h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Look at how people are responding to Harry Potter. Many would burn witches if they have the chance. But I bet those prisoners are just hoping to learn how to fly on broomsticks, so they can escape while sweeping the court yard.

save on cleaning bills.

I am a true Cristian. And I can prove it, because it says so on my Driver's licence.
But it just proves that I'm Christian by name, not Christian by faith. I'm more of an Agnostic Christian.

Are there any Christians out there that can truly claim to be christian to the bone???

Well that kind of depends on what you mean by "to the bone"
there's probably quite a few who believe the central tenet - basically that which is expressed in the Nicene Creed (the "I believe in God the Father...etc), and hold to what would be described as the Christian Faith, including myself.
But then they'd probably all claim that they're not as good as they could be at carrying through on all that being a Christian is supposed to entail, and they'd probably all disagree on points of doctrine.

But realistically, as a faith, surely Christianity is a state of mind, and therefore different for everyone?

That is my point. There is no such thing as a perfect christian. The thing is the church doesn't help.

A good church - by which I mean the people of the church and the minister can offer invaluable support and guidance. You can't do everything alone, and a good Church can help Christians along.
The problem is that its very hard to find a Church like that which suits your individual needs. And it's something I've never found in the Church of England.

The problem IMHO is that the Church of England was concieved as a political entity - to get Henry VIII's divorce, and has never lost that angle.
I'd be glad to see it disestablish just to get it out of politics and back to focusing on the Christian faith.

Does christianity really need a church??? In a way people have started to worship the church more than god.

I just wanted to wish you good luck

4 wot??? Me confused

*equally confused by the good luck wishes*

well technically the Church - in the biblical sense - is the body of Christian people. So as long as there are Christians there will be a Church, and that is necessary because it provides the aforementioned guidance and support.

As for whether we need an organised Church with a hierarchy, bank account etc etc. That's kind of different. And I'm not sure

When I say church I mean the building and the clergy.

With trying to define a true Christian.

Where does the clergy fit into a true christians prospective and believe???

Not being a trained theologian (heck I didn't even do R.E at GCSE!) I couldn't really say.
But I think that Jesus trained the Apostles to lead the new Christians and help them in their faith, and then that tradition has continued on.
A minister/priest/vicar/whatever you want to call them shouldn't really be a secular appointment, it should really be a question of deciding of who God has earmarked for the job.
A minister/etc isn't necessarily a better Christian than their congregation, they've just had training in theology and in leadership techniques (hopefully) - the idea is that they couldn't do a good job without God to guide them.
Probably goes without saying that I'm not fond of career churchmen, or the fact that Tony Blair gets a hand in picking the next Archbishop of Canterbury (and my favoured candidate for that has shot himself in the foot most spectacularly by saying things that actually make sense!)

I know, isn't the decision of who gets a religious post pre-ordained by God???

Yes
But unfortunately God doesn't just drop the appropriate outfit on top of the person he wants

Ah well, at least we don't have people buying Church posts anymore
Or is that naive and say "not so blatantly", not that I want to be too cynical

How do you define the person who should be head of the christian church???

I'd say choose two candidates. Then flip a coin and God then makes it heads for one of them and tails for the other. And makes the coin stand on the edge if neither.

Head of the Christian Church is God - the Father, Son and Holy Ghost

On Earth it's more tricky because of the denominations.
I think the heads of each denomination should be able to work together to support Christianity as a whole.
As to choosing one - well I think it should be the person God wants - and the way that gets chosen is through application - if the person in question believes that that is what God wants them to do - and by prayer - both from the person considered for the job, and the people doing considering. If the head of the Christian community (desperately avoiding the word church) isn't blessed by God for the job then I don't think that the system will work as well as it could/should.
I think the leader needs to have a strong faith, a lot of tact and patience, and lot of integrity. They need to be able to take the church forward in the modern world and help try and answer some of the difficult questions that get asked - abortion, euthanaisa, women bishops and so on.
I think that Christian leaders need to be able to act as impartial commentators on events, rather than being part of the political system. Hence I applaud Rowan Williamson for saying what he believes is suspect about the war against terrorism, and I detest the fact that the politics of the Church of England mean that this will probably count against him in the 'race to be Archbishop'

you?