Blogging the Qur’an day…

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So, Terry Jones has suspended his decision to burn a pile of Korans on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre. (if you missed his madness- see here.)

His stated motivation for calling off the burning was because he had received assurances from and Imam that a planned opening of a Mosque close to the site of the atrocity was being reconsidered. Thankfully, this does not seem to be the case- after all, what better place would there be for a Mosque in this age of religious division and warfare?

In response to all this, Andrew Jones (alias Tall Skinny Kiwi) called for people to blog verses from the Koran as a way of encouraging understanding and tolerance between the faiths. A much better thing to do to commemorate the terrible loss of life that happened on September the 11th, 2001.

As a friend of mine said, there is some scary stuff in the Koran- as there is in the Bible.

But there is also much that is beautiful.

So here are my verses-

Not all of them are alike: Of the People of the Book are a portion that stand (for the right); they rehearse the Signs of Allah all night long, and they prostrate themselves in adoration. They believe in Allah and the Last Day; they enjoin what is right, and forbid what is wrong; and they hasten (in emulation) in (all) good works: They are in the ranks of the righteous. Of the good that they do, nothing will be rejected of them; for Allah knoweth well those that do right (3:113-115 AYA).

And unto thee (Muslims) have We revealed the Scripture (the Qur’an) with the truth, confirming whatever Scripture was before it, and a watcher over it. So judge between them by that which Allah hath revealed, and follow not their desires away from the truth which hath come unto thee.

Nearest among them in love to the Believers wilt thou find those who say, “We are Christians”: Because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant (5:85 AYA/82 MP).

What is going on here?

It is difficult for people outside a faith tradition to make pronunciations on Scripture, so all I will say is that these verses would suggest that followers of the Prophet are not placed in enmity of their Jewish and Christian brothers by the book- rather they are placed in a position of respect. Honesty, piety and humility are regarded as signs of the presence of God.

Ancient Persian poets…

For those of you who have never read any of the Sufi poets, can I suggest that these too might be a way of engaging with the rich traditions of searching for the Divine that forms the bedrock of Islam.

This is ancient poetry that flowed around a culture as a source of spirituality and wisdom.

There are a few hints of this beautiful tradition below-

Rumi.

Say who I am

I am dust particles in sunlight
I am the round sun.

To the bits of dust I say, stay.
To the sun, keep moving.

I am morning mist,
And the breathing of evening.

I amwind in the top of a grove
and surf on the cliff.

Mast, rudder, helmsman and keel.
I am also the coral reef they founder on.

I am a tree with a trained parot in its branches.
Silence, thought and voice.

The musical air coming through a flute
A spark off a stone, a flickering
in metal. Both candle
and the moth crazy around it.

Rose and the nightingale
lost in the fragrance.

I am all orders of being, the circling galaxy,
the evolutionary intelligence, the lift
and the falling away. What is
and what isn’t.

Sanai.

Streaming (excerpt)

When the path ignites the soul,

there is no remaining in place

The foot touches the ground,

but not for long

The way where love tells its secret

Stays always in motion

And there is no you there, and no reason

The rider urges his horse to gallop

and so doing, throws himself

under the flying hooves

In love-unity there’s no old or new

Everything is nothing

God alone is

Attar.

The Newborn

Muhammed spoke to his friends
about a newborn baby, “This child
may cry out in its helplessness,
but it doesn’t want to go back
to the darkness of the womb

And so it is with your soul
when it finally leaves the nest
and flies out into the sky
over the wide plain of a new life.
Your soul would not trade that freedom
for the warmth of where it was.

Let loving lead your soul.
Make it a place to retire to,
A kind of monastery cave, a retreat
for the deepest core of your being

Then build a road
from there to God

Let every action be in harmony with your soul
and its soul-place, but don’t parade
those doings down the street
on the end of a stick!

Keep quiet and secret with soul-work.
Don’t worry so much about your body.
God sewed that robe. Leave it as it is.

Be more deeply courageous.
Change your soul.”

Divisions in the Catholic Church…

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On the eve of the Pope’s state visit to Britain, I thought it might be helpful to give some thought to an overview of the Roman Catholic church in these islands…

It has not been an easy time for the old Church- child abuse scandals, involvement of priests in terrorism in Ireland and some rather difficult pronouncements by the Pope, who appears to be intent on winding back a lot of progressive forces within the wider church.

