The write to be heard!

Yes I do know that I'm not blogging as much as usual apologies, things are busy and a bit complex at the moment and I'm doing alot of non-blog related writing.

Anyway this article by Rowan Williams in the Daily Telegraph has encouraged me to a least drop a line to my blog and get enthused about the right to write! It's all about encouraging young people to write about the big issues of our time and to bring their fresh thinking to those questions:

If you believe that religious faith is one of the things that quite rightly gets people talking, for and against, it is important to help younger people make the connections between the issues of the day and the ideas and ideals associated with faith. They may want to argue furiously against it or they may discover that it has more to say to them than they expected. But it is wonderful when there is an environment in which those connections can be made.

Anyway looking at the titles for the essays sparked my itnerest and made me think that maybe some of us who are no longer under 21 should also apply ourselves these questions and get our grey cells thinking and our pens and key boards to pour out some creative approaches. After all isn't it a biblical call to become like little children?

Here's the list - which title do you want to write about? Maybe I should try one a week to get me back into the discipline of blogging.

Ages 13-15 (800 words maximum)

Must you be religious to be good?

Does God care about global warming?

The Bible says that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”. Can money make you happy?

What are school assemblies for?

God cares for the poor. How can people of faith demonstrate this care?

Ages 16-17 (1,500 words maximum)

How can one person improve the lives of the world’s poorest?

Why have chaplains in prisons?

Should politicians “do God”?

What’s the point of different religions talking to each other?

Ages 18-21(2,500 words maximum)

Is believing more important than belonging?

Does God believe in the existence of society?

What is “good news” for the poor? How can we be part of this?

Is environmentalism a new religion?

Who can enter

The competition is open to all people aged 13-21 on September 1 2010.

You should give the name of your school, college or university on the entry form if you have one, but you do not need to be a student to enter.

How to enter

Download an entry form from www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/3110 and send it with your completed essay to:

Faith in the World Competition, Lambeth Palace, London SE1 7JU.

Beginning my holiday reading ...

So as we tidy up (well sort of a bit) we come across not only books from recent book buying frenzies in Liverpool, London and elsewhere but also magazines that have been been received but not properly opened. For instance several issues of the New Statesman - which come addressed to me and only rarely gets opened by me and often seems to get "lost" in one of Dr B's bags or under a really not at all interesting computer magazine. (Yes, there are limits to my omnivore approach to reading - puter magazines are no longer it, though I did have a brief monthly fling years ago with PC World.)
In the prehistoric piling we also found September's Reform which I am enjoying reading in the late afternoon sunshine, in particular editor Kay Paris' interview with novelist Mailynne Robinson. I was moved by the penultimate question and response:

Q:There is great sadness in your novels. Religion doesn't bring happiness, but it does bring great dimension to the lives of its religious characters.
A:There is great sadness in life, for example at the inevitable end of great happiness, or in the frustration of profound love. Religion makes experience meaningful and sacred - or it expresses the fact that these things are true of experience properly understood. It does indeed add another dimension to experience.

I've been reading reviews and other interviews with Robinson following her recent Absence of Mind here and here and this quote struck a chord from Tim Teeman's interview:

What is her God, I ask ... Robinson looks briefly stumped. “I can write about it, but that’s a big question. The term ‘God’ has a big reality for me but that’s not to say it has definition.” Is “it” a rock? “Yes, but that doesn’t mean I am not vulnerable to everything in the same way as other people.” She had no image of God when growing up. “That never meant anything to me. I was too Protestant,” she laughs. “There are things that exceed language. God is one of those things, pre-eminently and utterly.”

Over on Faith and Theology Ben Myers does not seem so keen on Robinson's most recent novel Home. I hope to find time to read it myself soon. for now all this internet browsing is just whetting my appetite for the feast of reading and sleeping of the two weeks ahead. Here's a little more from Kay Paris' article, the whole of which should I hope be online in a few weeks time once September turns to October.

Marilynne Robinson was raised as a Presbyterian; she worships now as a Congregationalist and remains a staunch apologist for the ideas of John Calvin – particularly in relation to, on the one hand, his contribution to societal principles and culture, and on the other his understanding of the personal sense one can cultivate of the presence of God. “Perception is at the centre of Calvin’s theology… the great energy that rips galaxies apart also animates our slightest thoughts,” she said during a recent interview for Christianity Today – and it is for us to struggle endlessly between centering on this vision of God in the living of our lives, or giving in to self-centredness.

