In God's Name?

At this time of year, in a nominally Christian country, it is hard to escape the observations about commercialisation of Christmas. I suspect, however, that commercialisation of a religious festival is the least of our problems.

A timely reminder of the dangers of organised religion (as distinct from faith or spirituality) came my way today in the form of a 'special report' from the UK journal, The Economist. In a far-reaching and by no means antagonistic review of 'religion and public life', The Economist demonstrates the extent to which religion is used as 'justification' for violence.

Source: The Economist, November 1st, 2007

John Lennon's great song Imagine dreams of how life would be with"no countries" and "no religion, too", but is less clear that any sectarian 'cause' can bring the same results. And there can be 'godless religions' too - communism and nazism,for example, in the 20th century). It's the "I'm right" (or more likely "I need to be right" - some people find it very threatening to realise that they might not have a monopoly on 'truth') so "You must be wrong". Patriotism can easily become as bigoted as religious zeal - and, of course, when the two are merged the effects are compounded.

I find another, less well-known, song from around the same time, a much more powerful commentary, not limited to countries or religion - Abraham, Martin and John (written by Richard Holler; recorded by Dion):

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
You know, I just looked around and he's gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around and he's gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked 'round and he's gone.

Didn't you love the things that they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
And we'll be free
Some day soon, and it's a-gonna be one day ...

Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walk up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John.