argyle said:
Falastur said:
argyle said:
It's just tradition for no reason.
I could say the exact same about City wearing sky blue. Perhaps we should change kit colours?
Yes you probably could say that about City wearing sky blue, you do know that City haven't always worn sky blue!!
Yes. I've read Gary James and Paul Toovey's books on City's early history. I'm the guy who makes the little City kit graphics on Wikipedia if you ever go on any of our pages there, and I've made graphics for the 1884 black kit with white cross pattee (not a Maltese cross as many claim), for the 1887 navy blue and white stripes, for the 1890 quartered sky blue and white, for the 1892 white shirt with navy blue shorts. I could go on.
Anyway, I don't see your point. Abide With Me wasn't sung at the 1872 FA Cup Final either, so the parallels with my City kit comment continue. In fact, there's an interesting point. The 1884 black kit with white cross pattee is almost worshipped on this forum like Colin Bell himself, and while we don't know the origins of the cross (some say it's Masonic for example) a lot of people, rightly or wrongly, claim it's to do with our founding as a church youth group. But that's a strong religious link, isn't it? So I take it that if I asked your opinions on that black kit, you'd say you oppose it because of the cross and, even more, you think we should turn our back on our early history because it contains strong links to the church?
My point is, lots of things happen for one reason and then their significance is lost. I suspect that if you - or any of the other atheists here who oppose singing Abide With Me - were to look at the various curses you say in a given week, a fair few of them would contain the word "God", and yet despite saying that word straight up, few people think of the way that the curse originally implied directly invoking the support of a deity. And that's fine. A person's religious beliefs are their own choice, I don't disagree with that. But what can originate as a religious tradition does not have to continue as one. Abide With Me carries a lot of resonance in a non-religious way for a lot of people, as this own thread has shown, and it has what? 100 years of tradition behind it, just like our wearing sky blue does. I say just accept it for what it is, support the tradition, and if you don't like the religious significance then don't sit there thinking about the words. Use it as an opportunity to remember friends lost, or enjoy the moment as an important part of the build-up to what could be a very important moment in our history.
OK, sermon over. I'm going back into my hole now.