If Christian theme park is to offer "live resurrection" what on earth was resurrection before?

I've just read this report in the Guardian about Europe's first Christian theme park offering "live resurrections". And I just thought - that is just weird! Resurrection is about being alive, about the triumph of life - it's not about "enactment" or pretence. I started wondering what a dead resurrection would look like?

Anyway just a passing thought I suppose, as I get cross about themepark religion and realise how totall behind the times I am.

Anyway, I'm sure the person writing the headline about "live resurrection" had fun.

What does ABC mean to you?

So although I have blogged much less in recent weeks I have tried to add a few new links to my side bar. Really my blog should have a bit of an overhaul but honestly I'm not all that at house work in the real work so I see no reason to start trying to prove otherwise in the virtual world.
Anyway one of the links is to the new ABC Religion and Ethics site which is a place I could happily spend far too much time I suspect. I read about it first here on Ben Myers Faith and Theology and, because on the post he publicises it on there's a picture of Rowan Williams, I took the ABC to mean Archbishop of Canterbury, I was a bit flumoxed for a while! Anyway it is well worth checking out.

So what does ABC mean to you, any other acronyms out there?

Godless Britain - Rowan Williams, secularism and much more besides ...

Our clopy of the New Statesman usually arrives lat so I'm only just getting around to reading last week's copy now.
It's good read for folk like me who are both of the church and of the left. I particularly like the way some non-believers struggle with the "God-shaped hole". (Though I would like to point out that "Britain" is not a nation defined by the Church of England - in some of the writing you would think that the Church of England is also the established Church in Scotland!)

There's a good profile piece of Rowan Williams by Jonathan Derbyshire. Here are a few extracts:

The Archbishop's resistance to what he sees as attempts to consign religion to the margins of the public sphere is not merely "bloody-minded". On the contrary, it is grounded in deep and sustained reflection on the place of faith in modern liberal democracies.

Modern secular states take for granted what Williams regards as a partial and impoverished notion of citizenship. According to what one might call the "public philosophy" of liberal secular democracy, to be a citizen is, in his words, to "be under the rule of the uniform law of a sovereign state".

The problem with this idea of citizenship, for Williams, is that it is too narrow. It takes no account of the cultural and religious affiliations citizens might have above and beyond their status as legal subjects - or, at best, it relegates those other kinds of attachment or belonging to a private world. And that is especially problematic in ethnically, culturally and confessionally diverse societies. It risks, Williams argues, producing a "ghettoised pattern of social life", in which religious forms of "interest and reasoning" are treated as infra dig, and not given an airing in public debate about "shared goods and priorities".

Williams maintains that one of the consequences of religious interests being excluded in this way is a coarsening of political discourse. Religious perspectives can, he thinks, imbue the language of public deliberation with a "depth and moral gravity that cannot be gen­erated simply by the negotiation of . . . balanced self-interests".

Derbyshire together with James Macintyre have also produced an interview with Williams as part of this issue.

An english play about French colonialism, religion, tolerance and truth

I must get out more. More specifically I must get out to the theatre more. This review of a production by Peter Brook resonated with me over the weekend. Can't really say who but it was heartening to read that was thoughtful when writing abotu religion and not just boorishly negative. Sadly I don't hink I'll make it to London to see this before the end of the month but maybe Brook, who lives in Paris, will put on a production in France.

Although set in Mali 80 years ago, the story is filled with contemporary reverberations. It shows what happens when religion fails to accommodate dissent in the pursuit of sectional truths. It also topically shows the devastation wrought by uncomprehending European powers who impose their values on others: there is a bitter humour in the scene where the French induct the Africans into patriotic Gallic songs, or interrogate a Sufi leader as if a political subversive. But, in the end, the show is neither rancorous or bitter. It is about the limitations and the necessity of tolerance, and achieves a moving resolution as Tierno Bokar "goes to death as to a feast".

I also enjoyed reading this about an impromptu workshop with Brook, sounds like great fun.

Power or compassion - words from Paul Ricoeur

Paul Ricœur disait « Si vraiment les religions doivent survivre, il leur faudra renoncer à toute espèce de pouvoir autre que celui d’une parole désarmée et faire prévaloir la compassion sur la raideur doctrinale... »

Air, water, earth and fire

These photos come from the Stranzblog's correspondent in Brazil. Dr B is currently attending the World Forum on Theology and Liberation and these were taken at the opening meeting where dancers brought forward symbolic representations of the elements of air, fire, water and earth, and greetings being expressed to delegates by representatives of the region's indigenous and Afro-Brazilian religions. These four paintings representing the elements are at the front of the meeting hall.

