Sheaf Saint

Since when was God limited to just Christianity?

For starters, I couldn't give a toss what Dave Cameron says about our religious heritage. And as for the Queen - she made an oath at her coronation to 'uphold God's law' but has since given royal assent to many laws which go against the laws of God as dictated in the Old Testament, therefore she is nothing but a hypocrite as well. The history of such things as Xmas and Easter holidays, church weddings, christenings etc... are born out of Christian traditions, but have now become so deeply ingrained in our society that we no longer focus on the religious aspect of them. Ask any kid if he is looking forward to celebrating the resurrection of Christ this Easter and all you will get is a blank look - all they will give a toss about is how many chocolate eggs they are going to get. If it satisfies you, I will admit that we are a Christian country only in the sense that our ancestors had their pagan traditions beaten out of them by the Romans and replaced with slightly different traditions that can be associated with Jesus in some way, under the threat of persecution or death if they didn't comply, just like the rest of Europe.

Don't be so pedantic. You posted the fact that thousands of kids get Christened every year is evidence that we are a Christian country. It isn't and you know full well it isn't. I have already agreed with you that many aspects of our modern culture have their traditions in the Christian faith, but do not prove we are a Christian country. Not sure exactly what more you are trying to prove.

Yeah, and thousands of kids have their Barmitzvahs (sp?) every year. Does that mean we live in Jewish country?

I see the point you are making, and you are correct in that a lot of public policy etc.. is dictated by Christian tradition, such as the naming of public holidays and the use of churches for weddings and funerals. But to use this to claim that we are Christian as a nation is a flawed argument. There are a whole lot of policies that are produced from secular thinking as well. If the govt dictates that I don't work on Christmas and Easter, then so be it. I care little for the origins of these holidays, only that I get them and can enjoy some time off work with my friends and family. I often joke at Easter that getting 4 days off work just because some long-haired Jewish bloke gobbed off at some Roman soldiers 2000 years ago and got himself executed is absolutely fine by me.

You appear to be labouring under a false idea yourself Turkish. Jesus, if he even existed at all, was almost certainly not born on 25th December. This is commonly accepted amongst pretty much all religious scholars. The Yule festival was celebrated all across Europe long before the idea of Jesus became widespread as it coincides with the winter solstice and is all about celebrating the end of shortening days and the returning of the light. The Catholic church, when it was in its phase of systematically destroying an reference to any other religion many centuries ago, hijacked the Yule festival and imposed its own festival in its place which was, ostensibly, about celebrating the birth of Christ. Therefore, to argue that because somebody takes time off work at this time of year, holds family gatherings, eats and drinks lots and exchanges gifts is, by default, a Christian is entirely erroneous. If the Roman empire hadn't decided to use the idea of Christianity in order to enforce its own will on the rest of the world, and Christianity had (as it no doubt would have done) been eliminated before it spread from the middle east, we would still undoubtedly be having winter holidays to this day - it's just that the specifics would be different. Besides, I, like a large majority of people in the UK, cannot choose to work on Christmas because my company shuts down for the entire week until new year, therefore it makes sense for me to have my celebrations at this stage when everybody else is off work/school as well.

Some thoughts having seen that... Derby were gash. No threat up front and their defence was constantly chasing shadows. Sharp does look a little bit out-of-shape as some have suggested - nothing an intensive fitness regime won't sort out. Lallana had a brilliant game and is clearly back to his early season best - almost unplayable. The ball from Lee off the outside of his foot to Cork in the build-up to the 3rd was absolutely stunning - amazing vision to set up the attack. Lee's goal - Nope, I can't think of any words to describe how special that was! Play like that for the rest of the season boys and the title is yours for the taking.

If you click on the full table link underneath then it does show them with -10...

Or, at the very least, they should just give us the points. After all, we only want a level playing field.

Question for you Mikey - why do you automatically assume that anybody who turns up to protest at government actions is a 'nutjob'? And, in fact, what exactly is a nutjob?

That really does defy belief. He wants some common sense from the FL because it is a desperate situation and they need to be helped. If the FL were to actually employ some common sense then they would kick them out of the league altogether. Not content with being at a level way above where they should be after their sh*t-or-bust strategy put them bust and in the sh*t, he now expects yet more special treatment from the FL. Appy - you have youth players available to fill your bench. If you don't want to use them that is solely down to you, but it is not the responsibility of the FL or anybody else to bail you out if you can't be competitive as a result.

I read some website a few years ago where somebody demonstrated how you could leaglly get out of having to pay the license on the grounds of the government breaching the terms of the 'tax' in some way, by serving some kind of notice on the inspector when he/she visits. Can't remember where I found it but it's worth searching on if people really object to it. I used to be very much against the idea of a TV tax (which is all it really is - you are paying the government for the right to use your TV set and they, in turn, provide funds to the BBC from the revenue) but I'm not so bothered now. As many people have pointed out, if the BBC were forced to operate as a commercial station we would lose all of the wonderfully educational stuff they output because their sole focus would be on getting in maximum viewing figures to increase their profits.

I wasn't at the game yesterday so I can't really judge, but a lot of the comments on here appear to show he wasn't that great yesterday. Our other full back set up three goals yesterday but they put Harding in the TOTD!?!?!? I knew there was a very good reason I don't buy the Mirror.

Best part of seven years I have been waiting to see that headline. Oh how sweet it is!

They lost 4-0 to Palace today.

Goal scored on 90 +8:49 according to BBC. What happened there then? Must have been a serious injury or something.

Perfect. We go back to the top, Pompey go level on points with bottom (whenever the table will finally update to show the 10-point deduction). Couldn't ask for better. Sounds like we played some superb stuff today as well - definitely got our mojo back it seems. And the team we go away to next week got d1cked 4-0 to an average team as well.

Cork, Lambert, Fonte. Hell, what about Davis!

BBC sport has been really sh*te since the facelift of the site. Takes such a long time to update and stats are all over the place. I cannot believe for one second that Derby have had 58% possession today.

Pompey only off the bottom on GD now!

BARNSLEY YOU F***ING BEAUTIES!!!!! Gonna be a good day I feel

WTF!?!?!? The very second I hit the submit button he goes and scores a screamer! Spooky sh*t! Anyway... WooT 4-0!

I would really love for Lee to get his first goal today

Punch on for Chappers

Palace 4-0 Watford now. Bodes well for us for next week - I hope!