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A Journey of Faith

11/2/2026

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For a religious person faith is an important part of their identity and yet the religion we belong to is for many people an accident of birth and were any of us to have been born in another part of the world, at another time in history, our religion would have been different. The religion we follow is the result of happenstance. And would we be the worse off for that? Does it really matter what religion we believe in or follow when all religions have produced their saints (and of course their sinners). What is important is whether our religion is a vehicle for faith and a meaningful way for us to grow in love, justice, compassion, honesty, all the virtues that make our life worthwhile and allow us to make a positive contribution to the world in which we live. It’s easy to focus on the externals of religion and not let the practice take us deeper into what it means to be human.

For me call is at the heart of faith. And what I mean by call is that impulse deep within us that attracts us to a future that can be better, or different from the present. It is like a magnet drawing us ever forward to explore life, seek truth, show love, serve others. Life doesn’t stand still and each day offers the possibility for change, growth and development. We are on a journey, and our personal journey is a part of the much greater journey of humanity itself and indeed the cosmos. To participate in this journey means to accept life with gratitude but also to honour its pain and incompleteness, and to contribute what we can to its well-being.

A good depiction of this journey is for me the 10 Zen Buddhist ox-herding pictures. These metaphorically illustrate the journey to enlightenment.
  1. the journey begins with a sense of dissatisfaction, a realisation that there is a more to life.
  2. there is an indication of where meaning and enlightenment might be in the glimpses of the ox’s footprints.
  3. this is followed by glimpses and sightings of the ox itself.
  4. then we manage to catch the ox, but it is a struggle to keep hold of it.  
  5. after much wresting we find harmony, sitting atop the ox and viewing life from its perspective.
  6. we are able to ride the ox home and feel very at ease in it
  7. then we realise there never was an ox to be sought after and are content in the knowledge that what we were seeking was always in us and around us
  8. now the ox and the seeker have disappeared. It is total immersion in the world, realising that we are not a distinct, separate entity but as Rumi would put it, ‘Not a drop in the ocean, but the whole mighty sea in a drop.’
  9. we return to the beginning – no ox, no man, just life of which we are part – it is as TS Elliot says, to know it for the first time
  10. then finally a return to ordinary life, to the marketplace to become a bestower of blessings.
The ten ox-herding pictures dramatize the Buddhist teaching that enlightenment reveals the true self, showing it to be the ordinary self doing ordinary things in the most extraordinary way. Although I am not a Buddhist I recognise a truth encapsulated in the teaching and respond to it. For me it illustrates well the journey of conversion, the development of the life of faith, the attraction and call at the heart of religion and of life itself. But we need to stop to recognise this call. We need to be open to it and we might not hear it amid busyness and noise. We need silence, space, deep listening to our hearts and our circumstances. We need to recognise how much we fill up our inner space with noise, distractions, material goods. We need time out.

Religions are good at giving opportunities for time out to reflect on self, to pause and to listen. In Judaism it is Shabbat that allows for this and it would be so healthy for us all to have such a day each week. Next week begins lent and Ramadan followed at the beginning of March by the Baha’i fast. For the next six weeks there will be millions of people fasting each in their own way. For Muslims and Baha’is this is to abstain from food or drink during daylight hours; for Christians it could be discipling self by letting go of some comfort or obsession, giving up alcohol, meat, sweet deserts, social media, television. It could be decluttering, learning a new skill, doing voluntary work. The fasts are important and the discipline is good but only if they lead to conversion of heart, offer an opportunity to reflect on life to consider our pattern of living and open ourselves to personal and spiritual renewal, not just for our own sake but for the sake of the world. As millions of believers around the world embark on these times of fasting I think  it is good for those of us fasting to remember and unite our efforts with all those who are sharing in this spiritual exercise. There will be a lot of specific good energy around in the next six weeks and a concern for the future of humanity. Can we harness it so that it so that we are aware of it and become blessings of peace and reconciliation for others?    
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Follow that Star

9/1/2026

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Christmas has come to an end though it so happens that today, the 7thJanuary is the date that some 250 million orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas. This is not because the churches they belong to think 7th January is the correct date of the birth of Jesus and the 25thDecember is wrong but because they follow the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian one which the western churches follow. This calendar was an innovation brought about by Pope Gregory XIII in the 16th cy as it was regarded as a more accurate approximation of the solar year. Neither date of course is the actual date of the birthday of Jesus, but a date chosen by the Church to celebrate it, perhaps as a way of christianising pagan mid-winter festivals.

We know little about the birth of Jesus despite the stories in the New Testament that are told and sung about at this time of year. I once suggested to a class of student that they should not be telling pupils in school that Christmas was the day that Jesus was born, much to their consternation. They thought that this was an article of faith. Rather Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus and while remembering his birth it is his significance for believers and the world that is important. Like many founders of religions the birth of Jesus is told in stories that are not meant to be taken literally. In reading them or listening to them the question to ask is not what they say but what do they mean, what message does a particular story hold for us.

Traditionally for those of us following the Gregorian calendar the Christmas season ends on the feast of the Epiphany i.e. 6th January though for some churches the season can be extended to the Sunday after the Epiphany which celebrates the baptism of Jesus or even to February 2nd which is Candlemas day and remembers Jesus being taken to the temple when he was 40 days old. The story associated with the Epiphany is that of the wise men who followed a star in their search for a messiah foretold by their scriptures. There has been much debate about these magi, where they came from, what kind of star it was, and many biblical scholars believe the story  could come from a Jewish source and is midrash which is a retelling or elaboration of an Old Testament prophecy or passage of Scripture to give it new significance and meaning, something we find quite a lot of in the gospels. But the important thing is not what happened but what meaning might it have for us.

