Christmas Message 2001
"We have probably been more frightened this year than we've been for a long time. When the Cold War ended, we believed that the world had become basically safer. The big conflicts had gone away and the problems of international relations could be managed successfully.
"But it wasn't to be. We face new conflicts that are in many ways far worse, because we're dealing with enemies who are both hidden and, it seems, beyond negotiating with. How do you threaten someone who is quite ready to die for what they believe?
"The nightmare of September 11th led some people to conclude that the real problem in the world was religious faith. Faith encourages believers to risk their lives and not to care for consequences - so it must be dangerous. Many thought that Islam was especially liable to this. Others started worrying about religious schools, on the grounds that they were bound to breed fanatics.
"But the truth is more complicated. All faiths, all views of the
world (including atheism!) are capable of being distorted. People whose
lives are already twisted and damaged use faith as they use other things
in twisted and damaged ways. And if you try to shut religious faith out
of the public arena, to shut it out of education or politics, you are
actually encouraging faith to become narrower and more isolated, more
liable to be misused by fanatics.
"What is more, you shut yourself off from all that dimension of religious
faith that makes you look hard at your own selfishness and pride (and
fanaticism) -and from all that speaks of the kind of peace that human
beings can't build alone. Only with this sense of humility and trust can
we get beyond fear. The problem isn't belief in God. It is that so many
of us, Christians, Jews, Muslims, here or in the USA or in the Holy Land,
don't believe in God enough to make us humble and trustful.
"Again and again in the Christmas story God's messengers tell people,
'Don't be afraid'. The story tells us of a God who humbles himself and
a peace that comes from God's loving acceptance of our humanity. Some
kinds of religious faith may seem dangerous; but without faith, can we
really hear and accept those words, 'Don't be afraid'?
"This Christmas, try to face some of the fear, to bring it into the
open. Ask what it is that would deal with the fear. Ask whether the words
of the angels in the Christmas story are spoken to you. May Christmas
bring you peace in heart and home.