Hen Buddhism and the Art of Human Maintenance. (3)

Lee says:

Sunday, 15 March 2009
A reflection of the bigger picture.

In a comments to the last post, Rob-bear issued an implied challenge for me to say something nice about religion.

And it is true enough that people 'fault find' as a default position.

And it is a parent's mantra to accentuate the positive and not the negative.

But (don't you just love that word?) it's not easy.

In many ways the church is a microcosm of the broader community where good work is done by individuals and local groups but the higher up the power pile you go the more removed and more impersonal the public face.

Undeniably, people in most churches and denominations do well and mean well. Regardless of their faith. Community aid, charity, meals on wheels, visiting the sick and the poor, running telephone help-lines and such like. They honestly and earnestly apply their faith's doctrine of good.

Undeniably churches provide a sense of community and belonging and acceptance that many people find missing in their lives in other spheres.

The trouble with this is it is dull. If I blogged about the thousands of selfless acts of care and charity performed every day I would lose all my readers. Both of them.

The other thing is the Church puts itself out there. There are hundreds of tennis clubs around the country, full of people fervently playing tennis, raising money, looking after members, rebuilding club houses, holding meetings and generally being tennis clubs. They do not try to tell people that they are wrong for playing cricket, basketball or football. And you hardly know that they are there.

Churches would be left alone if they left alone.


Rob-bear says:

1. Regarding "the trouble with this is it is dull."

Actually, it's only dull to people who are dull. It's essential to the needs of others (especially the desperate), or those who really care about the needs of others.

2. Regarding the "hundreds of tennis clubs around the country, full of people fervently playing tennis, raising money, looking after members, rebuilding club houses, holding meetings and generally being tennis clubs."

And how many very private tennis clubs open their doors -- unconditionally and continually -- to people who are not part of the club -- week, after week, after week? Like the church that fed "street people" every Sunday morning (as well as other times).

3. Your commenters remind me of how many self-centred and socially unaware people there are in our world. Sadly. 'Tis the curse of the modern age.

{My argument with Lee here is that, like many other people in our time, he has fallen pray to the assumption that good = dull. It is a position which causes us to reinforce bad news and ignore good news. That, in turn, promotes a negative view on society, which often degenerates into outright cynicism. It was assumption and process with which I was constantly struggling as a journalist (and still do), as a matter of journalistic ethics. That is compounded by the problem of self-centredness, which I have already mentioned. I do recognize Lee's concern if he wrote about "the thousands of selfless acts of care and charity performed every day I would lose all my readers." I would simply suggest that, as a matter of ethics, that he make his reporting more "balanced." Unless he has a particular axe to grind, which seems to be the case.}