One of the symbols in the story of the magi is the star and following our own star has captured the imagination of poets. It suggests that there is a destination, future possibilities laid down for us all that will bring us fulfilment. There is I think within human nature a desire for more, an inquisitiveness to know what lies beyond ourselves and our own little world. whether that be in a cosmic, experiential or geographical sense. This inquisitiveness does not necessarily lead to a good place as in experimenting with drugs or engaging in dangerous and harmful experiences or relationships. But it suggests there is a truth in the saying of St Augustine that our hearts are restless though for St Augustine the destination that brings fulfilment is resting in God. We human beings are adventurers, participating in the great adventure of the cosmos of which we are but a small part and seeking the more in life. It is this sense of adventure that led our race to leave the plains of Africa and travel to the ends of the earth, to conquer lands not our own and establish empires. It is this desire for more that led us to put our trust in the acquisition of money and possessions, to pillage natural resources and steal from other nations. But all this does not necessarily bring happiness or fulfilment. Rather it can awaken within us a greed that is never satisfied, that sets us up in competition with one another and leads to violence and conflict.
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But I believe there is also within us a desire to be better and a belief that we can be better, if we but try.  Many people begin each new year with resolutions to do better in some aspect of their lives, even though many don’t sustain them. For religions this desire can be described as a call, a call to a deeper and fuller life which has to be worked out within the ordinary and mundane events of daily life.  Religions speak of this fuller life in different ways. For some it is called salvation, for others enlightenment.  It is not something offered on a plate but it comes with a promise of future possibilities as a result of life choices and practices that take individuals beyond the self to encompass what the poet Mary Oliver would call ever widening circles that recognise our interconnectedness with others and our responsibility for the world in which we live. Buddhists talk of the Kingdom of Shambhala, established through the virtues of wisdom and compassion, which grows silently and even secretly; Christians talk of the Kingdom of God which too comes about quietly through individuals working for peace, love, justice and mercy. These are kingdoms that are all around us if we have the eyes to see them. And they are not restricted to people of faith. This attraction, this call to a fuller life is something deep within our humanity and to be found outside of religion as much as within it. Good religion gives us a language for expressing it, bad religion is in danger of obscuring it. But above all, whether we are religious or not, we are offered future possibilities which depend on us for their fulfilment. Perhaps all will be well in the end – but perhaps not. It’s up to us.     
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Jesus, Friend of all Faiths

21/12/2025

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I am writing this at the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and this year the fourth Sunday of Advent. For those of us in the northern hemisphere the lights of Christmas and of Hanukkah are a sign of hope and comfort in these dark days. Recently I was asked to do a short video for a neighbouring parish on the significance Jesus might have for other faiths as part of their Advent preparation. Sometimes Christians are surprised to find that other religions have a respect and reverence for Jesus even if they do not identify him as the Son of God.
 
In Islam, more than any other faith, Jesus has a special status. He is mentioned 25 times in the Quran. Mary is mentioned 34 times which is more than in the Gospels.  She is In fact the only woman mentioned in the Quran and even has a chapter named after her. The Quran tells the story of Jesus conception and birth, but it is different from the one in the New Testament. In the Quran, the conception of Jesus (Isa) is a miraculous virgin birth, having been announced by the angel Gabriel but the birth takes place in a remote place under a palm tree, and as a baby, Jesus miraculously speaks to defend his mother and proclaim his status as a prophet of God. This is quite a different account from the Christian one but the important point of these stories is not to work out what happened, which one is right. Rather it is to ask what meaning there is in the stories and what do they tell us of Jesus.  For Muslims Jesus is a prophet, one the 5 great messengers of God, the mention of whose name is accompanied by the phrase ‘peace be upon him’ as happens when the name of Mohammed is spoken.  In the Quran God encourages Prophet Muhammed to take inspiration from Jesus as he, too, was persecuted for his faith and to learn from his admirable virtues which are a universal guideline for all.  Islam recognises Jesus as the messiah, the anointed one who came from God and brought the gospel to humanity.  He is seen as a preacher and miracle worker who was rejected by the Jewish authorities but in contrast to the Christian story he is stated neither to have been crucified, nor executed.  Rather he was raised alive into heaven from where he will return at the end of time  with the Mahdi, a  messianic figure who will restore justice, defeat evil, and lead the world into a golden age.  

For Jews Jesus is neither a prophet or a messiah or the Son of God. Rather he was born, lived and died a Jew, as did his early followers. It was Jewish worship, ethics, and practice that shaped Jesus’s life and teachings. It was the scriptures of his people that inspired and nurtured him.  For Jews Jesus did not intend to establish a new religion. Rather he preached a way of living the Jewish Torah and through his followers and Christianity brought the world to a knowledge of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All of this is now accepted within Catholic and other Christian circles. Unfortunately for centuries the name of Jesus became synonymous with Christian antisemitism and the charge of deicide.  Thankfully, since the promulgation of the Vatican II document, Nostra Aetate which states clearly that Jesus, his mother and the apostles were Jewish, that the Jews cannot be held responsible for the death of Jesus and that antisemitism is a sin and must be rejected, there is now a much more open approach to both Christianity and the person of Jesus within Judaism.  In the year 2000 an interdenominational group of Jewish scholars issued a statement called Dabru Emet which means Speak Truth. It was signed by over 200 rabbis and scholars and stated that Jews and Christians worship the same God. “Before the rise of Christianity, Jews were the only worshippers of the God of Israel. But Christians also worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; creator of heaven and earth. While Christian worship is not a viable religious choice for Jews, as Jewish theologians we rejoice that, through Christianity, hundreds of millions of people have entered into relationship with the God of Israel”.

Hinduism and Buddhism belong to a different family of religions but both have an acceptance of Jesus within their own systems of belief.  Hinduism is a way of life that began in India. It is rooted in religious views dating back to the  12th to 6th centuries BCE and has no single founder. There are many varieties of Hinduism embracing a complex and divergent set of views, and for this reason, it is difficult to isolate a unified set of beliefs related to Jesus. But many have no difficult in seeing Jesus as a holy man and a wise teacher, even a manifestation of divinity but not unique in this. This was the case with Mahatma Gandhi who greatly admired the teaching of Jesus greatly particularly that found in  the Sermon on the Mount which he read constantly.

