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  • "
    nicole/bob wrote:
    Two weeks ago, Peter Tatchell, a confirmed atheist, who is reported on the internet as having once said "not all sex involving children is unwanted, abusive or harmful", was a guest speaker at All Saints. As a longstanding member of the congregation, I strongly objected about this forthcoming event, but to no avail, so I decided there and then to leave this Church. I certainly do not regret my decision! Good Friday is a day of reflection on the suffering and sacrificial death of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Not the best time for our Parish Priest to choose to be flippant about the faith... What is happening to the Church of England? I am so sad and upset.
    it's also a day for the atheists to contemplate why you believe in an invisible sky person"
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'Easter is a time for staying in bed, eating chocolate and having sex'

1:20pm Friday 6th April 2012 in News By Ben James

Easter Sunday is a time for staying in bed, eating chocolate and having sex.

But that’s not our opinion. It’s not even the view of the Brighton and Hove Humanist Society.

That’s the opinion of Father Phil Ritchie from All Saints Church in Hove.

He added: “The problem with the church is that we stay inside our building and occasionally come out and say ‘Why don’t you come to our church, it’s cool and funky’.

“To be honest, it’s not.

“I would love more people to come at 10am on Sunday and I would welcome them to All Saints.

“For Christians this is the most important day of the year. All life and all hope flows from it.

“But there are plenty of ways to celebrate without coming to a draughty Victorian building. So why not stay at home, have a lie in, have sex and eat some chocolate.”

Father Phil’s fresh take on the religion’s holiest day comes as congregations continue to fall across the area.

Annual figures for Sunday worship in the county show a steady decline of about two per cent.

For the Church of England’s Diocese of Chichester, which includes Brighton and Hove, Worthing, Arundel, Bognor and Chichester, an average of 39,100 attended each Sunday in 2008.

In 2009 that went down to 38,100 before falling again to 37,300 in 2010.

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