Natalie Thinks

A quote, doing the rounds on Facebook recently, has been making me think.  The author states that purporting a particular religious view and especially one that claims a personal God and a particular path, is the root of violence and the antithesis of love.  The writer claims that to hold a religious viewpoint creates an ‘us and them’ mentality which leads to division, instead only ‘love’ should be pursued.  It sounds quite noble, but isn’t the writer doing the same thing he accuses Christians, Jews and Muslims of? Is he not in fact saying, those who believe in a personal God are wrong – they are are narrow-minded, they must think like ‘ us ’, our view of love is broader and better! The fact is we disagree. We are not all saying the same thing. Christianity is not saying the same thing as Islam or Buddhism or Atheism or Humanism, or whatever belief or non-belief someone may espouse.  There are many different views on life and death and destiny.  However ...

Having just turned 40 I received a lot more attention than I have in, say, the last nine years.   This led me to muse on what makes birthdays so special.   Of course it starts around the age of three – I recently observed this with my youngest. He went through the birthday somewhat taken aback at all the attention but has spent the next six months reliving it and anticipating the next one! It’s the attention we receive that makes us feel so good.   Our friends tell us how special we are.   Acquaintances and distant family members suddenly phone us and want to know how we are and what we’re doing.   We get given gifts, treated with cups of coffee or freedom from some of our usual chores.   We get shielded (mostly) from unpleasant news, arguments or tiresome tasks.   We feel good.   We feel special.   We feel recognized.   We feel loved and appreciated. And so, I wondered, what would the world be like if we treated each other more like b...