Buddhism as religion is based primarily on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama who lived in the 5th/6th cy BCE and who is known as the Buddha, the Enlightened One. Buddhism too incorporates a variety of religious traditions, beliefs and practices. Like Hinduism, it provides no singular unified view about Jesus, although a number of Jesus’ characteristics are described by many Buddhists.  For them Jesus a holy man, an enlightened man, a wise teacher.  Some Buddhists including the 14th Dali Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, and the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Tich Nhat Hanh have recognized Jesus as a” bodhisattva” that is one who delays final salvation seen as escape from the round of rebirth until all sentient beings are saved. In other words a man of infinite compassion and love. For Tich Nhat Hanh Jesus and the Buddha are brothers and he had a picture of this on his personal shrine. He has written “on the altar of my hermitage in France are images of the Buddha and Jesus and every time I light incense I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors. I can do this because of contact through friendship with real Christians like Martin Luther King who truly embody the spirit of understanding and compassion of Jesus. When you touch someone who authentically represents a tradition you also touch your own …… when those who represent a spiritual tradition embody the essence of it just in the way they walk, sit and smile speaks volumes about the tradition”
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Is this not a salutary lesson for us all? And perhaps the real meaning of Christmas.

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Two Interfaith Declarations

16/11/2025

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Religious education is the only compulsory subject to be taught in British schools and the only one from which parents can withdraw their children. Over the last fifty years religious education has moved from focussing on Christian teaching to involving knowledge and understanding of the major world faith traditions. It aims to encourage a religious literacy that hopefully will benefit society and reduce discrimination and prejudice. The young people in our schools are hopefully growing up with an understanding and respect for difference. But it should not stop there.

A recent report from Theos is called Beyond the Classroom. Theos is a Christian religion and society think tank which researches the relationship between religion, politics and society in the contemporary world and in this report it suggests that “In a time of growing division, where religion is often seen as a problem, religious education cannot, and indeed does not, only take place within the classroom or within formal education. If we are to build compassionate, cohesive societies, we need to understand religious education as something active, lifelong, evolving and to be taken seriously” It so happens that the report was published at a time when both Scotland and England were celebrating their interfaith weeks. In both countries there will have been hundreds of events and many people will have been introduced to the world of others for the first time while others will have deepened friendships. And yet there will be thousands who knew nothing of it despite the hard work of faith communities and interfaith organisations to publicise events. This the Theos report would suggest is a missed opportunity for a better society.

At a landmark gathering in Glasgow, representatives from across Glasgow’s faith and belief communities marked the city’s 850th anniversary with the launch of the Glasgow 850 Interfaith Declaration—a statement of shared values and commitments to build a more just, inclusive, and compassionate city. It was signed by senior representatives from Glasgow’s diverse communities, with Glasgow’s Lord Provost, Councillor Jacqueline McLaren, as witness.

 The preamble to the Declaration states that it is a shared wish for Glasgow’s flourishing – and a wider concern for people and planet and a commitment in a spirit of friendship and cooperation to nurture constructive relationships, to celebrate the role of faith and belief in building a more compassionate, just and cohesive Glasgow and working for equality, welcoming refugees, advocating for peace and challenging prejudice in all its forms. It is a great vision and one to whom many of good faith whether religious or not could subscribe but the challenge comes in making it a reality in our common life. I hope that the religious leaders who so willingly signed the declaration and were sincere that this indeed reflected their wishes and concerns will alert those in their charge to sign it but more importantly to live it.  If the Theos report is correct then we do need more interfaith commitment and while a lot goes on at grassroot level and religious leaders are willing on occasion to come together we need the leaders within our communities to support it and witness to its importance.

This wasn’t the only interfaith declaration that came my way recently. The other one came from Jerusalem, from Bat Kol International (BKI) — an international network of educators and animators that fosters Christian appreciation and respect for Jewish communities and the practices and values of Judaism.  It was not celebrating Interfaith Week but the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate and was part of new online resources to mark the anniversary. It too had an invitation to sign a 2025 Declaration on Jewish-Christian Relations as a pledge of commitment to the achievements and aspirations of Nostra Aetate. The preamble has most significance for Christians and Jews but is important I would think for all faiths and for interfaith harmony in our world. It states “On the 60th anniversary of the promulgation of the Vatican II document, Nostra Aetate (28 October 2025), you are invited to support and affirm this Declaration on Jewish-Christian Relations. By appending your name to this Declaration, you affirm your commitment to the positive changes that have taken place between Christians and Jews since Nostra Aetate, and the work yet to be realized”. But many of its pledges are more universal than that.

 For example It pledges “to respect the dignity, essential holiness, and moral potential of all people without any distinctions, and to deplore hatred and persecution at any time from any source; to bring light to dispel the darkness of ignorance, prejudice, and misunderstanding by working together for justice, peace, the integrity of creation, and an end to suffering in our world; to pray for one another for peace in our hearts and peace in our world ;……     to engage in attentive and respectful interreligious dialogue;….. to support interreligious and intercultural education by promoting positive images of each other and rejecting negative stereotypes and prejudices; to seek peace and actively pursue it as we uphold the hope that one day we shall enjoy lasting peace for the benefit of all; to become a blessing for others, to receive the blessings we need for the journey we share, and for the wisdom to know we have been blessed”.
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Another wonderful vision to which we can subscribe and which we can promote. Much of interfaith work is mundane. Meetings and dialogues must be arranged, catering and venues organised, even attending in inclement weather takes a commitment. There is much joy in it but not all dialogues are easy. However for me and for my many interfaith friends it is the vision set out in both these declarations that energises and motivates us and gives us a sense of purpose. We hope that our small contribution can be a witness to possibilities and sow seeds for the future. In this we are indeed blessed and pray that we might be a blessing to others, our society and our world, 
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Celebrating Nostra Aetate

2/11/2025

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October 28th this year was the 60th anniversary of the promulgation of the document Nostra Aetate. It was one of the last documents to be publicly and formally ratified at the Second Vatican Council but one which has significantly changed the Catholic Church’s relationship with people of faith. Like all Vatican Documents it is called by the first two words of the latin translation – Nostra Aetate – In Our Time and the first words of this short document set the scene  “In our time when day by day mankind (sic)is being drawn closer together and the ties between different people are becoming stronger the Church examines more closely her relations to non – Christian religions.” This was a historic moment for a Church which because it had believed and preached no salvation outside the Church saw other faiths as being in error and worthy only of conversion.   

