Hello Hospitaller!

Adm has asked that this go to private messaging. Quite frankly I have no interest in doing that unless you would like to. My question was one of semantics, not individual religious beliefs.

Why you are interested in what a group of former Calvinists would think about some modern ceremony is beyond me. But you are wrong in saying that the words involved, "anathema" and "adiaphora", have changed meaning. These words were in common usage prior to Calvin, just examine the Lutheran and Roman Catholic writings. And they had specific meanings, which I mentioned in my first post. You are incorrect when you say that "they" would have used "anathema" in the sense of "more in the spirit of 'against the teachings of the church'.

When Calvin used anathema he meant "damn to hell". Methinks thou dost protest too much.

In kilted friendship, Matt