Differences in Christian religious displays

You know a line has been crossed when @matwoolf goes coherent with rage

 

Well, Olympic bob sleigh ain't all that gripping, and speed skating is minutes away.
...
I've had a breakthrough in our novel. Scene 1, Lady Teacup wears a micro-skirt, boob-tube, hang on let me wipe the saliva, heels. And then scene 2 some kind of sack-clothing number - write something poetic about the hem dragging through the farmyard, 10 inch crucifix, stygmatyr [sp] in the hands should clutch the deal, so to speak.

'But I thought you were Anabaptist Mormon Science of Christ Methodist?'

'Well Jeremy, I am a changed lady. Ever since Rasputin delivered his leaflet...I..I [swoon]'

 

'Hello, young man, I've come to see Lady Teacup...'
'Sorry guvnor, she ain't available right now.'

 

Meanwhile in Tokyo
'Yeah, nice work @Mat, I'll get on the computer asap. Do you like my hat?'

 

Oh, fug's sake, computer messaging again. What does that prick want? It is ANGLICAN CATHOLIC PROTESTANT, I told you so many times, you weasel

 

You should tell her not to get her hopes up, I heard Rasputin was lover to the Russian Queen.

But anyway, back on topic. I would say the changes wouldn't have to be that obvious or real life specific as long as they're commented on by the narrator/POV character, then that should give reader come cause to examine them more closely. Personally, though, I think it would be nice if she got a tattoo. They're mostly looked down on in Christian denominations-- including both Catholics and Protestants (but no one else)-- and would show her kind of freeing up and doing something shes wanted to do for a while but couldn't under her marital religious obligation.

 

I knew several people growing up that would say they were Christian. They were not (according to their church) Catholic, Protestant, etc. They were simply Christian and I know that there's been a revival of sorts of people saying that they're Christian, but not of any Christian religion because they follow the teachings of Christ and not of a subset of religious Christianity...which just makes the whole thing that much more confusing and a pain in the rear. I learned quickly to just nod my head and not engage in any sort of debate regarding Christianity.

On terms regarding church/chapel/etc., in the U.S. it varies and each branch of Christianity has their take on the word. What a pamphlet or paper calls its room of service can be a decent indicator as to what sect of Christianity a person follows. The same with what they call the service leader (i.e. priest, pastor, minister, etc.). [Which brings this post, at least somewhat, back to the original contents of this thread.]

 

The American way of doing things is just confusing.

It's bad enough keeping track of them over here with the Kirk, the Wee Free, the Episcopalians (aka Diet Coke Catholics) and the odd Roman Catholic whose ancestors found somewhere good to hide in 1746.

Having about a million little churches that are little more than one guy with a pointy shed and whose message is completely subject to his own reading comprehension must be a nightmare for folks of that persuasion.

 

LOL, quite true.

 

Check out the window of your nearest Catholic book and gift shop if your town has them? A rosary is always rather nice if unsubtle, maybe a couple of Lives of the Saints? (or if it's not too silly for your book, a souvenir or two from a recent visit by the Pope! - or of somewhere like Lourdes)

I remember seeing a TV doco years ago about these dear little (I think) Eastender ladies who went on a bus tour to such a place, and for some reason the scene that stuck in my head was them souvenir shopping, the one buying half a dozen matching but differently coloured porcelain Mary (rather kitschy, like Franklin Mint, but I like kitsch) figures which she thought would look so sweet on her windowsill...

 

An excellent idea in principle, and you've got some good details in your suggestion that I may use, but Catholic bookstores are few and far between where I live.



We do have a store just down the street that sells butsudan, Buddhist home altars

But seriously, I was originally planning to make the late husband Catholic and have the widow revert to her previous Protestant denomination, however @raine_d's suggestion (along with a couple others upthread) made me think (please, no one take offense) that Catholics are more likely to display things that specifically identify them as such than the Protestant denominations I'm familiar with. A wedding picture in a plain little chapel with an empty cross, but a house with a crucifix and maybe a Mary statue on the mantle would be a good clue for a reasonably sharp-eyed but non-Holmesian character to spot.

 

That makes sense, yes. I wish I could remember more about that TV show with the little old ladies, I'm sure their souvenir hunting would have been helpful...

 

That's true for everything though I will never understand the fascination that some English folks have for beans on toast.
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Rosaries are a really good idea. My mom has a few in her possession. She also has a crucifix, several stone angels (surprisingly cute), and a portrait (might be a stone one) of The Last Supper on display. I completely forgot about The Last Supper, but it's usually a very good sign that someone's Catholic (it's a pretty big deal from what I remember). Your ideas will probably be good enough to give away a change of faith. If you do decide to include a statue of Mary, try to include one of her holding baby Jesus because that's a fairly sentimental picture in Catholicism to the point that most churches and cathedrals have it.

 

Nah, they're not exclusive here. My Japanese friends say that, if he chose, Jesus would be more than welcome to become the eighth god on the boat:



The Japanese are the world's great syncretists. There's a manga, Saint Young Men, which Wikipedia describes as: