Nothing new since christianity as we know it was invented, about the same time as Islam... The mind control and belonging was a reaction to the first rise of Islam if most honest theologian historians are to be believed. Even the eminent ones writing recently 😎

Jim has it on the button here. If you post on a thread, you are inviting debate. Asserting gets assertive challenge. Reasoned debate for a reason doesn't.

This thread was started to perpetuate Islamophobia, and in the name of a co superstition, which makes it all the more galling. Most people I know who belong to faiths of one sort or another do not assert it as some ultimate truth, even though privately they may feel that way. Most people get on with their comfort blanket, it is the insecure ones who reach out to ridicule rational people, as they want to feel safe in numbers. As I said, on a positive note, it could be that his position shames him on the intellectual level, whilst most boutique christians are far more well balanced and see their faith in a similar way to my faith in Sheffield Wednesday.

Whatever, the idea that a majority of people in The UK still believe in a God, when we are all decently educated, even allowing for the varied competence level of teachers, is an absurdity that doesn't need challenge, it just needs you to walk round with your eyes open.

This thread and others started by The Rt Rev Acheson to push his hobby and provoke reaction are sadly at the "point and laugh" level.

Always happy to oblige. Although I accept both sides of this thread must dismay genuine christians who don't get much choice in who they find themselves associated with. (Far too many MPs are fellow Sheffield Wednesday fans but woe betide the idea I share their take on life.)