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| Home » Writings, Speeches, Broadcasts » Credo » 2009 |
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| religions tell us who we are and what we need to be |
| 31/10/2009 |
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Atheists tend to think that religion is about God. Of course it is. But if that is all it is, it would hardly explain religion’s tenacity and power, its hold on the human imagination, and its strange capacity both to unite and divide.
Religion is also about identity. It is an answer to a set of questions science cannot answer, perhaps cannot even understand. Who am I? Why am I here? Where do I belong? Of what story am I a part? How am I connected to those who came befor... |
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| Mission drift happens when people in search of happiness choose routes that go elsewhere |
| 26/9/2009 |
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One of my favourite contemporary phrases is mission drift. First used by the military, it’s what happens when in pursuit of an objective people forget what objective they were pursuing. You get sidetracked. The territory turns out to be not like the map. On paper it looks easy to get from A to B. But once you’re down there, there are all sorts of diversions. The going is harder than you thought it would be. Yo... |
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| Religion is about open hearts not closed minds |
| 29/8/2009 |
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Back in 1993 I received an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University together with Thomas Watson, co-discoverer with Francis Crick of DNA. Meeting him gave me the opportunity to say the blessing, coined by the sages two thousand years ago and still to be found in all Jewish prayer books, thanking God for bestowing his wisdom on human beings.
Essentially it’s a blessing to be said on seeing a great scientist, although the word ‘scientist’ wasn’t coined until 1833. W... |
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| Loving G-d helps us love one another |
| 25/7/2009 |
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One day I was called on to officiate at two funerals. The families involved were old friends of ours, but they lived in different parts of London and did not know one another. In both cases, the wife had died after a long and happy marriage. One couple had just celebrated, and the other was just about to celebrate, their diamond wedding.
What was striking was that both husbands said the same thing to me, in virtually identical words: “I loved her as much as... |
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