THE FERVOUR OF RELIGION

Bookshops are among my favourite places. Especially when I’m stuck at airports. At Changi Airport, Singapore recently, I noticed a curious phenomenon – Dan Brown’s blockbuster, roller-coaster, page-turning novel, ‘The Da Vinci Code’, which has sold 50 million copies in over 40 languages, has spawned a major industry. I counted on a special display, twenty titles all linked to his success, piggy-backing to the bank. Titles such as ‘Secrets of Judas’, ‘Holy Grail’, ‘Holy Blood’, ‘The Magdalene Cipher’, ‘The Secret Supper’, ‘The Jesus Dynasty’, ‘The Last Templar’, ‘The Templar Legacy’. Time Magazine reports that 44 books have been published refuting the Brown novel. The books range from reasonably learned tracts to conspiracy rants and pure fantasy novels. Does this represent a return to religion or are these just clever marketing tools to entertain and worship Mammon Both, I think. God sells, always has. Half of U.S. pastors have planned an organised response, such is their concern. A British poll reveals that 2/3rd’s of the book’s readers believe Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene, and 36% think the Catholic church is involved in a conspiracy. The movie’s producers expect their blockbuster to do well in India, China, Japan and the Arab world, the non-Christian world.

But something else is happening. Most best-selling book lists published in the West include the latest view of Islam – books like, ‘What Went Wrong?’ by the scholar, Bernd Lewis, answered by ‘What’s Right With Islam’ by Iman Feisal Abdul Rauf. After 9/11, Iraq and the much-vaunted theory of the clash of civilisations, there is a deep, profound and important impulse of many in the West to try to understand Islam. This is an answer to President Bush’s lament after the twin towers tragedy, "Why do they hate us?" I suspect the clash within civilisations is the bigger struggle than this simplistic theory. All this is healthy as we struggle to come to terms with our differences and make sense out of what seems senseless.

I spend a lot of time in the Middle East and seek out conversations with Muslim scholars, which are wonderful All the great faiths have in them common themes. Note the commonality in the following quotations from scriptures:
Confucious (c. 551-489 BCE): "What you yourself do not want, do not do to another person" (Analects 15.23)
Rabbi Hillel (60 BCE-10CE): "Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you." (Shabbat 31a)
Jesus of Nazareth: "Whatever you want people to do to you, do also to them." (Matthew 7.12; Luke 6.31)
Islam: "None of you is a believer as long as he does not wish his brother what he wishes himself." (Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi, 13)
Jainism: "Human beings should be indifferent to worldly things and treat all creatures in the world as they would want to be treated themselves." (Sutrakritanga I, II, 33)
Buddhism: "A state which is not pleasant or enjoyable for me will also not be so for him; and how can I impose on another a state which is not pleasant or enjoyable for me?" (Samyutta Nikaya V, 353, 35-342, 2)
Hinduism: "One should not behave towards others in a way which is unpleasant for oneself: that us the essence of morality." (Mahabharata XIII, 114, 8)

Abraham is the common father of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Jesus is a powerful prophet in the Muslim world. Indeed, a fascinating book, ‘The Muslim Jesus’, writes explicitly of the convergences between Jesus’ teachings and the prophet, Mohammed, of Islam.

Pope John Paul’s death and the pomp surrounding the election of his successor dominated the news for weeks. This was the first papal death and succession carried out in the glare of 24/7 news systems. The world watched.

Many critics say the church and religion is now irrelevant, if so, why do they spend so much time attacking religion? And when was it and who decided that we no longer write AD or BC, before Christ. Now it’s BCE - Before the Common Era. ‘The Da Vinci Code’ industry shows that people everywhere are still posing the earliest and most profound of all questions. There must be more to life than this? But get a life, it’s a novel – "Star Wars" and "King Kong" are not true either.

By the way, I have faith but always joke, "I’m not religious, I’m Anglican – we are the Walmart of Christians, discounts on everything."