Originally Posted by myk:
“I too noticed she showed her religion as Christian - other - I took this to indicate that it was not mainstream Cof E or RC.
I checked her religion as in BBH it was apparent she had a clear moral framework and tried to make amends if she didn't live up to it. e.g. when she apologised to C......y after the big row she didn't hesitate to say she was 'ashamed with herself' for what she said - a very self condemning apology from a 19 yo. We have also seen on numerous occasions that Chanelle offered the hand of reconcilliation to C.....y. There were various other examples including admitting going off the rails etc.
On the other hand she had few evident inhibitions within her relationship with Ziggy, other than the privacy of the more intimate moments and respect for their families views. Similarly, she happily went about BBH in minimal clothing but was carefully modest when removing / changing underwear. She also used the F word all too freely. So many things appeared to contradict the moral basis of the generally more strict non-conformist religious beliefs while many things seemed consistent.
My eventual conclusion was that her parents hold to a religious belief and brought Chanelle up to live by their values. I concluded that as an inteligent young person as she got older, Chanelle appropriately made her own clear decisions about the religious and moral values she would live by - but did so with respect for her parents and all they had taught her. She has also remarked on occasions ' would Posh do that?, No, so I won't'. She has also spoken about Posh's loyalty and care to her family and admiring that - (it does seem similar to her own parents). So I, reckoned that a religious brand name didn't much matter (other than that she'd probably not disrespect her parents beliefs) what mattered was that Chanelle lives her life with concious awarness of clear religious/ moral values.
It is probably unusual for young people to make specific decisions about a religious/moral code for life but it does seem to me to be consistent with Chanelle's intelligence, upbringing and attitude. It seemed likely to me that she might well have been prompted to think seriously about things when she says she 'went of the rails' after learning about her mother's death”
A few observations.
I guess you're probably older than me. I'd like to think I still am a "young" person !
I don't think any of the good moral character traits you describe, eg. self-examination, (something the "it" creature could do with months of), are necessarily religiously derived.
Quite to the contrary in fact. I was raised as a child, as a Roman Catholic, but more for social reasons than anything else.
I remember in my French language classes reading how a lot of French people described themselves as "Roman Catholic : non-practising" and thinking "Why don't I have that option in Southern Ireland ?"
I could now probably be best described as a "militant atheist", a big fan of Richard Dawkins etc. My morals are not religiously based but based on thought, reason, humanity, the collective historical struggle to make our world a fairer, more just (in all senses) and kinder world.
I consider things like the British civil service code - honest, non-party political, promotion by merit, selection by open examination etc - to be the real moral pillars.
Most of what we consider to be basic fundamental human rights & democratic rights & judicial principles have been achieved in the last 100 to 150 years, by generations of statesmen who valued reason above religious dogma.
For example, voting in parliamentary elections has only been in secret since the Secret Ballot Act of 1872.
The world's religions are silent on these issues and have always backed the (dictatorial) status quo to the detriment of the great mass of humanity.
There's a big problem with ascribing membership of any denomination / section of the C of E etc based on how Chanelle dressed or undressed, or how often she said f*ck, or her lack or otherwise of "inhibitions", (read: sexual hang-ups) with Ziggy.
It's that these things are only "immoral" if one believes them to be so. You might say, for example, that Chanelle was not a moral girl should she have exposed her nipples.
But, if Chanelle wasn't bothered, rightly thinking there's nothing immoral with the human body, any part of it, even on TV, then you can't say she's not a good, say, C of E girl because in her mind
she is ! I didn't mind the f*cks uttered by Chanelle one little bit.
It was nearly always said comically, and again not against Chanelle's own moral code, the only one that matters in determining her "morality".
Chanelle was never vulgar in her use of the f-word but she did apologise to the "it" creature for calling her a "scruffy little slut", because she felt that she had descended to the "it" creature's level.
My own guess as to how she was raised, ie her official denomination growing up, is she might be RC as the name Hayes can sometimes indicate Irish ancestry, although that doesn't guarantee a RC denomination. A post a while ago referred to people meeting her parents in "church", not "chapel" so this might suggest high/broad C of E or RC, probably not non-conformist.
but I personally think it suits her better shorter, gives it more body and bounce.
