Sofia explores religion as a human creation and in this March issue several writers with different viewpoints explore Lent and Easter. First, as a founder member of SOF Network, David Paterson has lived through Lent and celebrated Easter for many decades, sometimes as a minister and sometimes as an ‘ordinary person’. For him ‘understanding religion as a human creation and deeply loving the Christian Passion and Resurrection story are of equal importance. I believe that gods and the supernatural are created by the human imagination and poetic genius and do not exist in any other sense; I value them for what they are.’

Asking ‘What do we Keep and Why?’, Dave Francis is more interested in human responses to Lent and the Easter story than the theology. Edward Walker takes another look at fasting, considers Jesus’ attitude to it (he was accused of being a ‘glutton and a drunkard’) and the practice of the early Christians. With his usual curmudgeonly brio, John Pearson writes about ‘Giving up Giving up’.

What strikes me powerfully about the Crucifixion and Resurrection story is its insistence that humanity matters. It is a story of embodiment.

In the early kenosis poem or hymn in Philippians, one who was ‘in the form of God’ empties himself, lowers himself to a shameful death on a cross. He goes down to the depths of human degradation, takes it all on and then this man is raised high above all the powers ‘in heaven, on earth and in the underworld’. Christ becomes the mythical protagonist, ‘head’ – figurehead – of a new humanity that is above and matters more than all these visible and invisible powers – such as Money and the Market – that ‘post o’er land and ocean without rest’ and govern our lives now. This new humanity is ‘one body in Christ’ where everyone ‘Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free’ is of equal moral worth – a revolutionary idea.

In Ephesians: ‘When he ascended on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts to humanity. When it says “he ascended”, what does it mean but that he had also descended to the lowest parts of the Earth?’ That developed into the story of the Harrowing of Hell. Christ descends into Hell – ad inferos – where he releases the imprisoned. This descent to the depths and rising again resonates with both personal and political life. It can be compared to the process of going down to release and reassume what was repressed in a quest for the integrity of the personality. And for a new humanity ‘in Christ’, his glorious risen body becomes an image of a glorious ‘body politic’, a kind society in which everyone counts and no one is excluded.

The Exultet sung at the Easter Vigil recalls the political liberation of slaves as a prototype of the liberation of all humanity: ‘This is the night when you led our ancestors, the children of Israel, out of Egypt…’ Liberation theology says that Christ is to be found first and foremost today in the crucified people, people suffering all kinds of distress and exclusion. In their struggles for a better life they aspire to resurrection. Christ’s body, ‘sown in weakness and raised in power’ can be seen as representing humankind, rising at last to create a kind, inclusive society offering fulfilment for all – a glorious body politic. I think that was why when Blake was asked what he thought of the divinity of Christ, he replied: ‘He is the only God, and so am I and so are you.’

Dinah Livingstone

Letters to the Editor

Religious Ignorance in Britain

What I find quite strange, and cannot fully understand, is that the UK seems quite exceptional in the level of religious ‘disaffection’, for want of a better word, which is not found in other countries. Also that this should be increasing, again in contrast to other global trends which show sometimes significant growth, as in China.

A further consequence of this – in the UK – is the vacuum that has opened up of religious ignorance. This is something that is currently a subject of educational concern, in that whilst religious studies are mandatory in schools it is not part of the tested National Curriculum and therefore tends to be evaded in all sorts of subtle ways. Whilst there are suggestions that this should be corrected there is no consensus of how this should be done and seems largely a matter of explaining existing religious beliefs simply as great monolithic blocks with little indication of a wider historical trajectory which shows why humanity is moving beyond them, such as we find in the writings of Lloyd Geering.

In particular, there seems a view that Secularism is ‘the polar opposite’ (cf Melanie Phillips in The Times) of belief, rather than its modern outcome which is consistent with a modern understanding of the world. None of this seems satisfactory.

A further concern is that in reaction to this development the dominant trend in the religious blocks is towards a regressive fundamentalist rigidity. This is happening in all the faiths as people seem to seek for some set of fixed principles or identity. The academies seem to enhance this trend being free to offer an exclusive religious agenda totally at odds with a multi-cultural society. Even the modest appeals of Pope Francis for openness and acceptance in the church have been met with hostility by traditionalists claiming this is betraying the moral principles of the church. Again this is curious for it is these very principles which are a historic distortion of the primitive teachings of Jesus, another theme well explored by Lloyd. This sort of inner contradiction is common to other religions. Sikhs and Hindus for example are becoming increasingly intolerant of mixed marriages and over-promote traditions which are not even integral to the original beliefs. The ferocious reaction to films like Padmavati (in India) and Matilda (in Russia) is quite unbelievable.

What I have noticed is that the centre of modern paganism seems to revolve around a renewed respect for nature. I am aware that there is something of a divide between the often rather whacky rituals of neo-pagans and the more modest sensibilities of ordinary nature lovers.

There does seem a difficulty in enabling these sensibilities to translate into an actual spirituality which has any kind of distinct formulation. This now seems to be a real challenge and one which I am attempting in the park under the banner of eco-therapy – though without much success I may add!

Dominic Kirkham, Manchester

Distortion of Adam Smith

On page 10 of the current issue (126), Virginia Moffatt refers to laissez-faire economists who claim perfection for the free market – and do so in the name of Adam Smith. These dishonest peddlers carefully overlook the fact that Smith, who viewed himself as a moral philosopher, was aware that the formation of what we now call cartels was a potential danger. He argued that when the actions of such groups threaten the general welfare, government is obligated to step in and correct the situation.

Geoff Bertram, a Kiwi professor of economics, gave a talk to the Sea of Faith New Zealand’s 2011 Conference exposing the wilful distortion of their own ‘scripture’ by these purveyors of cynicism. The full text of his paper can be found at sof.org.nz/2011geoffbertramkeynote.pdf

Tom Hall, Rhode Island, USA

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