Racism isn’t the Only Prejudice

Introduction/foreword

This is an issue I have written on before, and will undoubtedly be something I will write on again in the future as it is something I feel passionately about.  I come from a Working class background and have often felt inferior because of this, and have also felt that people perceived to be of a higher social status get preferential treatment when it comes to education, employment, housing and many other situations in life.   Aren’t we supposed to be a largely egalitarian democracy, where those with the most intelligence, skill and know-how rise to the top?  In theory we are, but the reality for many people is an acceptance that our social backgrounds are a hindrance and even a bar to getting on in many professions.  It is time we started to challenge these unfair and outdated notions and challenged the bigotry and prejudice of the class system as we are supposed to challenge any other unfair prejudice.  What started me on this was the fact that I wrote to a group of people calling themselves ‘the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism’; I wanted to ask them what they thought about class as an issue.  I wrote quite a number of emails and finally got one reply after many months telling me that the said campaign had finished, and that I should contact another group calling themselves ‘the Institute of Race Relations’ who amongst other things produce a quarterly called ‘Race & Class.’  I decided to write to them and got a nice reply telling me in effect that though there are other prejudices they only deal with racial issues.  However, I have written to them again to ask them that if the quarterly is called ‘Race & Class’ why are they are not dealing with the issue of class and to this date they haven’t yet got back to me.

 

Here is the essay proper:

 

It now seems that it’s not possible to make offensive jokes about anyone anymore, but it’s ok to charge people more than they can afford for gas, electricity, groceries, transport and the like; if old pensioners die in Britain in Winter because they can’t afford to heat their homes, no one seems to bat an eyelid, but Heaven forbid if anyone makes a slightly near-the-knuckle joke.

 

Why is class as an issue ignored when other prejudices like racism and sexism are, admittedly very weakly, tackled?  Why won’t those people purporting to stand for fairness and equality challenge the very real problem of class prejudice in England?  If one is tackled, why not the other?

 

Those who, for whatever reason, turn a blind eye to the injustice of the class system in England are the same as those who turn a blind eye to racism in other countries and those who turn a blind eye to religious intolerance in other societies.  Until class as an issue is tackled in a very real and effective way, it will keep coming up to haunt people and very likely because of the class system and all the prejudice and injustice of this system we will very likely go on hating each other in England.

 

It seems that some Middle class people in England use their professed interest in racial equality to totally ignore the fact that some of those same people, who fervently profess their belief in racial equality, completely turn a blind eye to class inequality; why is that?  Is it because many of those same Middle class people benefit from the inequalities of class the same way some white people benefit in more racist countries?  If we are being truthful, we know the answer already.

 

It seems to me that the ‘pay-off’ for some Middle class people being so concerned about racism and sexism, is that no one is then allowed to tackle them on their class prejudice; and let’s be honest, class is still an issue in Britain, and it certainly is an issue in England.  Millions of people in England feel pushed aside and otherwise marginalised because of their perceived low-social status, and feel that often Middle class people get better jobs, better housing, better education and generally all-round better lives and life chances for no reason other than their perceived higher social status; I wonder why all those concerned Middle class people are not campaigning about this?  It’s obvious that those who benefit from such injustice don’t want to rock the boat; if someone is really concerned about equality they would be concerned about everyone’s equality and not just a select group of people.

 

I must add something here; it is right and proper that people fight for the rights of Black people and other ethnic minorities, it’s just that being selective is tantamount to saying that some people deserve equality and other people don’t; that’s the confused message that comes through some Middle class people who are fighting racism but seem to blithely, almost wilfully, ignore class as an issue.  Why is a Working class White person deemed less important than a Black person?  In short, why are the rights of one person deftly ignored, and someone else’s rights perceived as more important?  In a nutshell, and rather ironically, that is the class system!  Upper class people are seen as better than everyone else, Middle class people may not be as important as the Upper class, but at least they are perceived to be better than Working class people.  Thus we have the prejudice that pervades nearly all English life, and is in fact the social fabric of English society.  By constantly ignoring this problem, the very people who proclaim equality and equal rights, are actually in fact adding to the problem.  And while we are at it, why does social class very rarely if ever appear a part of equal rights literature; again, why is class ignored when virtually everything else is included?

