27. Oktober 2008
Es klopft an der Haustür meiner Ordensgemeinschaft. Eine Frau hat eine Bitte.“Bitte spenden Sie 2 Pfund für die Pflege von streunenden Hunden und Katzen.“
Am liebsten würde ich in mein Zimmer hasten, zwei wertvolle Pfundnoten aus meiner Schultasche nehmen, ihr geben und dann dazu sagen: „Können Sie mir bitte ein Pfund schenken. Damit kann ich in Tansania, in dem Dorf Mtakuja, eine ganze Familie für einen ganzen Tag mit allem Nötigsten versorgen!“ Aber ich lasse es, es wäre zu unhöflich!
Eine Gebetszeit in meiner Ordensgemeinschaft. Das Thema.: Bewahrung der Schöpfung… oder so ähnlich! Man spielt ein stimmungsvolles Lied und begleitet es über eine Power-Point Präsentation mit Bilder von herrlich blühenden Wiesen. Vielleicht gab es auch noch ein paar Fotos, die man von der website von ‘National Geographic’ herunter geladen hatte. Danach gab es eine Schriftlesung, einen Psalm, einen Austausch…
Was ich aus allem heraushörte (vielleicht hat niemand derartiges gesagt, aber bei […]
London
Letter from London 2: There’s probably no god
Believe in God and Be Happy
“There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” There are 800 buses running across the United Kingdom carrying this slogan. The campaign is part of an anti-religion movement. They managed to raise £140,000 (Rs.1 Crore) for this campaign.
The slogan is an expression of an exaggerated humanism that believes that the way, perhaps the only way, of liberating humankind is by killing God. My faith tells me that God is not an insecure Being that I must rush to protect. There are others who do believe that God needs to be protected. They may even justify killing human beings in the name of God. These abhorring attempts by fundamentalists actually backfire. They prompt the opposite pendulum effect in anti-religion movements, equally fanatic, as seen in the bus slogans. In fact, the fundraising for this campaign began as a direct reaction to Christian bus-adverts […]
Letter from London 1: Western Attitudes
Getting Things Right
A knock at the door of our residence. A woman makes a request, “Please contribute £2 for the care of abandoned pets.”
I want to rush back to my room, fish two precious pounds out of my school bag and give it to her. And add, “Could you please donate £1, with which I can feed a whole family, for a whole day and more, in a village called Mtakuja in Tanzania!” But I would seem too impolite!
A prayer moment in our church. The theme: Caring for Creation… or something like that! A melodious song with an accompanying PowerPoint of beautiful meadows and flowers. Perhaps there were also some photos downloaded from the website of National Geographic. The PowerPoint was followed by a scripture reading, a psalm, sharing…
I heard them say (perhaps they didn’t say, but I heard them that way!), “Destroy all the forests, throw some concrete and […]