Church in the 21st century

Today we took Pork Chop to church for only the second time in her little life. This time though it was actually in her honour as opposed to being there for a wedding and was part of the pre-christening duties we had to attend to.

Now I have mentioned the hassles surrounding the christening before but not the reasons why I decided to have her christened in the first place. I am not at all religious and generally only attend church for births, marriages and deaths. I did toy for a long time with the idea of a civil naming ceremony and still think it might have been the better option for us but in the end, decided to stick with tradition and go for a full christening.

Pork Chop by the way is sitting on the floor doing a big shit. I can hear her straining as I type this post.

I felt a christening for tradition, superstition and because it is a good excuse for a big party would be the best thing for Pork Chop. Yesterday we went for the exorcism. And no, it wasn't anything like a scene from the exorcist with vomit spewing forth from both myself and The Other Half as Satan struggled to break free. The exorcism was actually a powerful prayer to protect Pork Chop from evil spirits but it happened right at the very end of the service so we were stuck there entertaining the poor little mite for and hour and a half.

What struck me though is, whether you believe in God or not, how nice everyone there was. It was refreshing to meet people who were genuinely friendly and didn't want anything from you. I feel sorry for them that in this supposedly enlightened society of religious equality and freedom of expression we live in practising Christians are made to feel as though they are doing something taboo. If you are Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Scientologist and so on you can shout it from the roof tops, where your Hijab with pride, take your daily prayers without being interrupted or ridiculed. But if you are a British Christian then even wearing a small cross on a chain is seen as a no no - the British Airways case ongoing at the moment in which a check in staff member has been suspended for doing such a thing is a prime example. Why the double standards?