to the point on origen, and perhaps the gravity well is dragging more in. The first stars ended five billion years ago when ours was formed. Our planet is formed of the rubble. Science and mathematics do work.

Even the simplest life is too complex to have formed by any random process. Half DNA does not survive and evolve, it takes the full script, and that is a work of art. The Universe has a large surface area that could support life.

Outside of the beach ball, still seems to be infinate nothing. The ball is much less than a grain of sand compared to the oceans, much, much less.

A shell was Created, it feeds energy back to the center, and life and concousness do evolve to higher forms. Death is when something that cannot be measured in any way leaves a living body, in an instant.

Energy can be niether created or destroied, Life energy leaves the body, it still exists.

The Creator is Lord of this House, the beginning and end of all things.

I have feeling and perception, and when looking upon what little I can see, I feel connected, understood, loved, educated, and I am given strength. When I seek I find, when I ask I am lead, thoughts are given to me when my mind is open.

I am never alone.

I need nothing else.

Umm... I hope not. We did come close in the past with the British Empire though (sorry, Episcopalians of United States). How come you are called Episcopalians when other churches such as the Roman Catholics, the various Orthodox churches and I think some Lutherans have bishops (episcopoi, "overseers" in Greek) as well? I hope this question does not come across as offensive.

Well, although I'm not from the US, I can answer your question. Anglicans in the US are called Episcopalians because they get their orders from Scotland and Anglicans in Scotland are called Episcopalians, too. They had to get their orders from Scotland because England was grumpy with them at the time and the King wouldn't let the English bishops consecrate any American priests. Because the Scottish Episcopal Church was not the established church, the King had no authority over their bishops.

And the reason the Scots are called Episcopalians? At some point during the Scottish Reformation, bishops were abolished in the established church, which became the Church of Scotland that exists today. However, the Scottish bishops didn't disappear, they just went underground and their supporters were known as 'Episcopalians', for obvious reasons. They became the Scottish Episcopal Church.

i used 2b, but i b/c an nontheist after the church told me to believe in the literal truth of the bible and what not.

Mennonite/Greek Orthodox.... parents/NT sister are Catholic, but I found the church to judgemental and hypocritical. For the Greek church, I found the congregation to be detached from their faith; they'd say one thing and turn around and do something completely opposite; I found the Mennonite faith and haven't turned back.

That explains a lot to me. I didn't know why we were called Episcopalians over here. I do know that several generations ago my family immigrated from Scotland. After that I did the math.

Interesting. I did an essay on Menno Simons (Dutch Anabaptist and pacifist, differing from some of the more violent of the Anabaptists like those of Münster) from whom the Mennonites take their name recently for Reformation Histories and Theologies. Most of the Orthodox (one Macedonian Orthodox, one Greek Orthodox and one Russian Orthodox one of two Serbian Orthodox) people whom I have known seemed to be fairly decent people (so have the Roman Catholics that I have known) but I suspect most denonimations, like most faiths, are as mixed as humanity generally. You have an interesting religious history.

Any Presbyterians here? Most of the Presbyterians I have met have also been good people (there are still some separate Presbyterians in Australia, though some joined with the Methodists and the Congregationalists to become the Uniting Church of Australia.