Many studies in psychology and sociology would prove that many religious people are actually often less humanitarian, rather than more humanitarian, than their non-religious neighbours.   Allport and Kramer have demonstrated that many religious people are more ethnocentric. Rokeach has demonstrated that many religious people are more dogmatic. Wright has demonstrated that many religious people […]

Saul Alinsky, the great community activist, whom Jaques Maratain considered one of the few great men of our century, wrote in the preface of his infamous Reveille for Radicals, that, as far as he was concerned, the main job of the community organiser was “organising people so that they will have the power to realise […]

The existentialist, Albert Camus, argues that if there is no faith, there can be no hope for us, and if there is no hope for us, then we are all doomed to despair. “Up till now everyone derived their coherence from their Creator. But from the moment that (we) consecrate (our) rapture with God, (we) […]

Not all fears are easily dealt with. Some of our fears are imagined. But some are not. How do we deal our fears when the nightmare is not imagined but a reality?’ Sometimes we can overcome a real fear by playing off another one against it. From time to time I’ve found myself in frightening […]

Alexander Solzhenitsyn: the line within …the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart – and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small […]

The philosopher, Jean Paul Satre, argues that without faith there can be no values, and without values we do not even have a framework for recognising our problems, let alone resolving our problems. In Existentialism and Humanism he wrote: “The existentialist finds it extremely embarrassing that God does not exist, for there disappears with (God) […]

In his assessment of the utopian movements, the sociologist, Thomas Caplow, says that it is obvious that ordinary groups of people can take up the challenge of becoming human beings “at their best”, human beings who not only “love one another” but also “lay down their lives for one another” in order to make their […]

God is a god of abundance, not a god of scarcity. Jesus reveals to us God’s abundance when he offers so much bread to the people that there are twelve large baskets with leftover scraps (see John 6:5-15), and when he makes his disciples catch so many fish that their boat nearly sinks (Luke 5:1-7). […]

Community is not possible without the willingness to forgive one another “seventy-seven times” (see Matthew 18:22). Forgiveness is the cement of community life. Forgiveness holds us together through good and bad times, and it allows us to grow in mutual love. But what is there to forgive or to ask forgiveness for? As people who […]

There are two sides to forgiveness: giving and receiving. Although at first sight giving seems to be harder, it often appears that we are not able to offer forgiveness to others because we have not been able fully to receive it. Only as people who have accepted forgiveness can we find the inner freedom to […]

How can we forgive those who do not want to be forgiven? Our deepest desire is that the forgiveness we offer will be received. This mutuality between giving and receiving is what creates peace and harmony. But if our condition for giving forgiveness is that it will be received, we seldom will forgive! Forgiving the […]

The table is one of the most intimate places in our lives. It is there that we give ourselves to one another. When we say, “Take some more, let me serve you another plate, let me pour you another glass, don’t be shy, enjoy it,” we say a lot more than our words express. We […]