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| Home » Writings, Speeches, Broadcasts » Credo » 1999 |
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| Saying "Sorry" Can Make A World of Difference |
| 1/12/1999 |
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A Jewish story: two friends have had a row, and for ten years they haven't spoken to one another. One night they are in the synagogue as the Day of Atonement is about to begin. The rabbi goes over to each in turn and tells them that the holiest moment in the year is about to arrive. The time has come for them to apologise to one another and make up. Life, he says, is too short to bear a grudge.
They agree, walk over to one another and shake hands. One says to the other, "I wish you... |
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| When Science & Faith Go Hand in Hand |
| 1/11/1999 |
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Matt Ridley's recent book Genome makes enthralling reading. There are, it seems, a hundred trillion cells in the human body. Within each cell is a nucleus, and within each nucleus to sets of the human genome. Each genome contains enough information to fill a library of about five thousand books - more than many of us will read in a lifetime. If the chromosomes in a single cell were laid end to end they would stretch for six feet. If the chromosomes in a single human body were laid out the... |
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| The Sukkah is a Symbol Worth Investing In |
| 1/10/1999 |
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It was one of the great symbolic moments of the coming millennium. Constructed at a cost of many millions, a giant ferris-wheel lay on its side halfway across the Thames. The moment came for it to be raised. The cranes were ready. The buttons were pressed. The wheel refused to move. It stayed resolutely horizontal, refusing to enter into the spirit of the occasion. Who says Heaven lacks a sense of humour?
As a symbol of the future I prefer the one Jews have been using for the past sev... |
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| Forgiveness is a Gift From God We Must Cherish |
| 1/8/1999 |
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"God forgives". I sometimes think that if I didn't believe, I would be drawn to faith by the power of those two words alone.
Forgiveness is the strangest proposition ever advanced by religion, and the most humanising. Most things don't forgive. A bank doesn't when I'm overdrawn. A court doesn't when a prisoner is found guilty. A computer doesn't when it contracts a virus. My car doesn't when I fail to put petrol in.
Nor does much of contemporary culture. When politicians fail they... |
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