There was a really helpful programme on Radio 4 yesterday morning, which I tried to listen to on my drive to Bute. I say ‘tried’ as you lose radio signal at different parts of the route.

However, you can listen to it all here.

The programme is particularly helpful as it was clearly made from an inside perspective- through discussion with real people- lay and clergy- who represent the wide spectrum of positions within the Church.

Well worth a listen in particular for those of us who are not familiar with some of the tensions present within this venerable old institution- from those who would take the Church back to before Vatican II, right through to those who see the future of the Church as needing to respond to a changing world on all sorts of issues, from homosexuality, to woman priests and a change on totemic issues like contraception.

Incidentally, there was great hilarity in our house this week, as we realised that our wonderful 10 year old son had been mishearing our pronunciation of the word ‘Pope’. Somehow whenever he had heard the title of the Pontiff, he had thought that the word being used was ‘Poke’. Chuckle.

Burning holy books…

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So, some mad pastor who leads a church of 50 people in Florida (rather fatuously called the ‘Dove world outreach centre‘) has raised a political storm over his ‘International burn a Koran day‘.

Apparently God told him to do it.

Check him out (Is that President Bush behind him in the picture being supported by the heavenly angels?)

Their website seems to be down, but there is a whole lot more nonsense on this Facebook page.

What is significant is not that some people are bonkers enough to think that this is a good thing to do- even a Christian thing to do- but rather that we live in times that such an act might be so inflammatory as to require statements by the President of America, our Prime minister, the Pope and many others.

There will always be idiots like Terry Jones. People who believe that their perspective comes straight from God. They are dangerous only in as much as they can be seen as an extreme version of a much wider world view that is prevalent across conservative Christianity.

I fear that this is true. Anyone who has spent time in conservative evangelical circles will be used to descriptions of anything that is not overtly Christian as being ‘of the devil’, or even ‘Evil’. Islam is described as ‘a deception of the devil’. Islamic terrorism is then a viewed as a natural consequence of an evil religion preaching hatred and violence. Any suggestion that this violence has to been seen in a context of global conflict, injustice and poverty is regarded as tantamount to getting in bed with the devil.

I simply do not concur. Anyone who has read the Sufi poets, or has any understanding of the effects of Imperialism and globalisation over the last 50 years can not simplify this issue to a dualistic good/evil issue.

The consequences of all this are likely to be more of this-

And more radicalisation, polarisation and intolerance.

In the name of God.

One thing that has become increasingly apparent to me is how we people of faith easily use our written texts like Asherah poles– we raise them high, as idolatrous objects of our worship. This was more or less the reason for this earlier post.

A few years ago, a friend of mine proposed an installation where we would burn a Bible. He wrote a poem that summed up the reasons for doing it- here. We never did it, as it was simply too controversial for our context, but I still think that the idea is interesting and provocative.

Because we do not worship the words in the book, we worship the Word, another name for Jesus, who had little tolerance for religious bigots.

Our anniversary…

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Taken in Robin Hood Bay, outside the cottage where we had our honeymoon 20 years ago…

Today is our 20th wedding anniversary.

I can scarcely believe it.

We were young together Michaela and I- she was lovely and kind, I was awkward and mercurial, but she saw something in me that others did not.

And who I am today is formed out of what we became together. Her tolerance, my dreams. My wide horizons, her warm fireplace. Her hospitality, my shyness. My creativity, her nurturing. Her mothering, my fathering.

And lots of love.

Science kills God. Again.

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1st collector for BBC News – Professor Stephen Hawking says no Go…
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The news is strangely full of Steven Hawking’s statements about God and the beginning of the universe. It is suggested that he has changed his mind- about the lighting of the fuse of the Big Bang. He has suggested that the origin of the universe did not need a Creator, as it would have happened anyway.

Strange because it seems such an old argument- the old conflict between faith and science. Why on earth is it all news again? Perhaps it relates to product- Hawking has a new book to hawk.

But there is quite a bit of this around at the moment I think. Richard Dawkins has a series on channel 4 trying to evangelise the atheist gospel of purity through enlightened scientific knowledge. Dawkins has an ego the size of France and I am not sure many people are very interested in his ranting- any more than they are interested in Christians who use the same style of rant to propagate their own evangelical crusade, but it does seem strange that there is a renewed interest in these issues.

