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| Can we climb out of the trenches? | Nick Spencer This has been a decade of aggressive posturing. Those that occupy the middle ground have had a tough timeThe question: What did the noughties mean for religion?First world war volunteers thought they'd be home before Christmas. By September they were digging in. By October the entire western front had become trenches, soon to be charnel houses.The noughties have echoed to the sound of trenches being dug.Long gone are the confident statements about taking tea in Berlin within months as one side easily overwhelmed the other. Peter Berger's oft-quoted comment from The New York Times in 1968 that "by the 21st century, religious believers are likely to be found only in small sects, huddled together to resist a worldwide secular culture" must rank as one of the worst predictions of all time, as Berger himself has recognised.Religion did not roll over and die, as many expected. Rather it migrated from being a fundamentally socio-economic phenomenon, which would simply dissolve when humanity finally arrived at perfect socio-economic conditions, to being a biological one, as hardwired into us as sex or aggression. Almost irrespective of whether religious beliefs are true or false, religious identity, behaviour, and communities are here to stay.There was no easy advance. In its place, trenches were dug and shells fired. Some, tragically, were real. This decade has been lived in the shadow of falling towers, exploding trains, burnt out nightclubs. That violence may have been limited to a tiny number of religious believers, but it has marked everything and everyone.For the most part the explosives have been verbal. On the one hand we have encountered placards telling us the Islam will dominate the world and freedom can go to hell, and Christian faith that is able to move mountains of evolutionary evidence. On the other, we have heard of how faith is a virus to be eradicated, and how the Muslim community should be subject to discrimination until it "gets its house in order".The middle ground has slowly been churned into a no-man's land, those remaining there risking the "Neville Chamberlain school of … " insult with which we have become wearily familiar.We are not there yet. There are still plenty more people talking between the trenches than shouting from them. But if the noughties have taught us anything, it is that we cannot guarantee this will always be so.Europe stumbled into the first world war through a kind of inadvertent positive feedback loop, as aggression was met with aggression was met with aggression. The last thing the 21st century needs, faced as it is with the prospect of resource shortages and environmental degradation, is contention between "faith" groups, among which I would include atheists and humanists, descending into conflict.The challenge before each group is to affirm what is of worth in the thinking and traditions of others. As Jonathan Sacks remarked recently (pdf), "religious groups in the liberal democratic state must be prepared to enter into serious respectful conversations with secular humanists … about the nature of the common good and the kind of society we wish to create for our grandchildren."More specifically this will mean Christians affirming aspects of secularism (pdf), Muslims affirming the principles of western democracy (pdf), and atheists affirming the enormous contribution made by churches to civil society.This does not mean criticism is impermissible. Nor is it an invitation to some kind of insipid greywash. Atheists, Christians, Muslims and others believe different things and will rightly wish to persuade others to think likewise.It is, rather, a response to the hostility that the noughties have seen grow up around the issue of religion. The next decade will not see anyone with their feet up in a Berlin café, but nor need it witness an exodus to the religious trenches.ReligionChristianityNick Spencerguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Online dating soars as temperatures plunge As the UK's big chill shows no sign of ending, people appear to be seeking to raise the temperature with a bit of online romance, as two of the largest website dating agencies report a big rise in business. news.bbc.co.uk |
U turn What's behind Google's change of heart over China? news.bbc.co.uk |
Strong earthquake felt in Guatemala; no damage GUATEMALA CITY (AP) -- A strong earthquake has rocked Guatemala and parts of El Salvador, but no there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in either country.... hosted.ap.org |
Oskar Lafontaine resignation leaves German political left in chaos Departure leaves leadership vacuum but possibility of closer ties with Social DemocratsGermany's Left party was scrambling to stay intact today after Oskar Lafontaine, one of the most divisive, leftwing figures in German politics, announced he is to withdraw from the political stage and leadership of the party.Lafontaine, 66, who has prostate cancer, announced his decision at the weekend, to the shock of his party colleagues.His departure leaves a leadership vacuum at the helm of Germany's youngest political party that will be hard to fill. At the same time, it removes a barrier to closer political ties between the Left party and the Social Democrats (SPD).If the SPD and Left could work together, they could form a considerable challenge to Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right coalition at the next election.The SPD has never recovered from the sense of betrayal it felt when the maverick Lafontaine abandoned it a decade ago, blaming him for its progressive decline. It swore it would never co-operate with the party at a national level while its former party chairman and finance minister under Gerhard Schröder remained on the scene.Today, the Left party held an emergency meeting to discuss its future. With no obvious successor to replace Lafontaine the party, suffering internal wrangling since September's national election, when it secured 11% of the vote, was struggling to present a united front.Klaus Ernst, deputy chairman, said: "We don't need to find a figurehead right now, rather a leadership that is accepted in East and West [Germany] and can continue its work with a united party and a clear strategy."Suggestions were mooted for a leadership team to include a man and a woman, and someone from the former communist east, where the party has its roots, and from former West Germany.Rico Gebhardt, the leader of the Left party in Saxony, admitted that Lafontaine's resignation opened the way for future co-operation between the Left, the SPD and the Greens."Lafontaine was one of the reasons the SPD rejected this, but now we have to see how the Left and SPD position themselves, and I see room on both sides."Meanwhile, Hannelore Kraft, deputy chair of the SPD, took the opportunity to say that her party was happy to welcome back former members who had turned to the Left party. "Our door is open for the return of trade unionists and former social democrats," she said.Lafontaine had an impressive political career. His major legacy was his creation of a fifth political force that left the SPD haemorrhaging support. After just four years, the Left party has seats in the Bundestag and is represented in 13 of Germany's 16 state parliaments, including the Berlin state government, where it shares power with the SPD.One political commentator, Roland Nelles, called Lafontaine's departure a "drama" for the Left party and a "blessing" for the SPD. He said: "[It] not only shifts the power tectonics in the Left party, it also changes fundamentally the strategic position of the SPD … the new and colourful German five-party world is going to be well and truly shaken up."Lafontaine has always been viewed as a man of extremes. In November 1998, after he was accused of wanting to force an increase in British taxes to help pay for German, French and Italian pensions, the Sun ran a front page asking: "Is This The Most Dangerous Man in Europe?"In 1990 he was stabbed and almost killed by a member of the public while campaigning in the 1990 election.Announcing his resignation, Lafontaine told colleagues he had little choice but to step down, calling the cancer diagnosis a "warning signal … I cannot ignore".GermanyAngela MerkelKate Connollyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |