Not divisive - but insights we can share with other religions and non-religions

MANY thanks to the anonymous writer of last week’s letter (‘Evolutionary thinking has taken on the role of a religion’ 26th April 2017), and the quotation from Julian Huxley’s ‘Religion without Revelation’.

That little book made a profound impression on me in 1951 and influenced my offering myself for ordination in the Church of England three years later.

I agreed with Huxley’s words (p 110) ‘The religious attitude of mind, which demands a reverent approach to reality, is necessary if the best use is to be made of human life’. As a Christian and a follower of St Francis I wanted to be a part of such a development, and I still do.

I love science, and all its amazing discoveries and inventions. It helps us understand the world better and enriches our lives. And I love the religions of the world for their insights, helping us live more loving, kind and compassionate lives.

Our human nature, the wonderful product of evolution, is prone to false pride, love of power, cruelty, fear and hatred, and neither science nor reli- gion is immune; but science and religion, together with art, music and poetry, are vital resources in the responsibility we must take for our history and the future of our planet.

During this season of Easter I’ve been thinking a lot about the meaning of the Risen Christ. Is it just about a mysterious (almost magical) event nearly 2 000 years ago, or was it always about a new birth into a richer attitude to life (as Jesus is quoted in St John’s Gospel ‘I am come that they might have life, and might have it more abundantly’). I’m very fond of Sydney Carter’s songs (‘Lord of the Dance’ and ‘When I needed a neighbour were you there’ are two of them), and particularly one that starts ‘Your holy hearsay is not evidence’. It goes on to say ‘Show me how the Christ you talk about is living now.’

It is important that we tell the story of Jesus, who lived, died and rose again for us; but much more important that we live his risen life. In the world’s needs and in caring lives is where the living Christ is to be found. Then the contribution of Christianity to our world is not a divisive claim to a supernatural truth, but insights we can share with the other religions and non-religions of all people who care for the common good.

As William Blake wrote ‘For Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love, / is God our Father dear; / and Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love / is Man, his child and care.’ David Paterson, Gladstone Avenue, Loughborough