Religion can influence parenting

My best friend Janet Lees was part of the multi-disciplinary group who produced the study 'Religion, beliefs and parenting practices' for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Janet was researcher to the project in the Department of Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield. Janet is a United Reformed Church minister and a speech therapist.
Even more amazing is that Janet handed in her Phd at the end of November, just a week before her fiftieth birthday. She's also had this book called Word of Mouth published with the Iona imprint Wild Goose in recent years and she's very involved in Vision4Life which is being launched in the URC this month.

Here are two quotes from the paper:
Britain is a multi-faith society whose population has become more culturally and religiously diverse in recent years. Some existing research studies have associated religious observance among parents with their children’s positive social development. However, terrorist attacks, the rise of 'Islamaphobia' and some high-profile child abuse cases within faith communities have resulted in negative publicity concerning the influences of religion on families.

Parents in the research saw the transmission of religious values as a way of providing direction for their children and creating a strong base on which they could build the rest of their lives. Most young people said they appreciated and respected their parents' values, even though they might eventually choose to hold different beliefs. They expected to make their own career choices, but recognised that parents had a contribution to make in influencing or advising them. Some also said there were career choices of which their parents would disapprove, especially if they were thought to involve religious taboos such as gambling, alcohol or indecent behaviour. In general, the idea of pursuing a religious vocation did not appear to attract the young participants, although some thought it would please their parents.

Credo tweet meme for a dozey blogger

It is not surprising given my complete unsportiness that the first time I get invited to play blog tag, I'm too dozey, unfit and stressed out to even notice! I never was all that good at tag even in the play ground. Anyway the splendid and irrepressible David Ker over on Lingamish has launched a great challenge to write a credo in the 140 signs you get for a Twitter post. So far late at night in my dozey state I've managed one in English and one in French.
As I was doing this I began to wonder whether I believe rather differently when I'm thinking in French ... this was quite a challenging thought - I think I believe God is "tout en tout" more than I believe God is "all in all" - tout en tout means something to me at a more profound level. Also the idea of God being "le tout Autre" is something more difficult to express in English. So these two versions are not translations just attempts at saying something I believe in each language.

Anyway the rules of the meme are to link to David's post and to tag five more people so I tag Roger Schmidt (and anyone else on the LWF youth blog who wants to join in), Georgina, Annie, Rachel and Lac19 (I'm not allowed to link to his blog because ... well it's complicated but hey that's life). And I think folk should write in whatever language they like, David even allows sms language so go for it!
Meanwhile David has now moved on to encouraging folk to take the Beliefomatic test on belief net. Not sure that I found it that edifying myself but tests are quite fun - we somehow hope to discover something about ourselves.
Before giving you my Twitter credo I should admit that every time I have tried to sign up for it I have failed miserably. If you have any tips on that then do let me know - maybe it's the converted Azerty keyboard ...

I believe in God
all in all
Eternal compassion, wisdom and judgement
Incarnate and risen amongst us
Calling us
to love one another
care for creation
be peacemakers.

Je crois en Dieu
Tout en tout
et tout autre
Compassion , sagesse et jugement
Incarné et réssucité parmi nous
Il nous appelle à oeuvrer pour un royaume de paix et de l’amour

Living a hidden or epic life - Michael Piret's reflections for All Saints day

Michael Piret of Magdelen College Oxford gave a fine reflection for All Saints Day on Radio 4's Prayer for the Day. Taking up themes from George Eliot's wonderful book Middlemarch, Piret spoke about epic and ordinary human lives, saying that perhaps a tomb of an unknown saint should also be built, like the tomb of the unknown soldier, in celebration of ordinary lives.
The heroine of Middlemarch is Dorothea Brooke and Piret ended his meditation by quoting part of the last paragraph of the book (in my copy this is on page 896!) in celebration of the majority of us who try to somehow faithfully live our "hidden lives". Here's a slightly longer extract:
But we insignificant people with our daily words and acts are preparing the lives of many Dorotheas, some of which may present a far sadder sacrifice than that of the Dorothea whose story we know.
Her finely touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

Today I give thanks for all the saints, particularly those whose hidden lives I am privileged to share in the here and now. I also give thanks that a guardian angel was watching over one of those hidden lives so effectively earlier this week.