At the heart of the document and its most developed section is the one on Judaism, though other sections do reflect on Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.  The Church’s history of relations with the Jews had been an unhappy one to say the least. Forced sermons, legal restrictions, forced expulsions, accusations of being God – killers had led to the Jewish community living in isolation and being subject to violence and abuse at the hands of Christians.  The Jews were regarded as perfidious – God had rejected them because they had rejected the Messiah and the Church was now the new People of God, the true inheritors of the Covenant.

This traditional teaching was turned on its head as the Church acknowledged that Jews and Christians share a religious bond and spiritual legacy. The Church decried hatred, persecutions, displays of antisemitism directed against Jews at any time and by anyone. Any sense of Jews being under a curse was rejected as was the accusation that they were responsible for the death of Jesus.  There was no talk of the need to convert the Jews. Rather the document said that “the church awaits that day, known to God alone on which all people will address the Lord in a single voice and “serve him shoulder to shoulder”.  There was no sense that God had repudiated the covenant with the Jews. They are still His chosen people for “God does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues”

These were strong statements in the light of past history but some Jews were disappointed that there was no expression of sorrow or apology for past anti- Semitism.  While some might have been disappointed others realised its significance in overturning centuries of anti-Jewish attitudes. Rabbi David Rosen, the American Jewish Committee's head of Inter-religious Relations and Adviser to the Rabbinate of Israel, speaking some years ago in Scotland, said that he did not know of any other document or action that had so transformed human relations as Nostra Aetate.  For him Nostra Aetate “a monumental turnaround” unparalleled in history was a sign of hope that any relationship whether religious or political could be changed. Rabbi Rosen said: “There is no parallel in human history for the transformation that has taken place. From being a community seen as cursed by God, deserving of suffering and condemned to wander the world homeless, to a relationship of respect as the ‘elder brother’ of the covenant – never broken or to be broken – is a blessed transformation in our times.”

And so began the journey of interreligious dialogue where together faiths could share their wisdom and truth, a journey witnessed to by all the Popes since John XXIII and one which is now seen as intrinsic to the catholic faith. It is this journey that has been celebrated this past week in conferences and dialogues throughout the world. At the Vatican Conference, Walking Together in Hope, Pope Leo called Nostra Aetate a luminous document which “teaches us to meet the followers of other religions not as outsiders, but as travelling companions on the path of truth”. Addressing representatives of world religions, members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, and Vatican and Church officials committed to interreligious dialogue, who had gathered in the Paul VI Hall to celebrate the anniversary of this historic Declaration the Pope continued “Today, your presence bears witness that this seed has grown into a mighty tree, its branches reaching far and wide, offering shelter and bearing the rich fruits of understanding, friendship, cooperation and peace.”
It would be very difficult for people of faith today to deny the need for interreligious dialogue and in all faiths there are those who in their commitment to it are a beacon of hope and in their dialogues show that a way of fellowship and harmony is possible across diversity and difference. Dialogue has its joys and its blessings but also its misunderstandings, difficulties and conflicts especially when associated with geo-political tensions but said the Pope “we must not allow political circumstances and the injustices of some to divert us from friendship, especially since we have achieved so much so far……Nostra Aetate reminds us that true dialogue is rooted in love, the only foundation of peace, justice and reconciliation, whereas it firmly rejects every form of discrimination or persecution, affirming the equal dignity of every human being.  More than ever, our world needs our unity, our friendship and our collaboration. Each one of our religions can contribute to alleviating human suffering and taking care of our common home, our planet Earth. Our respective traditions teach truth, compassion, reconciliation, justice and peace. We must reaffirm service to humanity, at all times.”

​Wonderfully strong, inspiring and encouraging words for those of us engaged in dialogue. We have come a long way but we have still further to travel. This week is Interfaith Week in Scotland and there will be many interfaith events which offer the opportunity to all to enter into the world of dialogue. Hopefully more and more people will do so  knowing that in doing so they are sowing seeds of hope, peace and reconciliation in our land and in our world.
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Nurturing Peace

17/10/2025

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​Each year the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue sends greetings to faith communities throughout the world and the latest has been sent to the Hindu community as they prepare to celebrate the festival of Diwali (Deepavali) on 20 October. As with all the letters from the Dicastery there is a theme and this year it is 'Hindus and Christians: Building world peace through dialogue and collaboration in the spirit of Nostra Aetate'. It invites Christians and Hindus, "as believers rooted in our respective faith traditions, and as people united by shared values and a common concern for peace, may we... together with those of other religions and all people of goodwill - join hands in both small and great ways to nurture peace in our homes, communities and societies."

Reflecting on the fact that the 28th October is the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, Cardinal Koovakad, Prefect to the Dicastery, writes “During this festive season, we invite you to join us in reflecting on how Christians and Hindus, together with people of all faiths and goodwill, can strengthen our shared efforts for peace through dialogue and collaboration in the spirit of Nostra Aetate." This he said is rooted in "promoting unity and love among people, indeed among nations" by focusing on "what people have in common and what draws them to fellowship …In today's world, where mistrust, polarization, tensions and divisions are on the rise, interreligious dialogue is more necessary than ever. It must continue to sow seeds of unity and harmony, becoming a beacon of hope for all."

