IN THE NAME OF HEAVEN... an open letter to those in the deep end A G Alger In my mind's eye I see SoF members as a grand party taking place in a large swimming bath. I suspect it might be nude bathing as you have all flung off your inhibitions, enjoying your new freedom with the support of kindred spirits and an all-pervading bonhomie in your new state of grace. I am anxious to join in but for the time being I'll keep my shorts on and stand near the handrail at the shallow end.
I have progressed through the experience of Christianity which I found attractive, helpful and consoling and I am glad to have been a Christian. I still think of myself as a Christian because whilst refusing the dogma I have retained the ethics. But I cannot join you wholeheartedly in that warm, happy and energetic environment because I have a problem with two pieces of dogma, one of which I can't quite relinquish and the other which I would quite like to keep. (I seem to remember that I had similar difficulties when I was converted the first time).
I am very aware that we live in a wonderful and awe-inspiring world which has been revealed to us through the dedication of scientists and the masters of all the arts. Does all this science and artistry result from a happy accident starting with a "big bang" as if it had been the result of a carelessly lit match at a firework display? And do we all stand around saying our "Oohs" and "Aaahs" until the last spark disappears and darkness descends and leaves us all in a black limbo for evermore? It sems to me that the whole of creation is an evolution towards excellence and security, and in my human condition I can only ascribe it to "God".
I am not referring to the "God of Abraham", nor do I profess to know "God" or to ascribe to him any human qualities. Clare Short, in her warm and sensitive article reproduced in SEA OF FAITH 10, said a grateful goodbye to God because "the way the world is does not square with his existence". On a social and political level there may be grounds for saying this and (so that I do not get bogged down in a debate on this matter) I will agree, with reservations - but the way the scientific world is DOES square with his existence. This is my dilemma. I should like to know how SoF solves this problem.
My next problem is that I believe in Heaven! I don't mean the biblical heaven which seems to me to be more like life on a ziggurat where we all stand around in short skirts in a large marble hall, waiting in awe and silence until the trumpets sound, whereupon we lesser mortals fling ourselves down on the ground shouting loud and fearful Hosannahs!
Because of my view of life on earth I believe that, as we all used to sing, "Life is real, Life is earnest", and the grave is not its goal. It is not enough just to live life itself and make the most of it for three score years and ten and turn into dust. Do we come out of the darkness, jump on to the world as it whizzes by, whirl around a few times until we have had enough or lose our balance and then be flung off, back into the darkness? What is the purpose of it all? There has to be something at the end of life.
If we turn our thoughts back to the beginning of human life on earth and think of all the privations, the abuse, the bad luck, misery, harrying, burning, pillaging and rape suffered by ordinary people through the ages: when these people call out to us from the pages of the history books, from newspapers and from the radio and television, do we say - "We arc all workers in the vineyard and we share the same position in the social hierarchy as you do.
It is true that your life was miserable, terrifying, nasty, brutish and short. That was your portion!
A W Alger has been both a local government officer and a teacher. He retired in 1978 and has "never been published before". He (and we) would welcome answers to the question: "What does SoF have to say to the wretched and the dispossessed whose struggle to stay alive leaves them no time to seek meaning and fulfilment?" REALLY?