Re: Remember "Bit-Slice" Chips ?

On Sun, 15 Dec 2024, rbowman wrote:

On Sat, 14 Dec 2024 23:21:30 +0100, D wrote:
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In the few protestant services I remember from my childhood (my mother
was religious, my father not) there was plenty of singing. Afterwars,
there would sometimes be coffee and cake.

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I don't recall ever going to church with my mother. The whole thing was
sprung on me at a late date. During Boy Scout Week they made a big deal
about going to church with your family and I asked the fatal question
'What's church?'

We each have our crosses to carry! ;) I remember that my mother thought it was very important that I should become confirmed at around age 15 or so. I was against it, but after a lot of poking and prodding and begging in order to please my grand parents who were religious as well, I finally agreed to attend. So basically it was like a discussion club with philosophical themes with a bit of jesus snuck in here and there.
I still remember strongly when we were discussing marriage, and the priest asked me who I wanted to marry? I said Bill Gates, because he is a billionaire, and I'd be set for life!
The priest was silent for a few seconds, coughed, and moved on to the next student.
This was in the happy and innocent pre-woke days. Todays priests wouldn't even blink, and the swedish church I think allow gay weddings, in contradiction to their own book, and generally there are some priests who don't even believe in god, but they like the job and the "philosophy" so there we are.
Talk about diluting their tradition completely. I have very little respect for the swedish church. I _do_ respect religions, who stand by their ancient books and fairytales in stroke woke winds. At least they have some self-respect. ;)

To complicate matters my mother had been divorced so my father
theoretically was excommunicated for marrying her. So they enrolled me in
the Catholic First Communion class and my father dutifully took me to
Mass. I would have thought it a raw deal to be dragged out of bed Sunday
morning while my mother read the papers so she started going to the Dutch
Reformed church.  The communion class did not go well when the nun asked
me to recite on of the Ten Commandments and realized I didn't even know
there were Ten Commandments let alone knowing a specific one. 'You're a
little heathen!' She didn't know how right she was.
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One summer they sent me to the Reformed summer bible school to keep me out
of trouble. That wasn't so bad since the Methodists had a beach and picnic
area that other churches could use.
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The real difference was the Reformed were Calvinists and not much on fun.
They would have bake sales to raise money. Meanwhile on the other end of
town the Catholics were running Las Vegas Nights and Bingo. The priest was
into horses so there was an annual horse show that attracted many people
on the horse show circuit. The church also had a stable and a horse, Ace
of Spades.
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In my extended family some were Catholics, some were Protestants, and the
kids tended to be baptized Catholic j.i.c. they might need to produce a
certificate later in life for a marriage etc. Those who were really
religious were treated gently, like a nice, but dim-witted cousin.
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