These are noble sentiments and my own conviction is that interreligious friendship and dialogue can be a witness to the possibility that we can live with and even understand difference in a world that doesn’t like difference. But it’s not easy and much of our interfaith dialogue is preparing the way for deeper and more honest dialogue that looks not just at what we have in common but rather at the issues that are in danger of continuing the polarisation and division. There is a danger that we never get to that point, afraid to face the elephant in the room so that interreligious dialogue is like a toothless tiger that does not bring about change or transformation. I have been to so many dialogues where we have talked about food, festivals, rites of passage, even beliefs that are interesting and important especially for people for whom this is their first experience of meeting someone from another faith. But how do we dialogue and what do we dialogue about so that the participants have the experience of standing in the shoes of another and seeing life from that perspective? Sometimes this does show commonalities for we are indeed united in our humanity, and all faiths are dealing with the same fundamental questions of life and death and we can extend our own understanding of these questions by encountering the wisdom of other traditions.  Sometimes people are not too interested in standing in the shoes of another but participate in the dialogue to tell their own story rather than listen to that of the other. This can be particularly true if the dialogue partner feels their faith is in the minority and misunderstood by society or seems to suffer from discrimination more than others.

Recently I was sent a statement by Helen Mirren which states that there is no point in arguing with anyone not mature enough to grasp the concept of a different perspective .. there’s a difference between a healthy discussion and a pointless debate.  It was sent in the context of the conflict in Gaza, suggesting that there is no point in talking to the ‘other’side but I wonder if there is a point in listening to the other side, which is what dialogue is fundamentally about. It’s not about changing one’s own beliefs but it is about trying to understand the other side – and them understanding you. This of course requires an openness to others, a belief that our own perspective might be limited and in some circumstances a great deal of courage.

One of the most meaningful dialogues I have participated in was one set up by Interfaith Glasgow and the West of Scotland branch of the Council of Christians and Jews. Some Christians and Jews were invited to engage in a dialogue which looked at antisemitism as it related to the situation in Israel and Palestine. This was before the present war but even then nothing seemed to polarise people as much as the conflict in the Middle East. There were tense moments in the dialogue but the honesty between the participants allowed for a growth in understanding and a recognition of the different perspectives we can have of the same situation. The results of this dialogue was the publication of a report ‘Creating Brave Spaces’ which described the processes and tools used in the dialogue as well as reflections from the participants and the facilitators. We learned that these dialogues need careful planning and facilitation using a variety of tools to foster active listening. Participants must feel safe. That is why they cannot be entered into easily and why some of the ‘softer’ dialogues are necessary and good preparation for the more difficult conversations.

One of the first lessons learned in these difficult spaces is how language can mean different things in different contexts and lead to misunderstandings. As I said in my last blog the cry “from the river to the sea…. “heard during peace marches and demonstrations is heard and interpreted quite differently by the Jewish community than it will be by many demonstrating who know nothing of it as a Hamas slogan and think they are only calling for peace. So interfaith dialogue and its desire for a deep peace is not easy. At the moment in the context for me of Christian – Jewish relations it demands courage to meet the moment and not escape into a superficial peace, to recognise the pain of all involved and feel that pain, to feel uncomfortable but honest and often misunderstood, to truly listen to where people are coming from and feel compassion. It’s all I can do, hoping and praying that it sows a seed for peace in my corner of the world that might just have a ripple effect elsewhere  
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Interreligious Peacemaking

17/9/2025

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The situation in the Gaza seems to go from bad to worse. The scenes on our televised news programmes night after night are distressing. This cannot be called a war in the conventional sense as it seems so one sided. Ordinary men and women from both Palestine and Israel are being let down by governments that refuse to listen to their calls for peace. Recently at a demonstration in Palestine against the Hamas government cries of “All of Hamas, out!” were heard. One participant said “The world thinks that Gaza is Hamas and Hamas is Gaza.  "We didn't choose Hamas and now Hamas is determined to rule Gaza and tie our fate to its own. Hamas must retreat." Al- Natour, a columnist in the Washington Post earlier this year wrote "To support Hamas is to be for Palestinian death, not Palestinian freedom".  To engage in such opposition is both courageous and dangerous and Amnesty International has documented what it calls “a disturbing pattern of threats, intimidation and harassment, including interrogations and beatings by Hamas against peaceful protesters”.

So too there have been increasing demonstrations calling for peace and the return of the hostages in Israel, which are obviously being ignored by their government.  Recently an international coalition of over 80 orthodox rabbis urged Israel to confront the widespread starvation in Gaza and condemn extremist settler violence. In a statement entitled “A Call for Moral Clarity, Responsibility, and a Jewish Orthodox Response in the Face of the Gaza Humanitarian Crisis” the signatories emphasize their deep bond with Israel and acknowledge the atrocities committed by Hamas but insist that this does not absolve Israel of responsibility for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. “The heart of Torah is justice, not revenge” it states. “This moment demands a different voice—one grounded in our deepest Jewish values and informed by our traumatic history of persecution. We must affirm that Judaism’s vision of justice and compassion extends to all human beings…..  Let us be resounding voices for justice, righteousness, and peace for all people—even and especially in the hardest of times.”

But how do we as Christians respond to the dreadful situation in the land that gave birth to Jesus?  Christianity is a faith that upholds justice, and many of us have a particular concern for the poor and oppressed. We call out injustice when we see it.  Regarding the situation in the Middle East this means showing support for Palestine and being overt in criticising the State of Israel and taking it for granted that others share this opinion. To even suggest there might be another way of looking at things is to provoke an angry response and dismissal as someone who supports injustice and stands with the oppressor.  In my experience there is usually no willingness to engage in a conversation about it as it is so obvious that there  will be no peace in Israel/Gaza without justice and we must call out the injustice because it is obvious where right lies. And so, we have statement after statement calling for peace, demonstration after demonstration in support of Palestine, event after event telling of the sufferings of the Palestinian people.