If you click on this link you can get to the "listen again"page of all this week's prayer for today. The others this were all Hindu reflections on Divali by Shaunaka Rishi Das. Be warned though, the beginning of each podcast tends to be the announcer telling you what happened on this day in history - today for instance was the day Michael Angelo first unveiled the Sistine chapel. His was not a hidden life.
But as I reflect on epic and hidden lives I also wonder about our modern obsession with so-called celebrity, our seeming need to claim everything as epic, and our incapacity to value and encourage ordinary hidden lives as meaningful. Somehow the saintly path is to aspire to become more godly and more truly ourselves. Yet a recent OECD report about poverty in Britain pointed to the wealth gap narrowing but to the "hello" magazine culture making people feel poor as they compare what they have with what the mega-rich have.

So will finding more meaning in our extraordinary, wonderful ordinary hidden lives help us feel more satisfied - not only with what we have but what we are? (Ah, preacher heal thyself!)

Religion in the public sphere

If you click here you can read the report of the Church and Society Commission of the Conference of European Churches - it's called Religion in the Public Sphere.
CEC's Church and Society Commission represents the concerns of the churches to the European institutions in both Brussels and Strasbourg, there are interesting articles on Ageing and euthanasia, religion in the public sphere and intercultural dialogue in the 2007 edition.
Today the CEC central committee received an update on the Commission's work.
In the current financial crisis you the reflections here from the Commission on socially ethical investment and the churches are interesting. Given the current crisis the need for thinking ethically about how churches invest is a key issue if we want to try and change the culture of subprime investment.
I was also given pause for thought during the report at the ever decreasing level of voter participation in European elections, mentioned in this context as a challenge to the churches. How do we get people to be more involved in and enthused by politics and civil society at all levels? What needs to happen for people to connect to a sense of responsibility for institutions, and how do the institutions need to change to make that possible?

An evening at the Bern House of Religions

This evening participants at the Promised Land conference will be attending a public event at the Bern House of Religions. Words of greeting will be given by Bern's Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities.

Fantasy religion?

When general elections loom in Great Britain the New Statesman magazine begins "fantasy politics". For the moment despite the meltdown in recent local elections of my beloved Labour Party the UK is not yet facing a general election. And just in case there is any doubt David Cameron is on my nightmare list rather than the fantasy list and there's a special place reserved in one of Dante's circles of hell for Tony Blair, now he's become a Roman Catholic that should suit him fine. I suppose it's fortunate for Blair I don't believe in hell really.
Based (I think) on fantasy football - in which you choose your favourite football team from all the available talent - fantasy politics has a non-party approach to nominating your favourite - and it is hoped most competent - people for the various top jobs to create a government cabinet. Historical and geographical variations on the main theme can also be played - thus even dead people can be nominated in the historical game and in the geograpahical game even those not eligible to be elected (ie foreign nationals for British, French or Brazilian elections etc) can be proposed for the top jobs - the great thing is you can play this for any country - I'll check before I post this to see whether there is a fantasy US presidential politics or maybe even a fantasy European Commission. (OK ok it would seem that fantasy football may have started in the US about American football - as opposed to football for the rest of the world:)
However, recently I've been wondering about fantasy religion. Partly it was Tom Heneghan's Faithworld blog about speculation hotting up about the next candidates for Pope. Don't worry I'm not going to suggest we play fantasy Pope or fantasy conclave just yet.

This is fantasy religion - what do you want in your religion. It's not about personalities, it's about issues and qualities.

So here are the rules:
- five qualities you want in your religion;
- which religion you think currently best has that quality;
and you're not allowed to vote for any religion more than twice.

So here I think are my five for today:
For a profound sense of the holiness and otherness of God - Judaism and Islam
For a deep understanding of change and decay - Buddhism
For a real connection to mother earth - indigenous religion, paganism, Celtic Christianity
for life triumphing death and evil - Christianity
for scholarly endeavour and questioning in faith -- Reform Judaism

So what are the qualities you want in your fantasy religion and in which religion do you see them?

Because your questions have meaning...

It's French spiritual and religious book month this March.
Because your questions have meaning

"I'm looking for books which answer my questions ... about the meaning of life ... why I'm on this earth ... why..."

"Well here you'll also find what you're not looking for."

Answers available at your bookshop!