We live across the road from a church, we live a block away from a second church, Horace was christened Catholic, I was christened Church of England ... but we're not religious and I'm not spiritual.
The tower from St Nicholas, the Anglican church across the road.
When I was little I loved going to church. I distinctly remember around age 8 or 9 getting myself up and dressed on a Sunday morning, my mother giving me five cents and me walking the km or so to a Presbyterian Church. I remember being amazed as I sat in the pew and listened patiently to the minister ... all the time waiting to be called for Sunday School.
And I still, probably sentimentally, think that I should go to church at Christmas. It's all part of the ritual of Christmas together with nativity plays, Christmas trees and carol singing.
In Australia--well, in many countries really--the church is becoming irrelevant as a daily force in people's lives. I think I understand that.
But it also exerts an important moral force because of the impact of the 10 commandments on the legal system and on how we live our lives. Things such as thou shalt kill and thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife.
And I wonder whether it's a shame that commitment to such a strong force for good is waning until I remember that more arguments (including wars between countries) have been fought as a result of religion ... and I go back to my usual undecided.
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