Do I need to be religious?

"Do I need to be religious?" is not my question, but that on the website telling the world about the choir at a university church where I was organ scholar from 1979-1981. (I have just been contacted by the current organ scholar as the scholarship was set up 50 years ago: they want to celebrate and involve past scholars.)

The answer they give is "No! Definitely not. Some choir members are Christian, some belong to other religions, the majority aren't religious at all. What brings us all together is our love of choral music."

This would have surprised me in my university days but was probably the case even back then: I just hadn't thought about it as it would have blown my mind! I did have a friend who received communion each week but I discovered that he was not confirmed. When I enquired of the vicar if this was OK, the reply was that the sky wasn't going to fall in and that my friend just did not realise the significance of receiving commnuion. When I was younger I thought you could only receive communion if you were confirmed, rather as you could only drive a car (alone) if you had passed your test.

Since those far off days my thinking has changed. I feel nostalgic about my days as a chorister and I am so glad I had them. However, my religious thinking has changed and I really do take the position Christopher Hitchens had. One of these is (summed up) "God created mankind and left us alone for thousands of years until the point when he decided to intervene and send Jesus to sort us out". There is more to it than that of course.

Another very good point is about the 10 Commandments. Why did God not include one such as "Thou shalt not abuse children". Hitchens says that God missed the opportunity to create 10 good rules and that there are clear signs these rules were actually made up by men. The video below explains how he would have revised them.