 

There is a kind of what I would call ‘polite fascism’ amongst some Middle class people, even those who consider themselves believers in equal rights.  Their prejudice towards Working class people is manifested in refusing to accept class as an issue, the very issue that is in fact at the heart of division, double-standards and the hypocrisy we often find so readily accepted in English life.  Upper class people can pompously look down on everyone; Middle class people defer to this and so in turn look down on Working class people; some Working class people defer to this and then finding themselves at the bottom of one unfair social system, readily cling to another unfair social system which is racism.  So some Working class people become racist; but this is fuelled by the injustices of the class system.  Both racism and class are intertwined, and they feed off each other in a kind of vile symbiosis.  Often, and more cynically, both race and class are played off against each other, with the effect of marginalising both Working class people and ethnic minorities; and to the benefit of who we may ask?

 

Until this issue of class is faced and dealt with, we will continue to live in a third-rate country, a country that is a sham of a democracy, with no real democracy at its heart.  We will continue to hate each other, instead of learning to work with each other and trying to build a fairer nation that regards people as equal before the law, and not as a nation of unequals.  I feel however, that whatever is said, some people who are prejudiced would rather live behind their cosy wall of platitudes and half-truths than face up to their prejudice and their part in keeping the divisions, of all kinds, going.

 

I’m not attacking Middle class people, I have some Middle class friends and I like many Middle class values, what I am taking issue with is the selective nature of equal rights in England; why is class not seen as a viable issue to discuss and tackle?  I am waiting for an explanation of this but am struggling to find one.

 

The God I worship isn’t just for the Upper class, He’s for the Middle class too; He isn’t just for the Middle class, He’s also for the Working class too.  He isn’t just for White people, He’s also for Black people.  He isn’t just for the poor, He’s for the rich as well.  He isn’t just for Northerners, He’s for Southerners too.  He’s not just for Jews, He’s for Palestinians as well.  He’s for you, and me.

 

If someone is praised for living in a palace and yet someone else is dismissed in some way because they come from a council estate, how is that not an abuse of human rights, like racism or sexism, or in any situation where one human being is somehow devalued by another human being?  We need to open the debate on class, and accept it is a real problem with real consequences for many people.  In the end, we don’t have to hug each other or see life through rose-tinted glasses, but even if you change one person’s mind, and leave all the bigotry to one side, then that person might realise that whether we clean windows or live in a palace, we are all human beings and we all have intrinsic worth and we all deserve consideration, toleration and respect.

Paradise Lost

Once, when the world was young, we walked with God; we were simple people unsullied by ambition and desire, and the hatreds that burn up the world today.  Was it all that long ago we walked innocent and free, and lived just for the smell of fresh air and the green of the grass and the trees and the simple pleasures that gave us the most happiness?

 

I was a simple boy from a simple family; no ambitions, no desires, no anger within me.  What happened to that boy who lived long ago, what happened to his dreams if he had any that is?  God came to me in my innocence, in my poverty, in my youth and answered the prayers of my heart; then I knew He existed, something existed beyond humanity and base human nature, something that would give everything meaning, a being who meant what He said and could do even more.

 

Did I lose Paradise when I lost myself?  Did Adam lose Paradise when he became ambitious, when he became filled with desires of all kinds, when he stopped putting God first?  Then men became sophisticated and civilised and urbane and cultured; then we all started hating each other, putting each other in class systems and judging each other differently because of the colour of our skin, or the way we talked or the company we kept.  In becoming sophisticated and civilised, we left God behind or confined Him to churches one day a week, safely anaesthetised where He couldn’t challenge us or check our greed and stupidity and selfishness.

 

All those years ago, a poor city boy lived, amongst other poor people long forgotten now, simple people, people who in the great scheme of things didn’t really count, were not important, had no great dreams or ambitions to take on the world or take over the world, just content to be.  At the dawn of time, Adam had the same simplicity, the same peace and contentment, but he gave it all up and made the wrong choice.

 

If Paradise is lost, can it ever be found again?  Does God want us to live in all simplicity, childlike faith, a faith that moves mountains but that brings us what we all really want, and what we certainly need, a peace of mind that stills the troubled waters of our busy and bustling lives?  Adam lost that vital relationship he had with God, and forever since all humans have lost it with Him; we have all been punished for our original ancestor’s sin.  What is God’s answer?  If we listen, can we hear it on the breeze?  If we look can we see it in the sky in the formation of the clouds?  If we ask for peace and simplicity, will God give us our heart’s desire?

 

In abandoning God, we have abandoned ourselves to the four winds, to fate, to chance, to the stars; we have lost our senses, and swapped what is good and life itself, for a half-life, a shadow, something which is a sham and doesn’t hold water and only leads us down false paths.  In our affluence, we have abandoned God; where will we find Him again?