I wonder if it is at least partly because of the uncharted territory that physical sciences are finding themselves in at present? All those nano particles and Hedron collisions.

So we see God used even by scientist to explain things that they can not (Who remembers the so called ‘God particle?) until they believe that they now CAN understand, and so God is pushed back again. I have heard this kind of God described as ‘The God of the gaps’- he exists only to deal with that which we have not yet fully explored, then we have not more need of him.

But science and religion are like air and water. They do not mix, but are strangely made up of similar molecules. One can contain a little of the other, but only for a while before they are forced apart again.

One deals with how, the other why. One with process, the other with meaning. One with macro and global, the other with micro and personal. One with text books, the other with human encounters.

I am not a scientist- but I need science. And scientists- whether they know it or not- need poets.

Today, Jews celebrate Rosh Hashanah or Jewish New Year. A time when Jews remember Creation.

Before which there was nothing.

And poem was yet to begin.

Ways of life…

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I love this image- if it is yours, sorry I pinched it- from here…

Ways of life

.

For some life is lived in the measuring

Of every moment

In raising high the cup of experience

And drinking it dry

.

Life too is like a dark forest

A dark green shadow

Oozing out its fungal fingers

Spreading secret spores

Unnoticed

But irrepressible

.

Life may be a blazing flare

Across the stormy night sky

Burning an arc into the retina

Should you look its way

.

Life too is an ember whose glow

Was borrowed by proximity

Given

Then gone

.

Or life may be a bubble

In a clear blue stream

Dancing with the bouncing pebbles

And waltzing among the weeds

.

Then rising

.

Detained briefly by the surface tension

Going through

.

And beyond

Dunoon, courtesy of the BBC L.A.B. project…

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Emily showed me this today- made by some of her friends from school. I think they did a great job!

For people interested in the life of this area, there are a couple of other films in the series- Millport and Tiree, as well as others focussing on the Clyde..

Living in such places is a blessing, but as anyone here will tell you, the real issues are in the making of community- living in peace and harmony with those around you. The beauty of where we live is fantastic, but real life is not about scenery, it is about the more mundane and more human business of making communities work.

In which I write for The Guardian!

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Well, almost anyway.

I posted a travel tip in an idle moment a few weeks ago, as Michaela had just broken her camera, and here was a chance to win her a replacement.

I forgot about it, until this evening, when Michaela sat reading the weekend Guardian. It usually takes at least a week- you know what weekend papers are like.

And there I was, in nice black print. I have now scratched my name on the fabric of time and space to be remembered for ever. Or at very least to be a posh chip wrapping.

I did not win the camera though.

It was a tip about the Isle of Coll, as a beach back packing destination. One of many wonderful Argyll islands.

Moralistic therapeutic deism…

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(HT Jason Clark.)

This is the term coined by Kenda Creasy Dean in a new book describing research into American Christian teenagers.

Defined as follows-

…a watered-down faith that portrays God as a “divine therapist” whose chief goal is to boost people’s self-esteem.

It is religion reduced to ‘feeling good’ and ‘doing good’. Faith that fits neatly into a lifestyle that values most the attainment of a life full of ‘me’ experiences, ‘me’ relationships, a great job and a great house in a great location.

God is employed as a talisman, or a life coach for our attainment, our success and our consuming power.

Casey suggests that it is this kind of faith that American teenagers are learning from church. And from the Christian families that they grow up in…

She says this “imposter” faith is one reason teenagers abandon churches.

“If this is the God they’re seeing in church, they are right to leave us in the dust,” Dean says. “Churches don’t give them enough to be passionate about.”

I liked what Jason Clark had to say-

… what are churches (traditional and emerging) modelling and ordering life around(?) A radical commitment to the Gospel or support for a way of life in consumer society. Families located in radical communities, helping each other live radically, is what we need.

And again that radicalism is so unglamorous, putting others first, placing our work and where we live in service of a life together for mission. Is our form of faith and mission, still all about us, our happiness, or the transformation of the world? What are our kids seeing our lives ordered around?

Ouch.

We parents of faith have so many worries and anxieties about how our understandings of God might be transferred to our children, particularly as they are growing into young adults.

We know that we can not control, only hope that our lives carry an integrity that is formational and infectious. And that the way we do church allows the right kind of space for their questions, their passion and their hopes for a better way than ours…