God of small things

I don’t usually read articles about religion, but the columnist I most admire, Richard Morrison, has done it again with an excellent article (link at foot of post).

"Faith is taking a bit of a bashing, isn’t it? The Muslim teacher’s “inappropriate” veil, the check-in attendant’s “offensive” cross, the “indoctrinating” tendency of faith schools: all these have been mercilessly kicked around in media circles. Plus the general inference from breathtakingly confident atheists such as Richard Dawkins that wars would end and the world’s most pressing problems be solved if only people would desist from being so primitive and religious.

Which puts me in an awkward position. I am what is oddly known as a “practising Christian”, though in my case practice seems to make increasingly imperfect. Still, I go to church, which puts me in a rather small minority among my colleagues in this irreverent trade. But until now I have never felt the slightest desire to write about my faith. First, it’s nobody else’s business. Secondly, I am a pretty selective sort of Christian, since I have absolutely no interest in pursuing the question of whether there’s life after death — or at least not until after I’m dead. And thirdly, flaunting one’s spiritual beliefs is not a very English thing to do."

Morrison admires the Church of England for its non-docrtinaire, tolerant position (or wooliness as it is often termed). He goes on to say that the media’s faith-bashing "will drive a wedge between Britain’s white majority, who are now largely non-religious, and its ethnic minorities, who mostly live in communities glued by a shared faith"; and also, that it means that "all religious activity gets tarred with the same brush — that, by constantly drawing attention to the evils occasionally inflicted in the name of God, we jeopardise the good things that faith communities do, and humiliate sincere, thoughtful believers. "

I highly recommend reading the complete article at the link. You can also post comments there.

Link: What the sneering legions of atheists need to remember – Comment – Times Online.