27 December 2004
The fundamental thing about Christianity
When you see Mary portrayed by a pop star with an image and a mansion, or an unsavoury television family posing for the Last Supper, the problem is not blasphemy: it is a lack of imagination.
And it is a problem that goes some way to defining the society we live in.
It is a society that thinks, for some incredible reason, that it doesn’t matter what we believe or what is true, because everything is accidental and aimless – and then is astonished that so many people lack self-esteem.
It is a society that thinks the highest good is not causing offence, but that bullying in the work place is a perfectly normal method of management.
It is a society that will not accept any discipline in schools, but believes that anti-social behaviour orders are the answer to the inevitable chaos that ensues. And that this works on pigs too.
It is precisely this lack of imagination that is challenged by Christmas, and we can be thankful (we should always be thankful anyway) that in this country it can still be celebrated in the traditional way without resorting to anodyne greetings like “Happy Holidays”.
But how long will it last? We know that ludicrous over-sensitivity already infests the USA, supposedly the most Christian nation on earth. We may soon have an Act of Parliament that will make it difficult to distinguish critically between religions, as if such basic things do not matter.
And everyone regards fundamentalism as the biggest evil of our times, almost a synonym for terrorism. But what is fundamentally true about something is what makes it live – for good or evil. The fundamental thing about Christianity is unconditional love. Anything that calls itself Christianity and is not radically loving is faking it. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to make that clear.
West Norfolk mountains' proud safety record
It has been a quiet year for the West Norfolk Mountain Rescue Team, of which I have the honour to be president.
Few rescues were attempted, and the only ongoing project is chairman Mr D Everett’s attempt to get soil from the Cairngorms analysed to see if it originated from sugar beet grown in Norfolk.
Other members have allowed themselves to be distracted. One is investigating militant squirrels in parts of Brundall, and another is publishing an article attacking “the current fad for washing rubbish before it is recycled”. He says the whole point of throwing something away is to avoid having to wash it, which makes sense to me.