Dw i’n erych ymlaen dy weld ti yng Ngaernarfon, Gary. I’ll certainly drink your beer and buy you another - but maybe not for the whole party - Cardi ydw i 
I can’t promise to explain my whole position on religions in Welsh, though. Perhaps we’d better stick to Maths and Physics jokes. “Cerddodd mathemategwr a ffisegwr mewn bar …” 
Cardi eh? You’re not part-Scots from down that way then?!!! Looks like Aran may have to split this thread into a “How much are you looking forward to the Parti” one!! Hoping to meet Geraint there as well?!
Just reread your last post, especially the point about promulgating. You should feel comfortable enough in this SSiW environment to share anything you’d like to, without let or hindrance or nay-sayers etc and without personal remarks or attacks. No two people will think exactly the same, but we try hard on here to maintain freedom of speech and mutual respect. Quite a comfortable place to be, with a very light moderation. I will defend your right to feel comfortable as much as my own and in private, I will be the same.
I don’t have enough Cardi friends as it is, I’d like more!!
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You should feel comfortable enough in this SSiW environment to share anything you’d like to
I appreciate this reassurance, Gary but, if you don’t mind, I’d like to check out my post privately with you and @aran before going public. What I propose to do is to base my draft on some of the statements you have made in this thread. To be honest, a number of these statements even with the standard “only my opinion” disclaimers have made me feel uncomfortable and I have no wish to make you or anyone else feel the same. Please be patient. It will take me a few days but I will be explicit.
To any other followers of this thread, may I say that I have no wish to be mysterious. If my drafts are judged by the moderator @Garys and founder @aran as non-compliant with the forum’s rules, I shall still be willing to share them on a one to one basis by personal request only.
If it appears that I consider my views to have great value and interest, let me assure people that I really, really don’t. It’s just that I feel finally obliged “to put my money where my mouth is”
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I will read, if you write, and I am sorry if my nit-picking upset anyone. I now accept that atheism isn’t a faith! I’m not totally sure what is the difference between that and being an agnostic, since I presume it involves keeping an open mind? However, I don’t think you, Huw , should feel obliged to go into depth unless you want to.
@aran, am I right that you find discussion of religion a lot less contentious than politics? If so, I am surprised! 
No, you’re not. I find it every bit as contentious, and have been keeping a beady eye on this thread - and glad to see everyone working hard to make sure that they discuss this with friendliness and politeness…
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I’m not sure you should feel obliged to answer or argue against anything in my post, Huw - I’m not looking for anything other than the chance to discuss an issue. I shared something from my p.o.v. and I feel that you should be and to feel free just to express your view from your p.o.v. Too many “discussions” end up in argument and acrimony, which is exactly the opposite of the SSiW position. There’s no right and wrong here. I’ve never met you yet, and haven’t had a chance to get to know you at all, which is my bad fortune. I hope you feel confident that you can say whatever you want to, without worry. I also hope to learn something because we are the sum of our experiences in some ways and we all have had a different experience of life.
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It certainly is not in Welsh: anffyddiaeth ~ unfaithism
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Thanks, Louis. I like that. I think I’ll adopt it to descibe my own position. I just wish I could drop the “ism” bit, though. What if I just called myself an “anffyddwr”? 
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Would unfaithery be more suitable? 
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Anffyddiwr is definitely used…
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I’ve definitely heard that too.
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Hmmmmmmm…
About the whole religion thing - I was brought up a Christian. Church in Wales, at least twice every Sunday and occasionally thrice. Christened, confirmed, married, christened my own children, member of the church choir and so on. Several generations of my family have attended the same church - we’ve had many, many weddings and funerals there as well as my Mam being the warden and caretaker for a while, my Dad being the warden and doing some lay preaching in the vicar’s absence. In fact the vicar was a close family friend and my parents , Godparents to one of their children.
I love our little church. Parts of it date back to the 6th century. It’s beautiful and houses some wonderful roman remains and artefacts.
So do I go to church now and do I recognise myself as a Christian? No.
Don’t get me wrong, I was never brainwashed, never forced to attend. In fact, going to church for me was a very fulfilling experience. I felt welcome and loved. It was interesting and sometimes fun. We didn’t say grace before mealtimes and never prayed at bedtime - my parents let me find my own way.
But as I’ve grown, matured and spread my wings, I’ve realised exactly why I enjoyed the church so much. I Ioved the sense of occasion - dressing up in your Sunday best. I loved the social aspect - seeing friends and family. I loved the sense of belonging to a group of people who accepted me for who I was. I loved the story telling - who doesn’t, most of them were interesting and full of poignant messages (though some were a bit frightening). I loved the singing - still do, Welsh hymns are so beautiful. Our vicar was fun and never preached to us about our sins. I loved the readings - I found them very poetic, despite not always understanding the contents.
It was a part of our routine and our family tradition. Christmas, Easter and thanksgiving were always so much fun.
Then I left home and tried to go to church elsewhere (more than once) and failed to gain any enjoyment or sense of belonging from it at all. Then I had the wonderful experiences of living with and being friends with people from all different religions, faiths and backgrounds all over the world.
I had an amazing time with Catholics in Africa. Had a very interesting and colourful Rastafarian friend in college (who didn’t, right?). Had a very therapeutic and healing experience living with hippies in the Forest of Dean. I have lived next door to the most wonderful Muslims. Have lived with Buddhists and Hindus. I threw myself head first in to all the above experiences. I wore traditional dress (or nothing in the case of the hippies ), I ate traditional food, visited mosques and temples, prayed, worshipped and fully accepted all the religions had to offer.
