Merry Christmas and the bigger picture

Well its a hot hot day here in Pune but I hope someone's enjoying a white Christmas.

I hope you have a great day and enjoy it all.

Since I am discussing Christmas I shall talk a bit about Christianity. Another of the Abrahamic religion's , Christianity has more in common is Islam than any other religion. Many people believe in a clash of religions or civilizations theory but I don't believe in such a thing. The problem is there are too many sabre rattlers on both sides of the fence. I did like the pope trying to initiate dialogue but when he asked "what good has Islam brought", I wanted to ask what good has Christianity brought. Because the kettle cannot call the coal black!! If there are examples that could be attributed to Islam's short-comings , there are as many that are valid for Christianity.
The pope wanted to set up an internal debate but he just firmed up the battle-lines.

Anyway moving on, if there is a religious leader I really admire its the Archbishop of Canteburry, Dr. Rowan Williams. Young and educated , religious yet having the strength to listen to the other side.

I just love his speeches. From last years christmas day sermon:--

In his sermon for Christmas Day, Dr Williams tells how, whilst visiting a crèche attached to Bethlehem’s Holy Family Hospital funded by international donations, he cradled an abandoned new-born child in his arms. He recounts asking the hospital's director, Robert Tabash why the standard of care was so good, despite the harsh economic conditions in the town:

“Dr Tabash said that all of this is important simply because ‘the poorest deserve the best’ …'The poorest deserve the best': when you hear that, I wonder if you can take in just how revolutionary it is. They do not deserve what’s left over when the more prosperous have had their fill, or what can be patched together on a minimal budget as some sort of damage limitation. And they don’t ‘deserve’ the best because they’ve worked for it and everyone agrees they’ve earned it. They deserve it simply because their need is what it is and because where human dignity is least obvious it’s most important to make a fuss about it.

Dr Rowan Williams also urges pilgrims to visit the Holy Land in support of all the communities who live there. Reflecting on his recent experiences in the region, he says that one of the striking things about the visit was the challenge posed by the lack of hope for a political solution:

“One of the most chilling things on this journey to the Holy Land was the almost total absence in both major communities of any belief that there was a political solution to hand. So step back from that for a moment and ask, ‘What do both the communities in the Holy Land ask from us – not just from that convenient abstraction, the “international community”, but from you and me?’

What was needed to create trust and hope, he said, was ordinary people reaching out to the region:

“Go and see, go and listen; let them know, Israelis and Palestinians alike, that they will be heard and not forgotten. Both communities in their different ways dread –with good reason – a future in which they will be allowed to disappear while the world looks elsewhere. The beginning of some confidence in the possibility of a future is the assurance that there are enough people in the world committed to not looking away and pretending it isn’t happening. It may not sound like a great deal, but it is open to all of us to do; and without friendship, it isn’t possible to ask of both communities the hard questions that have to be asked, the questions about the killing of the innocent and the brutal rejection of each other’s dignity and liberty.”

Anyway this year he has called to take care of the planet. Another minister has called to welcome immigrants and not to leave them out. Read the message