 

God calls us, softly and sweetly; can you not hear?  God beckons us; can you not see Him?  God is waiting, has always been waiting, for us to return, to return to our senses and to Him.  Every one of us is a child of His, a spoilt and petulant child.

 

When God called me, I listened.  I’m still listening.  I lost everything before I really knew what I had, and stumbled in the wilderness of my own ignorance and stupidity.  What was God trying to tell me all those years; I really don’t know.  I lost Paradise; the gates were closed for me.  Now they are slowly opening again, after what seems like a thousand lifetimes; I want to reacquaint myself with God, but He knows me inside out.  I cry out in the night; I shout for God, and He hears me…

My Own Private Idaho

Like many people, I like to feel good and happy, and hopefully all of the time.  Of course, who feels happy and content all the time?  I don’t; not all the time anyway.

 

Having in the past suffered from severe manic depression, and it now largely being a thing of the past, I try to keep from things that might start the onset of another episode.  I might add that my disobedience to God didn’t help matters when I was depressed.  I now try just to be an obedient servant.

 

In trying to feel good and happy all the time, I surround myself with things that I like; I buy all kinds of films, especially Film Noir, I try to do things that I like, like writing, taking photographs, going shopping, reading on all kinds of different topics and I especially, usually occasionally, like to travel to different places.  I am also a reasonable cook and at least once a day I like to eat something nice that I’ve made like a decent curry or a pasta sauce from scratch or something like a risotto or a paella or something even that I’ve never made before; usually it works out because I always follow the instructions even when I occasionally chop and change things.

 

I try to get a little simple pleasure out of each day; if it’s sunny, I say ‘what a nice day!’  If it’s raining, I say ‘well it might brighten up and still be a nice day!’  I personally like thunderstorms and dramatic weather, hopefully as long as I am indoors or not getting soaked, and can watch a thunderstorm transfixed for hours at a time.  Up until very recently, I also looked forward to drinking half a bottle of wine on Friday night and finishing off the bottle on Saturday.  Well I tell a little white lie; I always buy another small bottle to add to Saturday’s Bacchanalian reverie!  In the week I used to have a few bottles of beer, choice English ales or bitters.  I have given up booze for the time being because I feel God wants me to.  Even though I am not a heavy drinker I feel God wants me to give it up for Him; for the time being.

 

Those Private Solitary Moments

Like many people growing up in urban areas full of all kinds of people, I sometimes get the need for solitary moments; for me this can be walking along a beach near the end of the evening, just listening to the seabirds singing and looking for their food, or even taking a small holiday to North Wales and taking a walk where I may, hoping that I can enjoy the walk whilst not meeting too many people along the way; if I do meet people I’m always polite, but you get what I mean.  I believe we all need moments such as this, as much as at other times we need to be around other people, especially family and friends on special occasions or just when we’re chilling out and having a laugh.  But for me, at times I need to be alone, to think about things, to think about God and what He wants for me, and just to reflect on my life and perhaps where I am going.

 

I definitely need those private solitary moments to keep me going, and it might sound strange but when I am on a lonely path somewhere or a slightly isolated beach or even on the Great Orme, which is a hill in North Wales, near the end of the day, I feel somehow closer to God, and in the silence of the burgeoning evening I find solace and peace that sometimes I don’t find in the midst of crowds of people.  I need those moments, they are part of my life.

 

God is in Every Experience

Some people go to church on Sundays to find God, some people go to church more than once a week to find God; as a non-church goer but at the same time a dyed-in-the-wool Christian, I try to find God in every experience.  Of course, I find Him when I pray to Him, and I find Him when I read the Bible.  But God is everywhere in every place all at the same time; we can’t escape Him even if we wanted to, but a Christian should feel comfort that He is always there and only ever a prayer away.

 

I have a calling on my life, but not coming from a Christian background or community of any kind, I have to find and experience God for myself without priests or vicars or anyone else really telling me what I should do or what I should believe.  Because of this, I consider myself just a Christian, not particularly Catholic or particularly Protestant, or any denomination for that matter, just someone who is a Christian and tries to live out that faith each day.  As I said, for me Christian experience, experiencing God, is something at this time that is private and solitary, yet at the same time I am aware that God is in every moment and is everywhere in time and space.