This, however, is not the way of interreligious dialogue. While it is true that there will be no peace without justice, so too there will be no justice without peace.  What would it mean to make peacebuilding rather than justice the focus of our concern? Hans Kung gave us the formula for this many years ago “there will be no peace in the world without peace between the religions; there will be no peace between the religions without dialogue among the religions”. The way of peace is the way of dialogue. For those of us involved in interfaith an important element in our work is not to allow international conflicts to destroy good relations at home. The reality of the Israel/Palestine conflict has done just that and led to an increase in antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment so that some members of the Jewish community are afraid to admit openly that they are Jewish and feel unsafe in Scotland for the first time in their lives.  A recent public gathering to remember and pray for the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7th 2023 had pro- Palestinian supporters calling the participants rats, lizards, reptiles and baby-killers, the kind of language that encourages hatred and is often a forerunner of violence.  

The Jewish community in Scotland is not responsible for the decisions and actions of the Israeli government, just as the catholic community in Scotland was not responsible for the actions of the IRA in the past. Many of them will not agree with the government and I have not met anyone who would support Netanyahu. However, they do have a love of Israel and a belief in the State of Israel’s right to self -determination. For them Israel is the only place in the world where they feel truly safe. The chant heard on peace marches and at peace events “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free” comes from Hamas who style themselves as an Islamic Resistance Movement and have declared in their Covenant of 1988 that they want the obliteration of the Jewish State, the establishment of an Islamic one and that they reject all peace negotiations. They contend that the Jews were behind “the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about, here and there. With their money they formed secret societies, such as Freemasons, Rotary Clubs, the Lions and others in different parts of the world for the purpose of sabotaging societies and achieving Zionist interests....  They were behind World War I, when they were able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate, making financial gains and controlling resources. They obtained the Balfour Declaration, formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains by trading in armaments, and paved the way for the establishment of their state. It was they who instigated the replacement of the League of Nations with the United Nations and the Security Council to enable them to rule the world through them. There is no war going on anywhere, without having their finger in it. Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people. "May the cowards never sleep."

These kind of stories are not unknown in the West and over the centuries such scurrilous tales including blood libels that believed Jews used the blood of Christian children in the leaven bread of Passover led through the centuries to pogroms, forced conversions and expulsions. It was the centuries of Christian antisemitism that led to the growth of a Zionist movement that worked for the establishment of a Jewish State. So the cry “from the river to the sea…. “ heard during peace marches and demonstrations is heard and interpreted  quite differently by the Jewish community than it will be by many demonstrating who know nothing of its origins and think they are only calling for peace. 

I often hear the Balfour Declaration blamed for the situation in Palestine and it is true that to expect two nations to inhabit the same piece of land without any help on how this should be done was short-sighted if not down right wrong but the Balfour Declaration did not come from no-where and the situation might have been quite different if there had not been the dreadful history of Christian antisemitism. 

This year we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate which came into being after a Jewish historian, Jules Isaac, had met Pope John XXIII and pointed out the ways in which the Christian scriptures and scripture teaching had been interpreted in anti- Jewish ways.  The document began a new relationship with the Jewish community. It rejected traditional anti- Jewish tropes and accepted our need for a new dialogue and understanding of Judaism.  I hope that the situation in Gaza does not overshadow the work that still needs to be done in listening to our brothers and sisters in faith. 

Let us then celebrate this anniversary by engaging in some kind of Christian – Jewish dialogue, learning to stand in another’s shoes, understanding how things might look from another perspective and in  so doing know that we are indeed engaging in practical peace-making and making the world that bit a safer place for us all to live.
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An Unusual Dialogue

4/9/2025

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I had a very interesting interfaith encounter this weekend. It was a visit to new Hindu Mandir in East Renfrewshire. What was so interesting about this visit was that the temple is located in a former orthodox synagogue which has recently closed and merged with another synagogue fairly close by. The Hindu community had been looking for a place of worship and were delighted to be able to lease the synagogue as a place already sacred and dedicated to prayer. The visit was organised by the West of Scotland Council of Christians and Jews and as well as members of the branch of CCJ a number of Jews who were members of the Reform Synagogue (now known as the Progressive Synagogue with the merger of Reform and Liberal Judaism) that is just behind the Mandir, curious to see how the synagogue had been adapted to the Hindu community’s needs.

Judaism and Hinduism are very different religions. Sometimes students of religious studies group religions by similar characteristics. One way of doing this – at least for Christians – is to think of them as displaying protestant and catholic traits. Protestant faiths would be Judaism, Islam and certain schools of Buddhism such as Zen. These religions have simple prayer rituals, are devoid of images and focus very much on the word. Catholic faiths on the other hand are usually more colourful, with images, smells and bells and a more stylised liturgy. Hinduism would come in to this category as would Tibetan Buddhism. As an orthodox synagogue the building in Newton Mearns would have had no images or colourful decoration, the Ark which housed the Torah Scrolls would have taken centre stage, the congregation would have been seated in pews and religious dress would have been a prayer shawl and kippah worn by men but not by women. As a Hindu Temple, the Ark and the Bimah or platform from which the Scriptures would have been read had been removed which gave an empty space in the middle of the temple and the focus was a highly decorated shrine with several statues of Hindu deities. I wondered how Jewish friends would feel about this change and thought some might feel uncomfortable. But no, the Jews who visited last Sunday were delighted to be there and very happy to make contact with the community. Perhaps this was because they came from the Reform Synagogue though some of them had attended services in that synagogue.

