No hypocrisy at all, you fool.

As someone who sings traditional songs, I might ask if you are with the Irish republican sentiment in some, or the need to get pissed all the time in others?

I married first time in a church because it was the thing to do. I doubt anybody who is rational actually listens to the "what God put together" nonsense. It's a tradition. Christening is a tradition. I did the Santa Claus and tooth fairy bit too, not to mention getting them reading Tolkien and JK Rowling at an early age.

Mrs Musket is a bell ringer and although not superstitious, gave years of service as a bell ringer at the cathedral, up till going to university and still rings there when visiting family. It seemed logical to marry there. Unfortunately, I'm a heathen due to being divorced so God said no. At the same time, a divorced employee of the cathedral was told God said yes.

We got married in a hotel. The beer was better, the roast lamb beats dry wafers any day and we didn't need the hypocrisy.

You confuse tradition and family with superstition. I was in church singing hymns only yesterday. The deceased believed in God, as did many others of his advanced years, and I was doing it for his widow and the memory of him. As, I suspect, were the rest of us.

A couple of weeks ago I was back at a Sikh temple for the second time, for the equivalent of christening of our friends' latest offspring. I doubt I or any of the other non Sikhs there had a desire to grow our hair round a turban. Chance would be a fine thing in my case.

This assumption that making use of the traditional community service churches, mosques, synagogues and temples offer is somehow to do with believing nonsense is all part of what Prof Dawkins called "the God delusion." You try to rope intelligent people into your mumbo jumbo to hide your own intellectual embarrassment. (That's a compliment by the way.)