Yes Bruva, Sista or exalted Trannie. Religion is the Opiate of the Masses wot oppresses us.

"If only we used more popular tunes to sing."

Not to worry, Peter -- I've written you a song! It's especially for apophatists, and it's called 'Hymn Zero'. You will, I hope, recognise the tune.

The original is here: http://religiousatrocities.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/uk-hymn-zero/

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small.
The Lord God didn’t make them
Or anything at all.

He didn’t make the planets,
He didn’t light the sun.
You could quite easily fill a book,
With things he hasn’t done.

All things real and actual,
Each outcome and result,
It wasn’t God who did them,
And nor did He consult.

He doesn’t show at Easter,
At Christmas he’s not here,
He’s not around on Hannukah,
Or any time of year.

All things that are miraculous,
All supernatural acts,
The Lord God didn’t do them,
According to the facts.

He didn’t summon Adam,
He didn’t raise up Eve,
He didn’t lift a finger,
Well, that’s what we believe.

All things proud and positive,
Each trait and property,
The Lord God doesn’t have them,
He’s just vacuity.

Not old, not wise, not jealous,
Not powerful or kind.
He doesn’t feel emotions
He doesn’t have a mind.

All things to do with measurement,
You have to realise,
They don’t apply in any way,
Position, weight or size.

No origin or history,
No angels round to sing,
When Moses saw His backside,
He didn’t see a thing.

God’s terribly important,
We’re careful to insist,
In spite of His refu-u-sal
To actually exist.

Jon, your little song is marvelous and refreshing, a stand-out among all this silly theobabble and religious fraud.

For those of us who are brave enough to live in the real world and accept its reality, it gives hope that, one day, the world might embrace reality and throw childish superstition and wishful thinking into the dustbin of history.

Peter raises some interesting questions, but I’m not sure the answers he provides will work. There is an aesthetic element to worship, but it is not a performance; or at least, not as one might expect. Kierkegaard’s famous theatre analogy seems apt here. He said that people wrongly assume that when they go to church, God is conducting, the priests/musicians/readers etc. are performing, and the congregation is the audience. But in fact the ministers are conducting, the congregation is performing, and God is the audience.

There is a certain vanity common among Anglo-Catholic clergy that believes the effectiveness of a service rests on how well the worship leaders “perform”. If only the music is just so, the setting is beautiful the gestures and liturgy and sermon and vestments and hymns are in sync, and the congregation does what it ought to, all will be well. This is in fact not so far removed from the evangelicals who use pop music and pop psychology to make their congregations feel good; though with the Anglo-Catholics, of course, the ‘performance’ is much more tasteful.

It is true than many modern people may see church services as a performance in which the music, sermons and drama are for their amusement and often fall well short of the professional standard we can now all access at the flick of a TV or IPod. But we should not pander to that expectation by turning worship into entertainment. I think that true church has room for the worshipper happily warbling the hymns off key, the intellectually handicapped lady stumbling painfully through your favourite reading, or the odd guy who smells of urine and eats all the cakes at morning tea.

In most capitals you can find aesthetically flawless traditional worship in the cathedrals (sorry Sydney Anglicans - Rhys Probert, have you been to St James King Street?), but you might also find it rather sterile after a while.

Jon J
ouch - that's really rather funny

Well the good news is that Jesus Christ Himself said that He would build His church and the gates of hell won't prevail against it. Denominations and styles will come and go. The winds and testings will make all man made structures that many long after tumble. The gospel thank God, will and is continuing to rescue people from hinduism, Islam, budhism, secularism, feminism and every other ism you can think of. Yes much of the West has become drunk with its selfism created by secularism and feminism but the church (called out ones) is in a very strong position. Many many still have a strong faith in Christ. Nothing can or will snuff out His church. He has protected Israel through many genocide attempts, how much more His church.

Another essay which provides a unique critique of the delusions/illusions of the much hyped Christian mind, and the fakery of all of the big-time talkers of false religion (and all of the never-ending slaughters which their fakery inevitably causes)

http://www.beezone.com/AdiDa/jesusandme.html