 

I have felt God move in my life, sometimes because I was obedient and He was rewarding me and sometimes because I was basically disobedient and He was punishing me.  I believe that with those He calls, as you’ll read with the Israelites in the Old Testament and people like me and many others today, He deals with our sins in this life.  I think for those He doesn’t call, He will deal with them in the next life.  What in the end does God’s calling on a person’s life mean?  For me, it means that, whether I want to or not, I have to serve God with a whole heart; sometimes I think I manage this, and other times I don’t.  Christianity then isn’t something that is a game to me or even religion, it is a palpable and sometimes hard-edged reality.  Christianity is to me God’s presence in my life; He knew me before I knew Him.  When the Israelites were obedient they prospered, when they were disobedient they suffered and sometimes terribly so.  We can learn much from the Israelites relationship with God in the Old Testament; how to live, and how not to live.

 

The Israelites and their many different prophets didn’t seem to separate the world or their nation for that matter into secular and divine, they saw everything as being a part of God and His Creation.  Likewise, we should not separate things we do into secular or divine and should see that God can enter in every experience and thing we do, whether it’s praying, baking a cake, doing exercises to get fit, going out with friends or just chilling out and relaxing.  God is there for all life and our whole lives.

 

God, a Refuge

So, for me God is a friend who I can talk to and completely rely on.  I won’t tell you that I have a ‘hotline’ to God and that He treats me better than anyone else, or that I am somehow more blessed than others, quite simply because it’s just not true; we are all special to God, all those He calls for His purposes.  ‘We are well aware that God works with those who love him, those who have been called in accordance with his purpose, and turns everything to their good.’  (Romans 8:28 NJB)  It does help of course that we develop a love and total respect for the God who can do so much more for us than we are barely able to ask.  So, even if like me you sometimes crave solitude and a kind of nice loneliness, along wind and sea swept beaches or country lanes or hilltops, God is our refuge and He will protect us and enter into our lives, especially if we ask Him to.

 

I’m trying to write about a faith that goes beyond the four walls of a church, that goes beyond the rituals and human traditions of many Christian denominations, that goes beyond sectarianism and fighting for sects, that goes beyond our class and skin colour and country of birth, that goes beyond everything we really think we understand and often don’t, a faith that embraces all our imperfections, all our brokenness, all our questions and misgivings and a faith that brings real meaning and hope, peace and contentment into our lives.  Most of us desire such a faith, but if we are honest what we do have falls short, if not far short, of that blessed reality.  I have yearned for a long time to have a walk with God that would mean me being contented and happy and for a long time have felt that what I have is something far less solid; my sins have caught up with me and caused a gulf to separate me from the perfect love of God.  Yes I know He loves without let or reservation, but I still feel there is a gulf between me and God. 

 

 

In time I hope for a perfect relationship with God; I’ve learnt to be content with what I have and I am learning to be more tolerant of my fellow human beings; it’s a slow process but if we make a little progress each day it all adds up in the end.  Our part is merely to have faith and remain obedient.

Is English Christianity Reaching Out to People?

In our own hearts, we often know when something is right, when something is true, even when we are told fervently that a particular thing is false or that something is true, when we feel that it isn’t.  To coin a phrase, and not to be foul, we might say that most of us have inbuilt bullsh*t detectors!  There seems to be amongst some Christians a kind of idea that once you become a Christian you have to lose all your common sense, you have to become mysterious, and ‘holy’ and go around castigating everyone for being a ‘terrible sinner’!  I am certain we have, even once, known someone or seen someone like that; but is that what God wants from us, to castigate people?  Perhaps the first person we need to castigate is the person we see in the mirror!  I have enough sin of my own without worrying about someone else’s.  And do we have to lose our common sense?  Perhaps we don’t: ‘Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves; so be cunning as snakes and yet innocent as doves.’  (Matthew 10:16 NJB)  This doesn’t sound to me like we have to abandon our wits or common sense, in fact in modern parlance it suggests that Christians should be ‘streetwise’ and ‘hip’ to the way the world is.