It was a real learning curve which helped me greatly to ‘find myself’.
I would proudly define myself as a very spiritual person. I don’t believe in any particular God or Deity. I don’t believe in creation or life after death.
I do believe in humanism, in energy, in deep connections with nature. I love some of the stories in the bible as much as some of the stories of Hinduism and Buddhism, Welsh legends, Aesop’s fables, Grimm’s fairytales and so on. I believe in filling my children’s lives with magic and make believe as well as science.
Both my kids have a keen interest in astronomy, love the idea of evolution and have a frightening interest in ‘what happens when you mix these two fluids together?’ . They also believe in fairies and that plastic dinosaurs come alive each night throughout the month of November, to create havoc in our home. They love fiction and make believe as much as much as facts and figures. They love to explore reality versus truth and know that we are happy for them to believe in anything they want to.
We’ve had quite a few difficult deaths in our family in the last two years, which has raised many difficult discussions with Angharad and Beuno. Some days they like to believe that there is indeed a God and that our loved ones are ‘somewhere up there’. Other days they like to believe that out loved ones are stars/butterflies/fairies/just stuck in the ground.
Fort me it’s important they are free to explore and find their own way, Just as I have learnt to do.
(Just to add - I think that the religion I identify now more than any other is Buddhism. - though I don’t formally practice Buddhism. We celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter, we also celebrate Diwali and Halloween (to welcome the winter). We may yet add more celebrations to our list, religious or not. I find they make life interesting, colourful and multicultural.)
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A beautiful account Catrin, thank you.
Did you overdo Halloween? 
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I was brought up (in England) as a Catholic, but no longer practise or believe in that faith, or any other. However, a family member (knowing my interest in languages) sent me this link.
http://www.catholicnews.org.uk/Home/Podcasts/Advent-Podcasts-The-Lord-s-Prayer
They are doing a version of the Lord’s Prayer in a different language each day. They have covered Welsh, Irish and German, among others. Plenty more to go, apparently.
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Some while back, I posted a question about whether the Catholic mass was ever celebrated in Welsh. I did eventually find a copy of the text of the mass in Welsh, and found at least one place (in Cardiff) where mass is said in Welsh from time to time (once a week I think). There was also a Welsh-speaking Catholic bishop who seemed very active in Welsh culture, although I think he may be retired now. I realise that post-reformation Wales, especially Welsh-speaking Wales, is not especially associated with Catholicism, although interestingly, Saunders-Lewis apparently converted to it (not a popular decision, according to Wikipedia), and so did Gerard Manley-Hopkins (although he was actually English, although lived in Wales for a period , and learned Welsh. (He apparently applied the principles of Cynghanedd to his English poetry, and is said to have written verse in Welsh, though I haven’t found any online so far).
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I knew about a Greek Orthodox Church in north Wales , Blaenau Ffestiniog? Seemed very popular with the neighbours.
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My cousin’s “very hippified” and is one of my most favouritest people in the world. He likes Beltane so much he got married that day!
Back in the 70s, I remember Blue Peter covering Up-Helly-Aa on Shetland. I recently Googled it and it’s a strongly-supported tradition that is on my bucket list.
Catholicism saw a bit of resurgence in Wales (and the rest of Britain) during the 19th Century. Partly because the established church didn’t build new churches in the city centres or industrial areas. The Catholic Church and non-conformist movements spread throughout the working communities. This was partly fuelled by the arrival of the Irish too.
In England the English Martyrs became a bit of a 19th Century icon for this revival.
Just a bit of trivia for you
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Thanks Anthony. Very interesting. There was also “The Oxford Movement” during that time, and people like Newman (later Cardinal) converted to Catholicism. I live near Oxford, and even nowadays, if you look around the Anglican churches and some college chapels, and look at their service lists, a lot of it seems very “high”, so I think the influence was long-lasting. More recently, when a previous pope allowed Anglican priests who wished to to convert and become priests in the RC church (including married priests), Oxford seemed to be one of the centres of support. They were allowed to retain certain Anglican traditions, and just for interest, I went to an Evensong service celebrated by one of these priests in a Catholic church in Oxford. Evensong can be a beautiful service, and there seemed nothing quite like it in the normal Catholic tradition (at least not in any RC church that I’ve been a part of. Possibly there are equivalents in Cathedral or monastic churches).
It seems that it is done slightly differently in each country, probably for delicate “political”-type reasons, but this is what seems to apply in England and Wales:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Ordinariate_of_Our_Lady_of_Walsingham.
It appears that it hasn’t “taken off” as widely as had been hoped. (It could also be seen, somewhat cynically, as a bit of a “take over bid” by Rome, but perhaps we’d better not pursue that line. ).
It’s on our TV News up here every year! That, the Border Ridings and other local goings-on! I wouldn’t be surprised if the burning of an effigy of D. Trump didn’t become a custom near Aberdeen!! It’s like the Wickerman (festival now cancelled, I gather) and Stonehenge in mid-summer, most who go just go for the sights and crowds. Personally, I have always thought the Winter Solstice made more sense for a festival and rejoicing than the Summer. Joy at the return of light after the longest night, showing that life goes on! Fires and festivity!! Bit like Up Helly Aa!!!