Religion and politics can give rise to strong feelings and a passion that feels the need to bring others on to our side. This was obvious in a recent meeting about the upcoming referendum in Scotland.  But it's easy to move from passion to a hotheadedness which stops us listening to the other side.  Whatever 'side' we're on there's a strong conviction that we're right. 

All religions that  I've come across believe they're right and have a strong sense of mission even though they insist they're not proselytising. Mission of course is not the same as proselytisation though for many people the two are confused. To want to share one's faith, to share its wisdom, to want people to know the best of our faith, to understand the values and benefits of its practice is natural, I think.  Some faiths that claim not to be missionary have courses and public meetings, publications etc to promote an understanding of their faith. If this is not mission what is it?    What makes it acceptable is that it is on offer to be accepted or rejected with no compulsion to convert.

March's Jesuit on the British Province calendar to mark the 200th anniversary of the restoration of the Society of Jesus is a missionary I had never heard of: Pierre-Jean de Smet who, although Belgian, entered the Jesuits in North America in 1821 and worked with North American Indians.  No doubt motivated by a passionate missionary zeal and wanting people to be baptised he came to know and respect the people among whom he lived and worked.  He ventured into uncharted territories, met and got to know many of the North American tribes and worked for reconciliation and peace between them. Interesting to me was that he was accompanied on at least one of his voyages by six Sisters of Notre Dame, members of my own religious community.

His work was done against a background of brutality and violence against the native tribes,  the degradation of their culture as a result of the whiskey trade and the expansion of white settlers into their lands. He dreamed of establishing  settled communities that would ensure peace between the tribes and legitimise their claims on their threatened territory.  He worked with the native tribes and American Government to broker peace treaties.   In spite of all of de Smet's efforts peace was never achieved.  Of all the  500 or so treaties made with the Indians over a period extending from the foundation of the United States until the early years of the 20th century, all were ultimately broken.

Did he fail as a missionary?  His desires and hopes for the native tribes didn't materialise.  But he did show what the Christian gospel was about and therefore what missionary work is all about -  to encounter others with a heart full of compassion,  to show  respect for their customs and ways,  to have the courage to enter into the unknown,  to work  to establish friendships, and work for the good and wellbeing of others. In this context sharing truth becomes an exercise in mutual enrichment, a meeting of minds and an exploration of truth. This is much more impressive to my mind than thousands of converts won over by charismatic teaching or persuasive arguments. Given this approach missionary zeal is not to be feared but to be encouraged as a contribution to peace and reconciliation.

Spring festivals are in the air.  This past  week thousands of people across India celebrated the festival of Holi, which involves people throwing coloured powder and water at each other. It's all rather messy and no respecter of persons but great fun. It's an exuberant explosion of colour which marks the beginning of spring. Away with the drabness of winter and welcome to spontaneity, joy and fun.

I tried to find out if there was to be a celebration of it in Glasgow but couldn't get any information though I know the Hindu community has done it in the past.  Subject still to endless rain I'm not sure we're convinced that drabness and winter weather have had their day though perhaps we should celebrate colour a bit more to remind us that there is light and hope even in drabness. So maybe this is the time to do away with dark winter colours and make a splash with something bright and joyful.

Holi is not a particularly religious festival though there are religious stories which give it a religious meaning.  One is the story of the Lord Krishna who, as a mischievous young boy, threw coloured water over the milkmaids in his village. Another story is that of Prince Prahlad who was saved from a bonfire because of his steadfast worship of the god Vishnu.  Thus bonfires also play a part in Holi and an effigy of the demon in Prahlad's story is often burnt on the fires.  Singing and dancing around these fires can go on all night with not much sleep for neighbours as I know to my cost.

I like all this exuberance and have a lot of affection for Krishna. It's refreshing to have a god who delights in practical jokes, sings and dances, enjoys life while all the time saving and caring for his people. Sometimes I think religion and religious systems can be so solemn and take themselves too seriously.  Holi is a good reminder to lighten up a little, I think.

The Baha'i community has also been celebrating this weekend.  Friday was the festival of  Naw Ruz and the celebrations will have been joyful if not as exuberant as the Hindu ones. Falling on the spring equinox it marks a new year and celebrates the new life of spring.  It's preceded by a nineteen day fast during which the faithful refrain from eating and drinking during day light hours.  This can't be too easy and I marvel at Baha'i's refusing coffee or biscuits while watching  the rest of us tucking into them.  I'm sure this preparation makes the celebratory meals at the end of the fast more enjoyable.

The Baha'i  fast takes place at  the same time as the Christian season of lent though Christians don't keep a fast in the way that Baha'is or Muslims do.  The Christian discipline is now more likely to mean doing something positive or doing without something to remind us how self-centred, greedy and acquisitive we can be.  Both the Baha'i and Christian scriptures speak about the purpose of the fast .  The Baha'i scriptures say  “All praise be unto God, Who hath ….enjoined on them the Fast that those possessed of means may become apprised of the woes and sufferings of the destitute.” Similarly the Christian scriptures tell us that  the fast which pleases God is the one that ‘shares our bread with the hungry and shelters the homeless poor’ (Isaiah 58v.7).  These  times of fasting, therefore, are an opportunity for believers to reaffirm their commitment to the poor and marginalised of society, to affirm the values of service, moderation and compassion.  What a gift this could be to a society which seems driven by materialism and greed. If only religious people lived up to the ideals of their faith.  So often people call for less religion in the world but I think the world could actually do with more religion, the kind of religion that takes joy in the gift of life, is aware of our solidarity with those less fortunate than ourselves, that serves the common good and is open to building a culture of dialogue and hospitality between peoples.