 

I have been a Christian, more or less, for over thirty years now, but I have never been to a church to worship in my life; some people reading this might think that slightly strange.  But I still try to serve God each day with a whole heart; I have my struggles in life like everybody else though.  I actually feel uncomfortable around crowds and I am a very private and even shy person, sometimes behind the wise-cracking, city-boy image I like to hide behind.  The question I pose is English Christianity reaching out to people?  I’ve always felt, perhaps unfairly, that much of what seems to pass for Christianity in England, is aimed at a nice brigade,  for people who already having it all together, then go on to confirm it all by being Christians; but is that the way it works?  I’m not a nice person, I have oodles of sin to be forgiven, I don’t feel fine sometimes and I wonder if God sees through my act, the shoddiness of my life, the pathetic nature of my fallen self?  If God only wants nice people, fine people, people who’ve got it all together and are on a one-way trip to Heaven because they’re so perfect, then frankly I’ve had it!  Didn’t Jesus come for the lost, the lonely, the sinful, the self-destructive, the losers and their ilk after all?  I hope so. 

 

Is Christianity Relevant?

I think the answer to that is yes.  But the Christian faith as a whole seems less important to people than it did even fifty years ago; is there a reason for this, and is it diminishing?  I think that much that passed for Christianity like going to church , singing hymns, knowing the vicar and even being part of a community of believers is just something people feel less comfortable with; also traditional Christianity like this I feel appears less dynamic, less interesting and less relevant to the general population than a real living faith should.  I think traditional Christianity is dying out, that often uninspiring version of Christianity, but I believe a real living faith, a faith that is, or should be reaching out to all kinds of people is actually growing.  I think many people have a hunger and thirst for God, a hunger for meaning to their lives but feel that traditional Christianity is just not that relevant, and perhaps there is an assumption amongst people that traditional Christianity, where you go to church and sing hymns one day a week, is all there is to Christian faith.  I digress and add that we all need to be a part of a community of believers; I certainly do.

 

The Good News

I have news for you, good news in fact; the best news for anyone looking for a real living and dynamic faith that will make a difference in your life!  Christianity is a whole lot more than you might think and God is a whole lot more than you might think as well.  We put Him in a box, expect Him to be something far less than He really is, then we wonder why our faith is at best one-dimensional and sorely lacking in something.  Christianity isn’t a game, it isn’t something we do while looking for something else, it isn’t even religion, it is in fact beyond all these things and beyond what we can really comprehend.  To really understand the depth and breadth of God isn’t really possible for a human to do, but we can understand that God is something far bigger than traditional Christianity seems to make of Him; He is really beyond our comprehension and we diminish Him only at our error.  If God created everything you see and created the whole universe and everything in it, isn’t He then a whole lot bigger than we credit Him for?  The good news is that God is in charge, He is the force holding everything together and He is only a prayer away.  The good news is that God isn’t just about a nice comfy eternity in Heaven, He is about peace, contentment and even abundance in the here and now.  The good news is that God is to be found in the midst of all our experiences, all our troubles, all our wanderings and all our wondering; He’s less about religion and tradition and much more about a real lived experience.  Get a Bible, open it, read it, and see for yourself; oh, and a prayer or two might help as well.

 

Is Hierarchy Needed?

Isn’t hierarchy ultimately divisive?  Don’t we have enough division in the world and in England without it being in the church?  Shouldn’t churches be preaching and practising equality?  This is another reason why I feel many ‘ordinary’ people don’t want to go to church; perhaps they think it’s cliquey, a social club for the ‘better sort’ and rather exclusive and not for the likes of you and me.  If the world is divisive, divided and often about people who are wealthy, important and have the ‘correct’ social standing, shouldn’t the church, or churches, be countering this by reaching out to everybody not just a select few?  Yes, there is a dichotomy in Christianity; God is open to all, but He calls a select few to serve Him.  But it is God’s part to do this, and not humans making distinctions on the basis of class, race, gender, ethnicity or any other thing which makes one person seem different from another person.  Is hierarchy needed?  I don’t think divisions serve any purpose other than to create animosities between people and foster division.  Perhaps we need to get back to the Christianity Paul preached and Jesus came to earth for.

 

What is ‘English’ Christianity? 

Can we talk of ‘English’ Christianity or ‘American’ Christianity?  Perhaps we can.  I have often felt that that brand of English Christianity is more about traditional worship and slightly socially exclusive and not that appealing to that many people.  On the other hand, if we can talk about American Christianity, then this is a different thing altogether.  American Christianity seems more about a dynamic faith, something that is open to all, and that is about a person moving forward in life, progressing and having a real living faith.  Of course, there are plenty of Christians in both Britain and America who have an intimate relationship with Jesus on a 24/7 basis.  As well as this, there is a kind of liberalism in Britain and so British Christianity that is appealing to many people and there is a kind of hard-edged conservative and Right-wing edge to some American Christianity that is not so appealing; wouldn’t it be nice if through the fog of denominations, different versions of Christianity, and the often totally opposing views of people supposed to be singing from the same hymn sheet, we could find a viable living faith that is what God has always intended for us to live?

