I knew I could count on you for the lastest "Panda News."  They are really cute, though.

Thanks BM, that sounds fair and resonable

Handsom, are you aware of what you´ve done here? Everytime I see a panda I think of you! you´re like our TC Pandamonium!!!

No actually. I leave this open to the child. So you can´t predict that my child will not believe in God. I believe in a God, even though my parents never forced this idea on me. In any case, I am proud of the way my parents raised me, but thank you for being judgemental about it. You really have a way of wrapping extreme insults in an "argument" of a conversation, that you actually had no part in.

I have to agree here, my family are not religious at all, but since I was young I took myself to church and helped out a christian youth club and also studied other religions (due to interest) and also studied the kuran. Though I´ve never been literally named under a faith, there is no denying that I believe in the existance of God. Where as my partner, his parents are STRICT Jehovahs Witness but he himself has does not believe in it and because of that, they do not wish to have anything to do with him.

So I believe that maybe in SOME cases there are children that are "encouraged" by what their parents believe in and so they follow, but there are still many that wish to find their own paths too, which is not always a bad thing.

I was raised in a Catholic family (hey, I´m Polish, the odds were 90% ). My family on both my mum´s and my dad´s side is quite religious. Not fanatical but they go to church every Sunday and holiday, keep the Lent, meat-free Fridays etc. When I was young, the whole church idea was fun. I even was a Mary´s child, which was a thing for young girls, who´d wear white and stand on the sides of the altar during holidays. But then I grew up, stopped seeing sense. Nobody could convince me that something that made no sense made any, so I decided to quit church. That was something my parents wouldn´t allow so, basically, till I lived with them (until the end of secondary school) I had to pretend to go to church every Sunday. I´d go to cafes or stand outside with a group of friends whose parents were as understanding as mine

When I went to university, I no longer had to lie. When I told my parents that it wasn´t only about church, but that I didn´t believe in God, they took it really bad. My dad wouldn´t talk to me for half a year. Eventually he started to but it was a rough time for both of us. I love my parents dearly and I´m glad they tolerate my own choice. They´re not happy about it, will probably never accept it or fully understand but they are there for me anyway.

That´s why I do not intend to raise my children in any religion.Whatever they decide later on, it´s their choice. I don´t think you can impose the choice on anyone.

My partner and I had a similar problem when we got married many years ago. My partner is a Catholic and she wanted to be married by a priest in the Catholic Church. I was a lapsed protestant so before a priest could marry us I had to promise any children would be brought up Catholic. I did not think it a big deal at the time as I would have let them make up their own minds anyway.

You can raise children to believe in God, Father Christmas or the Tooth Fairy - they will believe whatever you tell them

My grandmother was Salvation Army and pressured her children to attend services every Sunday.  My mother hated being forced to go and so never pushed having a faith on to me and there were never any discussions.  I attended a Church of England primary school and it was there that I learned about God, faith etc.  from the age of 8 I decided I wanted to go to church and went with my mum´s best friend and her family.  So, it´s possible to gain a belief system without the input of a parent.

In England and Wales, Religious Education is compulsory, in state schools, for children aged between 5 and 16.  Children learn about the major faiths  (founders and leaders, sacred texts, religious traditions, beliefs and values etc.).  So, even in a non faith school, children learn about God, gods, spirituality etc.  the UK is officially a Christian nation and the Dept for Education in England and Wales also expect a daily act of collective worship in state schools. Some schools are Church schools and some are not and the format of the collective worship can vary quite a lot.  A school or class assembly based on some moral issue with a prayer at the end is sufficient.  Parents have the right to request that their children do not participate in acts of collective worship or Religious Education lessons, and in the 16 years at my school, one Pagan family and two Jehovah´s Witness families have exercised this right.

The Queen is the Defender of the Faith but, interestingly, Prince Charles has been reported as preferring the title "Defender of the Faiths" if ever he becomes king.

Btw BM, this is an open forum and as such Lemon is allowed to enter any discussion or "argument" .

There was this ´strange programme´ on the tv..

Joanna Lumley: Catwoman

In the first of two programmes, the actress and campaigner travels the world to explore the history of cats in different cultures and mythology. Her first stop is the USA´s scariest feline goddess worshipped by everybody: catwoman of tc.

http://www.tvguide.co.uk/titlesearch.asp?title=Joanna%20Lumley:%20Catwoman

British aid worker Linda Norgrove may have been accidentally killed by US forces during a rescue mission in Afghanistan, David Cameron has said.

International forces originally said she died on Friday when one of her captors detonated a suicide vest.

But the prime minister said new details had come to light suggesting her death may have resulted from a US grenade.

Mr Cameron said he had spoken to her family about the "deeply distressing" news.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11514210

Whom do they send to war? 17-20 year old dumb young men who joined the forces being agitated on streets and later on thrown into the middle of the war.

And of course, US wont get punished for anything.