Here goes...

Well, here the experiment begins. Just to fill you in on a few details: I'm a Religious and Theological Studies Student in my first year, who is slowly waking up to the fact that there's a very big world out there in terms of Religion, and nobody's ever going to get all the answers, if any at all.

Since I've always been fairly opinionated, if fairly liberal, with my views, this has been a bit of a shock to the system. As a result, I'm embarking on a bit of a quest to clear my head and try and work out what on earth one is to do about such things. I have absolutely no idea what the vast majority of my musings will be about, but I should imagine most of them will be to do with Christianity and faith, with plenty of smatterings about Religion in general.

So, to start off:
I'm a Christian. I know this, as I've been one all my life. I go to church (Anglican) regularly, sing in the choir and know more or less what kind of liturgy fits in with what I'm comfortable with. All in all, I consider myself a pretty gosh-darned regular Christian person.

Problem is, my underlying theological beliefs are anything but solid. Whilst bringing me up as a regular practising Christian, my parents have always allowed me to make up my own mind with regards to belief and religion etc. I can't really say I've ever (since early childhood) believed in the classic western view of 'God', instead choosing to find solace in the comfort and spiritual aid that people often find in religious practice. I've often remarked to family/friends that I'm probably the most un-christian 'Christian' around!

And here we have the dilemma. I've never really had a problem with going to Church - singing hymns, reciting creeds etc. whilst believing myself very little of what I'm saying. However, my foray into the world of scholarly religion has prompted me into taking a look at whether my cheerful agnostic ignorance can really be compatible with my love of going to Church.

Having given you the basic run-down of my situation, I think I'll leave it at that for now (I'll spare you the life story, though I'm sure most of it will come out in future posts). In a wonderful display of my judgement for timing, I'm going to be away for the next few days, but that should give me plenty of time to mull over what to talk about here. I welcome any comments/views/rants, and appreciate your taking the time to read this blog.

Until next time,

FiF