 

 

The Battle of the Sexes

Like many young people in the UK, I used to go out on a Friday night with my mates, to drink a few beers, have a few laughs and sometimes occasionally meet a few women as well.  For me now, this is a thing of the past; of course it would be nice to meet someone to fall in love with but I think trying to meet someone in a dark, sweaty, loud club full of strangers is probably not the best way to rekindle romance in anyone’s life.  But you may disagree!

One of the things I remember plainly about such evenings is that women, not always but sometimes, could be really unpleasant and offensive just because you might have tried to talk to them; I never understood this, why someone should get aggressive or angry merely because you spoke to them in a pub or nightclub; to me this was just a natural way of getting to know people; or so I thought.  You learn a lot about people when you encounter them in situations like this; you learn that people can be very superficial, very false and completely different than if you met them on other occasions outside the often false environments of loud pubs and nightclubs.

There is in Britain a definite battle of the sexes, a constant kind of tug of war, and I don’t fully comprehend why but it is there.  You see it manifested on a Friday and Saturday night in aforementioned pubs and nightclubs, and you see it in all kinds of ways, usually downplayed and with perhaps a humorous element attached to it; but it’s still there.  British women seem to hate British men, and would rather go abroad and find a continental lothario than have anything to do with a British man, and British men would rather meet a Thai or Russian bride, preferably in their twenties, to marry and sweep off their feet, so to speak.  Underpinning much of this is hatred and that cynicism that human beings have to something or someone they find too familiar; familiar can become boring and old hat, and new and different is refreshing and exciting.  Until reality bites, perhaps.

Unfortunately, I found myself on the end of such hatred and such treatment many times, in a way that was somehow to be expected, that we were all playing some vast game where people could be cruel to each other for no particular reason, but which was accepted by all involved.  It doesn’t help the fact that many young British men and women are half drunk when they encounter each other, meaning that they aren’t really being themselves but are hiding behind a mask or a false persona.

As you can gather, this battle of the sexes upset me on a number of occasions and I still feel resentment towards some women even now, though by the grace and mercy of God I have many female friends, both online and in the real world, who I both love and respect.  It is easy in situations like this to develop a siege mentality, to assume that all women, or all men, or whoever you see as the enemy, are only out to upset you or be cruel to you or to harm you, emotionally or otherwise, in some way.  When we do this, we can go down a false path, and then because we hate, we become part of the problem ourselves.  I still struggle with these issues but I pray that God puts me right basically, and teaches me to understand that there are good, bad and even indifferent people in every walk of life, whether men or women, Black or White, rich or poor, from North, East, South or West, people are always going to be people in all their diverse variety; if you’re lucky, you meet nice people, if you’re unlucky you might meet a not-so-nice person.  The secret is not to take it to heart or to assume that everyone you might deem the enemy is going to be unpleasant or hostile; the dangers of thinking like this are obvious. 

For the Christian, there is of course an added element to this old story; we are not meant to live in a world of hostility and resentment, nor are we to partake in what the world partakes in, which is anger, jealousy, revenge, hatred, animosities, racism or prejudices of any kind no matter what we’ve suffered in our lives.  We are meant very much to be in the world but not be a part of it, quite simply.  Instead of the battle of the sexes, I could have talked about racism or class prejudice, hostilities between the Catholic and Protestant communities in Northern Ireland, or the Palestinians and Israelis in Israel, the problems between any two or more groups of people in fact anywhere in the world where each group might not see eye to eye, for whatever reason, and however serious or even trivial the conflict or resentment might be.    

If we want to make headway in the world and we want to end the battle of the sexes, or any other conflict big or small, we have to be the change, we are the ones who have not to partake of it; in the end for the Christian, the buck stops with you.  Whatever other people do, or don’t do, we have a duty to live as Christians and serve a God who is utterly fair and utterly impartial; He won’t take sides against our ‘enemies’ but He will uphold us and show us mercy if we have been wronged.  If you have been wronged, then turn the other cheek.  So, the battle of the sexes will very probably continue but our place as Christians is merely to follow the Golden Rule, to treat other people as we would like to be treated ourselves; in this small way, we don’t add to the misery and chaos of the world.