I read a very chilling story last week in the National Catholic Reporter.  It was a report of a  survey in Poland on attitudes towards Jews.  The study showed that 63% of respondents  believe there’s a Jewish conspiracy to control international banking and the media. Yet, as the article pointed out, 90 percent of Poles say they’ve never met a Jew!

I've been to Poland. I went on a study trip in 2004 to explore the cultural roots of modern Judaism and to experience what it means to live  in the absence of Jews in a land where they had once flourished.  We travelled with someone whose family had come from Poland which personalised many of the issues we studied and did'nt allow us to forget the pain that many British Jews still carry within them.

At the Centre for Jewish Culture in Krakow we heard of the pain and suffering of the Polish people, of a country coming to terms with its own history, with issues of identity, of a once thriving Jewish life, of the reality of anti-semitism, of the horrors of the ghetto and Holocaust.  We saw for ourselves monuments of a former  life : the mikvah, the ritual slaughter house, community centres as well as abandoned synagogues and desecrated cemetries.  We heard then that traditional understanding of Jews as Christ – killers still persisted, that people still believed in the ritual murder of Christian children, of traditions such as that of a puppet of Judas being burnt or thrown down from a tower on Good Friday as a symbol of expelling evil. And sometimes real Jews were beaten during this ritual.

We were introduced to research from the 1990s which showed that many Poles overestimated the number of Jews living in Poland, underestimated the suffering of the Jews and overestimated the number of the Righteous Gentiles who helped the Jews.  Because the Jews were still discussed in the media people believed that they were important and influential and there was a fear that the Jews could become dominant in society.  And this recent research shows the situation has not changed. In fact there has been an increase (from 15 percent in 2009 to 23 percent in 2013) of  more traditional forms of anti-Semitism, such as blaming Jews for the murder of Jesus and the belief that Christieran blood is used in Jewish rituals. 

A dominant force in Polish society is  an evangelical radio station Radio Maryja which, I remember was broadcast everywhere. Rafal Pankowski, who teaches political science at the Collegium Civitas, a private college in Warsaw, suggests it's  the single most important voice in the Roman Catholic church. “Radio Maryja openly agitates against the allegedly corrupting influence of western Europe and the subversive role of Jews and Freemasons. Pankowski added, “The majority of the Polish bishops today are supporting Radio Maryja.”
 
All this is worrying for a Church that's done so much to repair the anti-semitism of the past, that recognises Judaism and Christianity as belonging to the same family and having the same roots, that encourages mutual study of our  common scriptures, that sees anti-semitism as a sin and evil to be rejected.  We also have a Pope whose friendship with Rabbi Skorka is an example of what relations between people of different faiths should be and could be if we got to know one another as human beings and not just followers of a faith we consider alien.

There are initiatives to reverse this situation such as the Forum for Dialogue Among Nations and the Centre for Jewish Culture but it won't be easy. Such overt anti-semitism has an effect far beyond Poland. It affects the security of Jews elsewhere. It can make them defensive and hesitant about engaging in dialogue.  It helps me remember that when we do engage in dialogue we bring with us different histories and memories, uncertainties and insecurities, fears and concerns, most of which are unspoken and maybe even unacknowledged. It takes a lot of talking, love, friendship and time to break down these fears  but what hope is there without it?

A phrase in the Gospel read in all Christian churches today stood out for me. It was from the Sermon on the Mount, which contains the Great Wisdom Sayings of Jesus, and found in the Gospel of Matthew. It said " So do not worry; do not say"What are we to eat? What are we to drink? How are we to be clothed? It is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all". Elsewhere he suggests pagans are those who babble in prayers of endless, empty words(6:7). 

I've had quite a bit to do with pagans, ever since the Scottish Pagan Federation asked to be members of Interfaith Scotland.  This set the cat among the pigeons and some of the more mainstream religions were very suspicious about it and fearful that it would bring the whole work of interfaith relations into disrepute.  The upshot of all this was that we had to talk to pagans and we discovered that they were very nice people, ordinary people like us trying to live a good life, trying to make sense of all that life throws in our way and seeking a faith that would give meaning to their lives.  Their faith was centred on a belief in the goodness of creation, on a divinity that could be imaged as both masculine and feminine, and on a way of life that respected the created world, that encouraged an ethical and moral way of life, aware of the interrelatedness of all living creatures and summed up in the dictum  "Do what you will, as long as it harms none".  Their desire was to engage in dialogue with other faiths, to become known and understood and to work with others for the common good.  I'm glad to say they did get membership of Interfaith Scotland but it took a lot of discussion and discernment before that happened.

Originally the word pagan meant one who came from the countryside and is used in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures  for those who were not Jewish or Christian.  It distinguished those who belonged from those who didn't, it set 'us' against 'them', it judged the other and the other's religion as inferior.  Both Judaism and Christianity discouraged contact with those they regarded as pagan in case they sullied the purity of their religion or even worse attracted converts.

So what is Matthew talking about when he talks about pagans. Is Jesus comparing them unfavourably with those listening to his words?  Since this is a community document it's more likely that he's pointing out that it's his listeners that are concerned with material goods and that it's  their prayers that are empty. Jesus is exhorting his listeners to trust in God and his words should be read as an exhortation to his followers and not a judgement on pagans.  Unfortunately a literal reading of texts such as this has formed a mind set which saw pagans in a negative light and which had repercussions for us in Interfaith Scotland - even into the 21st century.