Sir, – In a recent and (as always) excellent Unthinkable column, Joe Humphreys (Opinion, April 22nd) rightly points out: “Individuals and society at large are feeling the loss of a coherent storyline to give us hope for the future.”
He recalls that when he was growing up the unifying narrative was based on the idea that “God loves you”, which is no longer considered credible by many in Western society.
But unthinkable though it may sound, perhaps the answer to the loss of a coherent storyline is to be found in a return to a new updated and liberating version of the belief that there is a loving God.
The new storyline must leave behind the negative aspects, which were often associated with organised religion in the past, including assertions of absolute certainty, power structures, dominance and concentration on rules, guilt and punishment. It would return to the basic message of Jesus Christ, focusing on love, the value of every individual, mercy and forgiveness . This could be supplemented by insights from other great religious traditions, including respect for animals and the environment.
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The more we come to know about the sheer unlikeliness of the universe at the level of galaxies and galactic clusters, and the complexity in how living things work, the less confident we should be in rejecting the possibility of a loving intelligence underlying the universe – something that deep down the human mind would, I think, like to believe.
Not the “opium of the people” but perhaps a ray of light in the darkness.
Unthinkable but worth thinking about? – Yours, etc,
MARTIN CLYNES,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.