A coming together

The following is a composite taken from previous blog posts. 

Do we consign our knowledge, understanding and experience into separate silos? Are there ring-fenced divides between your personal and public persona, your political, theological, scientific, economic and social ideas, or do you interrelate them? More importantly, does one idea dominate?  Do theological ideas determine your political ideas? Does your family background or life events strongly influence your thinking, deliberately or subconsciously?

I subscribe to the political philosophy of democratic socialism. To what extent is this a consequence of my upbringing and life experience and my theological ideas? What I do say is that my political and theological stances are a result of interaction of a number of factors and that change of opinion in respect of one factor effects change in others.  I suggest we move away from a mentality attempting to consign ideas into silos. Instead see our ideas as an ever-changing kaleidoscope affecting our thoughts across the gamut of disciplines.

For the past 35 years I have engaged in the pursuit of social justice by campaigning for systemic change to the structures of society causing injustice. Alongside this I have been involved with faith and secular organisations seeking to alleviate the symptoms of injustice, in other words helping people at point of need. It has been a a long, tortuous journey. Along the way I have engaged with faith, secular, business, political and governmental organisations. It has been humbling to meet and work with people with similar motivation to mine, many of whom have done and achieved far more than ever I could.

The war on poverty, marginalisation, exclusion and discrimination is ongoing. Some battles have been won but the forces ranged against social justice are deeply entrenched. They will be for many years unless there is favourable major political upheaval.

My motivation was and is a decision to follow and promote the concept of love your neighbour and in particular its expression in the principles attributed to Jesus in the christian New Testament. These principles may be discerned by reading the Synoptic Gospels with particular regard to the Sermon on the Mount and the parables. Within the gospels are comparisons with statements in the Old Testament that illustrate the distinction between a legalistic rule-based approach and an approach founded upon the sweeping principle of love.

The message of Jesus is profound and deeply attractive. I don't know if Jesus was an actual person or the product of myth, folklore, symbolism, metaphor or custom, but it doesn't matter. No, really it doesn't. What does matter are the principles to be discerned from the texts: a broad, expansive guide to equality for all and not a rigid set of rules.

My theological and political ideas have distilled to this: love your neighbour, help them by alleviating the symptoms of injustice: campaign for systemic change in society to achieve social justice for all. Now I am firmly of the opinion that what matters is not a set of beliefs.  What matters is behaviour, action, loving neighbour, not just as theory but as practical action, helping individuals at point of need and campaigning for systemic change to achieve social justice.

I do not like to use labels to describe my theological thinking. No one label fits the bill for me. My current thinking is a fluid mixture, melange or mosaic of inter alia postmodern, Quaker, humanist, existential, progressive christian, liberal christian, liberation and deconstructivist concepts. It is not based on certainty, not on blind belief. It is like the sand of the desert, ever moving, restless.  But of course my theological thinking has to be seen in the context and influence of social, political and economic ideas together with my life experience.