The Sound of The City

This is a eulogy about living in a city; its good and bad aspects.  The city can be an oasis and the city can be a desert, a desert being a place to think.  It can be an oasis because everything for living is there; supermarkets, all kinds of shops, places to visit, restaurants, cafes, museums, art galleries, oh and people; yes, lots of people!  The city can be a desert, especially if you have no friends and rarely see your family.  It can be a place where you are surrounded by people but where they all seem indifferent to you because they don’t know you; whole cities full of people all doing their own thing and trying to make something of themselves, all competing with each other and you, and all needing to be fed and watered, all needing diversions and all needing love; yes, even love.

When I go to bed at nights I sometimes like to hear the sound of the city, that indefinable and really indescribable sound that is quiet and needs to be noticed but tends to be heard in the silence of the early morning; it could be static or it could be something else but I think all large cities have it.  It’s comforting somehow to know that other people are nearby and yet it can be alienating too; most people seem not to know their neighbours in cities anymore, let alone get on with them; it’s a sign of the times.  Many city people dream of rural living, and I’m certain that some rural people dream of cities.

I think that many of us who live in big cities love and hate the city at the same time; we love it because everything’s at hand and close by, and perhaps we hate it because sometimes we feel we haven’t any real space, we feel boxed in and we’re just another faceless person in a grey urban environment.

Isolation

Of course, many of us feel we live in isolation; yes even in big cities we can feel isolated, cut off from our fellow human beings and all alone.  In a curious way, living in a big city can be a very lonely experience.  In the old days, perhaps up until the early 60’s, there seemed to be a community spirit, certainly among working class people, where people would watch out for each other and lend and borrow money and help out in different ways.  The problem was that people could also be busy bodies and nosey neighbours, more concerned with gossiping about you than being concerned with you.  Unfortunately, the community spirit seems to have gone the way of all things now, and people tend to keep themselves to themselves in general.  We’ve all become more ambitious, we all want what we haven’t got, and I think most people want to get on and better themselves.  In the not-so-distant past, many people from ordinary backgrounds made do, had a job for life and accepted it whatever it was.  Now, in one sense all the security has gone but in another way there are more opportunities, of a kind, if we are prepared to look for them.  It’s still an unfair world of course, and sometimes people prosper not because of their talent or drive, but because they have connections or wealth behind them.

For some people, isolation is bearable, even preferable to having too many friends and acquaintances; in isolation we can sometimes find God, and hear that distant, still small voice that often talks to our heart, the voice that is often drowned out when we are with other people or too busy or just distracted by life.  For another person, isolation is something they’ve experienced and don’t want to experience any more.  The life of a writer, or perhaps anyone dedicated to something they really want to do and achieve in, is partly isolation; frankly if I ever have any success, or win the lottery, I would be happy to live in a remote valley in North Wales somewhere and have all the isolation to my heart’s content.

It’s in isolation that we might begin to know ourselves, know who we are, know what we are about, understand where we are going, and perhaps most importantly begin to understand who God is.  Experiencing God for yourself is a lot more than someone telling you about Him, a whole lot more.  God can bring peace, He can bring contentment, He can bring meaning into your life.  It might be that in some way, loneliness or isolation might be the catalyst to bring you closer to God.  I must say that in many respects I like isolation and I feel I can hear God’s voice this way; it may be the same for you.

The Call of Abraham

Abraham is a key figure in the Bible; we don’t really know a great deal about him other than God commands him to leave behind all he knows and venture off into the wilderness with his wife Sarah and his servants and livestock and everything else.  According to the Old Testament Abraham left the Ur of the Chaldees , a Sumerian city of importance.  So, although Abraham was a city dweller and by all accounts moderately prosperous, God wanted him to up sticks and go into the unknown.  The cities by all accounts although relatively new were hotbeds of vice, corruption, crime and irreligious people; some might say what’s new?!  So Abraham leaves, to go who knows where by a God he puts his faith in.  The cities represent corruption and God calls Abraham out of the city and so corruption, so that Abraham can be the father of many nations and the spiritual father of religious Jews and Christians.  It always seems that where human beings screw up, God straightens us out.  For the Christian, Abraham’s story is important.  God enters into his life and nothing is ever the same again; He calls and Abraham simply answers. 

Perhaps Abraham was a simple man, but who can really say?  It is certain that as with many other people, God is ‘starting again’ with Abraham, shooing him out of the city to a better place, a Promised Land for a Chosen People, a people who in the end would live by faith in God’s promises.  If you are a Christian and you are obedient, you are an heir to that promise.  And it is Abraham’s faithfulness to God, God’s call and God’s promises that really counts as his uprightness; nothing more than that.   