We entered the building through the main entrance which had Hebrew writing over it telling us “ Happy are those who dwell in Your house; they forever praise You”. We  were very warmly welcomed by the President of the Mandir before taking off our shoes in the cloakroom and mounting the stairs to the temple itself. There were several people around and obvious preparations for events happening that afternoon, but the prayer space itself was empty as the formal worship, called puja, had not yet started. The pews from the synagogue surrounded the space where the community would be sitting on the floor, many of them carrying the names of members of the Jewish community whom I suppose had paid for that seat. It was not hard to imagine the spirit of those people and the energy of their prayers still being around and somehow adding to the energy and good will of the Hindu puja. Fanciful? Perhaps. I do believe that places of worship that have been prayed in for years and in some cases centuries do have an energy that comes from the faith of the worshippers and that all things are connected and interrelated in a way that reaches to the past as well as the present and future. It was not hard for me to imagine those members of the Jewish community embracing their Hindu brothers and sisters as they prayed.

 There was time for dialogue and learning more about the community. We learned that the Hindu approach to God is two-fold – manifest and unmanifest. The manifest takes the form of pictures and statues as a focus for the mind but leads to an experience and sense of God as unmanifest, a Mystery acknowledged by all religions including Judaism and Christianity. The Mandir is called Mother Earth Temple which is so appropriate for the times we live in and reflects the Hindu connection to the earth which is regarded as a Sacred Goddess who is the mother of every form of life that has ever taken birth from her and has lived upon her. Whatever one’s background, and whatever name one knows God by, Mother Earth unites us. The community wants the temple to be a space for people of all faiths and none to pause, meditate and reflect, to re-establish unity while sharing and celebrating diversity. 

Despite the strangeness and the differences between Hinduism and Judaism everyone felt very at home and began to see connections. Both religions follow a lunar calendar which means they are often celebrating festivals at the same time; both religions have a plethora of festivals and often these festivals last for days at a time; there is a perambulation round the shrine in Hinduism and round the Synagogue at the feast of Sukkot and Simcha Torah.  

​This year Sukkot takes place early in October. It celebrates a successful harvest and is a reminder of the time the Israelites spent in the desert after the Exodus. It is celebrated by building a sukkah - a temporary hut which has a roof made of plants, fruits or leaves, and families eat meals and spend time in it during the festival. There will be one outside the Reform Synagogue, so the rabbi promised an invitation to the Hindu community. They were delighted. This hopefully will be the beginning of a friendship and dialogue which I suspect will be unique in the world of interreligious dialogue. I look forward to seeing how it flourishes.
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Ever Widening Circles

16/8/2025

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There is a story in the Hindu scripture in which the Lord Krishna is depicted as a flute player who entices the young women of the village with his music. Attracted by his flute they leave their homes, their families, their husbands to dance the night away with Krishna who multiplies himself so that each one feels herself totally loved.  Hearing his call, they have no option but to follow even if to do so is to break convention and tradition. Mary Oliver’s poem the journey expresses the same sentiments when she says that one day you know what you have to do as you “strode deeper and deeper into the world.”  
 
Recently I’ve been part of a small workshop in which the participants were to reflect on their life and answer the question Who am I?  I became aware that like the young women attracted to Krishna or the attraction to life in Mary Oliver’s poem my life has been a journey to move in ever wider circles, attracted by future possibilities.  Another way of expressing this is to see it as a call, a call that I believe is at the heart of a life in which all of humanity participates and which comes to each of us from the beginning of time. We all have our own journey but this is mine:
 
 I have been called forth since the beginning of time when 13.7 billion years ago, with a great flaring forth of light, the universe was born,

I have been called forth through the formation of a planet of burning molten rock and its transformation into birds and bees and butterflies and into the emergence of human thought and music and love,

I have been called forth through the emergence of homo sapiens and all the ages and stages of the human journey to be given form at this moment in history, enriched by the gifts and wisdom of the past but constrained by its present limitations.

I was called forth into this present existence when I was born in my grandparents’ home in Glasgow towards the end of the war and given faith and nourishment in a loving and committed catholic family, particularly through my grandmother to whom I feel particularly close.  I treasure and am grateful for an abiding memory that I have of sitting by her side while she read stories of the lives of the saints from small highly illustrated books.  These captured my imagination, and I am sure sowed the seeds of my religious vocation.

The call into life and faith was deepened through a loving and committed family and church life as well as a catholic education which nurtured and deepened my belief in God and my attraction to religion and spirituality. Training to be a teacher at Notre Dame college consolidated this attraction so that I entered the novitiate of the Sisters of Notre Dame, which was a difficult experience as in the silence I had to face up to my inner demons and struggles.

The call to service came through my experience of ministry in teaching and lecturing before going to study at Lancaster University.

 Lancaster turned out to be the catalyst for a profound call, which was not immediately recognised, but changed my life, my faith and my understanding of religion. I came to see it as the most graced moment of my life. It was a watershed so that I could think of my life’s journey as pre-Lancaster and post-Lancaster.  

 Through the experience of studying world faiths and the responsibility for teaching world religions at Notre Dame college and my involvement in the Glasgow Sharing of Faiths I was able to pass over into the world of other  faiths through reading and reflecting on their scriptures, studying and teaching their beliefs, visiting their places of worship as well as parts of the world such as Israel, India, Pakistan, Japan and China where faiths other than Christianity were dominant.  But more importantly I came to know and appreciate friends within those faiths who were living good and upright lives and were obviously in a loving and real relationship with that Reality we call God.

I then came back to my own to know myself and my understanding of my Catholic Christianity as changed. I struggled with traditional expressions of faith as found in the creeds and liturgy as I prepared and taught theology, grateful for the openness and inclusiveness of the theology coming from the Second Vatican Council, a theology not always acknowledged in church. The call now was to reach beyond the confines of one faith to embrace others and to work in the field of interreligious dialogue and religious education in an ecumenical context which was a source of many graces so that interreligious dialogue has become the very air I breathe.

