[merrylander]

I grew up in a Union church simply because the village was too small for all the protestant denominations to afford individual places of worship. We did not even have our own clergyman but 'borrowed' the United Church minister from across the river.

In Canada the United church came about by a merger of the Methodists and about 80 - 90 percent of the Presbyterians. My parents were very active in the church, possibly to the point that the expression "the willing horse does all the work" originated there. Heck, my copy of the Bible is inscribed "For perfect attendance".

My experience since those days has disabused me of any great love or respect for "Organized" religion as the organization seems to have become more important than the message. So we describe ourselves merely as christians, without the capital C. BTW Florence was raised in the Roman Catholic church but at the time of our marriage expressed no desire for a church wedding, so we had a civil service.