Perhaps Abraham had twinges of doubt, and perhaps he left behind people he loved, and for all we know maybe he really was a cityboy at heart, who then becomes a great wanderer, a nomad in search of new things, bigger horizons and better pastures.  Whatever the case, God looks after him and watches over him and brings his story to a happy conclusion, even though Abraham never sees many of the promises fulfilled.  How different he appears from those of us today, who want to see results yesterday and have every whim fulfilled straight away!  Abraham can teach us many lessons. 

The First Cities; the Start of Civilisation

People will conjecture all day about the origins of mankind, and perhaps also the origins of the beginnings of the civilisation of mankind too.  Some people say that man was created no earlier than about ten thousand years ago, and other people will say that man evolved from apes over millions of years; it’s all second hand because not one person knows for absolute certainty, simply because they weren’t there!  And not to be trite, but I believe mankind was created specially and specifically by God!  So there!

I’ve read a number of interesting books about the beginnings of civilisation, and I’m reading one now, called ‘Legacy: A Search for the Origins of Civilization’; it’s a very interesting book so far.  I am particularly interested in the Fertile Crescent, which was partially situated where Iraq is now.  As a Christian and an amateur Biblical scholar, this part of the world is interesting to me because it’s mentioned in the Genesis section of the Bible; the Tigris and the Euphrates, both important rivers of this region, are both mentioned in the Bible.  According to some scholars, the Garden of Eden can be traced to this area, and certainly educated opinion is that the first cities in the world originated in the Sumerian plain/Fertile Crescent-people simply started living en masse here in cities about 3000BC or thereabouts, although I have read that it was 4000BC before today.  It’s certain that before people started living in cities, they were congregating together to grow crops and build small houses and live near each other for community and protection and so on.  Then something happened; people started to get civilised; they wanted big organised cities; they started to specialise; class divisions arose; kings arose and then of course kingdoms and city-states.

It’s curious to note that man’s creation, supposedly about six thousand years ago, mirrors almost exactly the supposed beginnings of mankind’s civilisation, or thereabouts.  I wonder whether the writers who first wrote down the early books of the Bible, the Old Testament, were mixing up the two things, i.e. man’s creation and the beginnings of civilisation.  I may also add that man’s fall from grace and his disobedience to God leads then to being ‘civilised’, to mankind eschewing God and His laws, and deciding for himself what was good.  As man came out of the Garden of Eden, fallen from grace, did he tumble into the city life, the life of civilisation?  There are deeper questions to be pondered here.

Is being civilised, cultured and urbane more important than having a childlike trust in God?  Do all the things we aspire to be, all our ambitions for being civilised take us away from God?  It seems that the Fall of man coincides exactly with man’s ascent to civilisation.  What does this mean for mankind?  What does it mean for Christians?  And, what does it mean for God?

For me, the two realities of both man’s creation and then fall from grace with God and man first living in large urban centres, have become intertwined and even confused with each other by those early writers and scholars who were trying to make sense of mankind’s origins.  How could they have known any better, not having vast libraries or the Internet like we do now?  It is something we need to look at, especially those Christians who believe that the earth and mankind are only thousands of years old.  Equally, it seems that man becoming sophisticated and falling from grace could be one and the same thing.  The rise of civilisation has led to class divisions, wars, nations at odds with each other and a world which, as it gets ever more cultured and technologically advanced, seems less and less to be concerned with God or being concerned with our fellow human beings.

Why did man become civilised?  Why did man rebel against God?  Well, He gave us free will to choose the way we would live; His way or our way.  His way means being obedient to Him.  Our way means chaos because everyone then chooses to do whatever they want to do without regard to God and usually always without regard to other people.  When people disregard God they abandon all concern for everyone and everything but themselves.  It’s clear to see where this has lead mankind and the world in general.

Perhaps instead of being so obsessed with success, making money, being seen by others as important and being concerned about high social status, we should first ask God what He wants from us and what life He wants us to live.  Through Adam and Eve we are all fallen, but through Jesus we can be reconciled to God. 

Rohl, D. 1999. Legend: The Genesis of Civilisation. United Kingdom. Century.

Roux, G. 1992. Ancient Iraq. 3^rd Ed. England. Penguin.

Wood, M. 1992. Legacy: A Search for the Origins of Civilization. Great Britain. Network Books.