Wise President

If Mr Obama is wise

and if  the pressure groups behind him are not overpowering,

and if those  in the USA who really want  the  world not to disintegrate will now stand up and say so

and if the United States really wants to  survive for this century as a real union,

then there will  be no military intervention in Syria.

                      But perhaps

                          all that is asking too much.

Earth Renewal

Why are there so many public pronouncements and so much public argument about the morality of what we do in private life  and so few about  the morality of what governments and big business and  armies do ? A lot of talk about gay marriage – or gay people – and little about drones and invasions, and banks tempting us to spend beyond our means ?

There is one explanation that Christians might  find unwelcome .  Jesus Christ  made clear what his followers should do – renew the face of the earth, change its habits, obey law but don’t let law overcome generosity; the world needs changing and you can change it – it will need  vigour and wisdom that are superhuman, even  divine, certainly,  but it can be done just because that superhuman , divine vigour and wisdom are  available. So these Christians set out into the broad world happy and willing, full of confidence in the  divine power they had inherited. And  some of them believed the world as they knew it was going to end soon and therefore their task was to make sure it was renewed soon and  fit to end gloriously.

Then they got a taste of Corinth. And Rome. And Athens ;  of sailors in  Mediterranean harbours wary not to be caught in the cargo investment scams or lost in leaky boats, Athenians who said, We must talk to you again sometime, but declined to talk now, Galatians who still fought with each other  even after they became Christians, the power of emperors and kings who could kill with a word not because people were bad but because they were good. These Christians  did their best to renew the face of the earth, but did many of them  lose courage and narrow their view not of what should be done but of what could be done with such a world plagued as it was with so many things going wrong,   and worse,  so many things wilfully made to go wrong?

If the conversion of the world in so short a time was too daunting , though, the ideal of personal perfection was still there and Christians held on to it. Some went to desert places to achieve personal holiness – it was as if they had taken a long sad look at the world and said, All I can do for you is go away  and pray for you. For them the concept of retreating from the world took the place  of staying in with the world , to become  holy apart rather than  with common effort. The scholar Jerome looked for a deserted place, translated scriptures and urged intense personal holiness, he was one  retiring Christian genius among many.

Looking at what is happening today one can understand their dilemma. And in any case , conversion of the world begins with the conversion of oneself.  That might explain why some Christians  seem to be afraid of  what they call a “social gospel” and who sometimes rebuke their fellow Christians with being more concerned with  social action than with individual beliefs. Right through the history of Christianity there runs   the idea  not only that there is  a struggle between good and evil out there in the markets and  harbours and even  in homes, but there is a struggle inside each person and perhaps that should be dealt with first. Or only. Whether early on with Manichaeism or later with Jansenism or now with the idea of the world, the flesh and the devil winning , this war between good and evil has to be waged, it is said,  between the spirit and the flesh in each person . And therefore….where do we start? Perhaps, though,if  the war starts  there it may end there  too, and the face of the earth may stay unrenewed. Maybe. Maybe.

On the other hand, it is an old lesson in old Scriptures that even an angry God will spare a whole city if there is even a handful of good people in it. And that thought must have made many a tired Christian heave a sigh of relief and leave off despairing.  

Clearly it still does.

Feile

One of the events in Féile an Phobail ( The West Belfast People’s Festival) was a discussion open to anyone wishing to speak.

About God. Or about No God if they so wished.

The Reason?

To get step by step to the point where people can speak their minds and be treated with courtesy at all times , in all places, about anything and everything.

And also, although people are sceptical about this, because neither those who believe God exists nor  those who believe God does not exist are using their best arguments in public discussion. But they should. A look at the books shows it, and listening to radio and television discussion about religion underlines it to the point of exasperation.

Why the fuss about best arguments? Flabby arguments do nobody any good.  There are strong – and dignified – arguments to be made for so many things but if we discuss only the flabbiest of them our  intelligence and mental work get flabby too, because we don’t  need anything better. But given a strong, dignified and able opposition or questioning , the strength and validity of our own arguments get sharper and sharper. Without  questioning and objection, we  may get away with a lot but some day when faced with a really questioning mind and someone who really wants to know what we are on about, we may have nothing to offer, whichever side we are on.

It was a mistake for political parties and churches – and even, unhappily, universities – to try to ignore or get rid of  inquiring minds. Human beings are inquiring beings, it is part of our nature , whatever is there we want to know about it, and whatever is not there we don’t want to pretend is there. Nobody in his or her senses wants to believe in something or someone that  doesn’t exist.

However, we have a problem. Every time  people get to the point of discussing real issues, in politics, economics, religion for instance, somebody else creates a diversion. it may be a parade here, a false crisis there, a diversion into a side issue or a side street, a tactic  the ancient Romans knew about and used cunningly, just enough bread and more than enough   circuses to keep  people occupied and not too serious.  We too have had  all that on an international scale. The Cold War and the War Against Terror were and still are part of that scene. We think ruefully how much intellectual vigour , how much worldly wealth , how many lives we   spent  at the behest of leaders who brought   us on such crusades. As if  wrongdoing  in one system meant an  opposing  system just had to be good, or as if like a modern Don Quixote, you  could wage war  against an Ism and make believe it was not against  people .

Maybe we  don’t like the idea of “giving a platform” to our opponents, but we may  be doing both them and ourselves a favour. One of the many good things Féile an Phobail has done is show we have nothing to be afraid of  from listening to other people’s ideas.

In this as in most things we need each othe