# Do you know the Apostle's Creed from memory? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 6, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649 "2018-12-06T02:35:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/21 "2018-12-06T05:11:14Z")
The what? ---
**Author:** ![CharmaChameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@CharmaChameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CharmaChameleon)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/22 "2018-12-06T05:12:21Z")
Raised “nothing” or “non-denominational”. No creeds there. Southern Baptist 1974-2011. No creeds there; nothing formal anyway. Presbyterian Church in America since 2011. We use the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene, parts of the Athanasian from time to time, and other confessions (Heidelberg and Belgic at times). The most fun I ever had with a Creed was singing first desk tenor in college performing Bruckner’s Mass No. 2 in e-minor. The Kyrie was extremely difficult with all the minor second intervals and extremely long “hold times”. The **Credo** was glorious, and the Gloria wasn’t half bad. Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei properly should be denoument (in my opinion), but maybe that’s just because I was so physically worn out by the end of the Credo. I think I had to replace my tuxedo after that performance, on account of “some sweat just doesn’t dry clean out.” The only thing I regret about the performance was that the U of North Alabama didn’t supply the small wind band for accompaniment as Bruckner wrote the piece. Our pianist was up to the challenge, and God bless him for his expertise and artistry. Sometimes at Church I’d rather say the Creed (whichever is used) in Latin, on account of the fact that it just seems more “right”. English works, as does German. If you have about 45 minutes, try it here: [https://youtu.be/hqZf0HWTg2s](https://youtu.be/hqZf0HWTg2s). Kyrie ends at 9:15, Gloria at 15:30, and Credo at 26:02. ---
**Author:** ![Dobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Dobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dobbs)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/23 "2018-12-06T05:20:35Z")
Because there is no option for ‘is that a church thing?’, let me say, is that a church thing? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/24 "2018-12-06T05:23:45Z")
Atheist, raised Southern Baptist, couldn’t have told you a single word of it (or even the broadest outline of what it is supposed to be about) if my life literally depended on it. I’ve probably seen the term before, but had forgotten about it entirely until seeing reports about Trump not saying it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/25 "2018-12-06T05:24:10Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > The what? The guy who fought Rocky in the first movie. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/26 "2018-12-06T06:15:08Z")
Raised Lutheran and had to learn it from memory for confirmation. I converted to Catholic and since we use the Nicene Creed I half forgot the Apostle’s Creed (and how short it is). I tried to remember the words as they said it at Bush’s funeral and got it only partly right. BTW in the Roman Catholic church it is also lowercase catholic. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/27 "2018-12-06T06:26:38Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Atheist, raised Southern Baptist, couldn’t have told you a single word of it (or even the broadest outline of what it is supposed to be about) if my life literally depended on it. Same, except I’m an atheist who was raised by atheists. I have no fucking idea what it even is supposed to be( as a thing )without looking it up on google. **senoy** ’s quote helped not even a little bit - zero exposure, zero familiarity. ETA: Did make me think of Apollo Creed from **Rocky** , though. Was his name supposed to be some allusion to the Apostle’s Creed? Because if so that sailed right over my head until just now. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/28 "2018-12-06T06:40:35Z")
Catholic, though it’s been a while. I’m not sure I could have cold started it but I’d certainly be able to follow along at a service. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/29 "2018-12-06T08:55:45Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I’m fudging because I stumble a bit – Catholics tend to recite the Nicene Creed a lot more. That’s what I thought. Episcopalians recite the Apostle’s Creed. I was an Episcopalian acolyte once upon a time, confirmed by [Bishop James Pike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Pike) himself. I was already an agnostic, so lying every time I recited the Creed — but one chooses one’s battles carefully. Ask me this question 50 years ago, after I’d recited it several hundred times, and I’d have known every word. But after all this time I thought I did OK just now, stumbling through about half of it. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/30 "2018-12-06T10:26:18Z")
Agnostic raised by agnostics - can’t do the whole thing from memory but have been to church enough (ah, the joys of being a professional chorister) that it would only take a mild prodding to bring it back. That said, all the church services I’ve been to have had it printed in the program (or whatever the printed order of service is called) so I’ve never had to remember it. And the wording has sometimes varied slightly from church to church. With regard to the Bush service, I note from the photos that everyone does appear to be reading it apart from those (_ahem_) who aren’t even bothering. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/31 "2018-12-06T11:01:18Z")
Atheist, raised by vaguely Christian non-churchgoers. I’m aware of the concept and some of the words but I couldn’t have recited the whole thing, and I had no idea it wasn’t quite the same as the Nicene Creed. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/32 "2018-12-06T11:04:42Z")
Atheist: Never heard of it until this thread. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/33 "2018-12-06T11:13:30Z")
^ I’m with pullin ^ ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/34 "2018-12-06T11:30:59Z")
Raised fundamental Protestant — didn’t hear about it in church, and if I ever encountered it in books, magazines, or television it did not register. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/35 "2018-12-06T12:21:12Z")
I was raised a Catholic and I can not only recite the Apostles’ Creed from memory, I can recite the Nicene Creed from memory (it’s longer) and even chant it. In Latin. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/36 "2018-12-06T13:00:42Z")
Yup. Raised United Methodist in a church that said it often enough I memorized it unintentionally. Presently attending a United Methodist church that doesn’t say it very often. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/37 "2018-12-06T13:18:37Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Atheist: Never heard of it until this thread. Yes. But on the plus side, I can still recite “Jabberwocky” from memory. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/38 "2018-12-06T13:27:26Z")
Raised Catholic, now Agnostic, can recite the first line and pick up the rest with a few words to key me. Always seems to be longer when I was little… ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/39 "2018-12-06T13:46:46Z")
I’ve heard it multiple times, and could remember bits and pieces when prompted, but having only been in church a dozen times or so I don’t have it memorized. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/40 "2018-12-06T13:52:03Z")
I’m an atheist and have only been to a church service once or twice, I didn’t know what it was. When I’m at funerals and such, during prYers like that, I usually just bow my head and try to follow along and be respectful. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649.md?page=3)