 The initial call that came to me at my grandmother’s knee has continued throughout my life. I still feel the attraction to spirituality, theology, interfaith relations and am grateful for the opportunities I have to continue this interest and hopefully to grow in wisdom and faith. I am particularly grateful for the modern developments in theology that take seriously the story of the universe and the work of ecology which, along with Buddhism has helped transform my understanding of God, self and life.  Now I have come to understand the gospel message and my Catholic faith in new ways so that I see the core of the Gospel message as being about the fullness of life. 
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The call will continue, and the time is coming when it will lead to death and whatever follows after. This gift of life has been an adventure and like all adventures it has had its moments of light and darkness, joys and sorrows. It has been a journey of exploration. It has led me to face up to my inner self through study, prayer, retreats and spiritual direction. It has also led me to explore and teach theology, justice issues and world religions. The opportunity to study, read about, dialogue with other faiths and encounter many wonderful people has been a transforming one, both for my understanding of myself and my faith.  I am very grateful for all that my life in Notre Dame has given me and for the community that has made this possible.  I hope that I have contributed in some way to what Christians would call the Kingdom of God and that whatever the future holds I can continue to contribute in whatever small way I can to the well-being of all sentient beings and so take the human family a little further on its journey towards love. It’s a great adventure and one we are all engaged in if we but knew it. 
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Joanna Macy, A Prophet for our Time

26/7/2025

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On 19th July a remarkable woman died.  Her name was Joanna Macy and she was 96 years old.  There have been many tributes to her and her work.   The one from the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology described her as “an extraordinary teacher, writer, and activist whose work will influence many people and projects for years to come. She was a luminous being with an extraordinarily generous spirit. Her Buddhist-inspired wisdom and compassion gave her the energy to work in the areas of ecology, justice, and peace throughout her life”. I have a sense of sadness at her death and feel that the world is the poorer for her passing, but her influence will carry on.  I didn’t know her personally, but she was influential in my life through her writing, workshops and lectures, many of which can be found on YouTube.

I first came to know her work when I bought a book of hers thirty years ago on Iona. It was called ‘World as Lover, World as Self’. It focussed on our interrelatedness and interdependency with nature, something which we must embrace if we are to have a sustainable future for humanity and our world. What I remember most about the book is a meditation which I have often used with groups. It guides us to connect with our parents, grandparents, our ancestors, travelling in our imagination through all the stages of history to that point when homo sapiens sets forth in its journey into the world. Then we imagine the call to life coming in reverse from that first moment of the human journey through all the stages of history, through the generations of our grandparents and parents to be given life and form at this point in history. For me this was mind blowing and changed my whole sense of self. I am not an individual who is separate from all those who in my past have passed on the gift of life, generation after generation. They live in me.  My life force, DNA goes back to the moment when it first began. I am mistaken if I think I live a life separate from them. As Thich Nhat Hanh has said “I have arrived, I am home in the here and the now”. 

My next encounter with Joanna was many years later through her book, ‘Active Hope’ written in partnership with Chris Johnstone. It was the subtitle that attracted me - ‘How to Face the Mess We Are in Without Going Crazy’ though this was changed in later editions of the book to ‘How to Face the Mess We Are in With Unexpected Resilience and Creative Power’.  This book sets out Joanna’s philosophy and draws on her work of leading empowering workshops and setting up the Work that Reconnects Network. For Joanna there are three possible stories, true of society at the moment, that we can choose to live by -  Business as Usual which suggests there is very little that needs to change in the way we live; the Great Unravelling which draws attention to and indeed contributes to the disasters and crises caused by a Business as Usual approach such as economic, social and environmental collapse; the Great Turning which is for those who don’t want the Great Unraveling to have the last word and so seek new ways of relating and acting to move from an Industrial Growth Society to a Life Sustaining one. The last is the one to which Joanna Macy dedicated her life and the focus of the Work that Reconnects. The process and sequence of the experiential side of the work is a spiral in which one begins with gratitude, moves through honouring our pain for the world, seeing with new eyes and then going forth to contribute to the transformation of our planet in whatever way is ours to do.  
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I have been fortunate enough to have read and worked through the exercises in Active Hope with a group in my community, to have taken part in a retreat which worked through the spiral, using Joanna’s exercises and to have been at the launch of the Scottish Network of ‘The Work that Reconnects’ as well as several of their training days. So, I feel that the spiral and the approach of the Work that Reconnects has became a part of my life and I am grateful for it.  This year the Work that Reconnects is celebrating its 10th anniversary which means it was set up when Joanna was 86 years old, no doubt not single handedly, but still a challenging thought for someone of my age. Joanna was a great storyteller and one story she loved to tell and one which I have used is about the Shambhala Warrior.

 It actually comes from the Tibetan tradition and was written in the 12th cy.  It goes like this.
“There comes a time when all life on Earth is in danger…. It is now, when the future of all beings hangs by the frailest of threads, that the kingdom of Shambhala emerges.
"You cannot go there, for it is not a place. It exists in the hearts and minds of the Shambhala warriors. But you cannot recognize a Shambhala warrior by sight, for there is no uniform or insignia, there are no banners……. great courage is required of the Shambhala warriors, moral and physical courage. And for this they must go into training  -   and how do they train?
"They train in the use of two weapons, the weapons of insight and compassion, insight to recognise everyone as their brothers and sisters, compassion to feel the pain of the world and respond with love.”
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I am one of the many who will mourn Joanna Macy but above all I will be grateful for the legacy she has left and the knowledge that all who are seeking to participate in the Great Turning, and there are myriad ways of doing this,  are part of a great movement for the transformation of our world and the establishment of the Kingdom of Shambhala which for Christians is the Kingdom of God.  

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    I am  a Catholic nun, involved in interfaith relations for many decades.  For me this has been an exciting and sacred journey which I would like to share with others.

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