Divided we fall: A sombre year by Frank Regan

‘We must be open and attentive.’

Recently, the former archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, wrote in The Guardian that 2021 had been ‘a sombre year’. He reminded readers of the 1,500 people who died in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe with its perceived opportunities. He pointed to the increased risks of flooding in the UK, and wildfires elsewhere. The pandemic still casts an enormous shadow. Only one person in 1,000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been fully vaccinated against Covid19, a grim reminder that we are not yet fully safe. And now we have a devastating war in Europe.

2021 was a rough, tough year for almost all of us. Three Peruvian friends of mine, and a first cousin, have succumbed to the virus. Our heroic NHS health workers and carers – widely applauded, poorly remunerated – have done all they could, and are themselves stretched to the limit. We have passed the 151,000 mark here in Britain. We now know how vulnerable we are, and how far we are from being in control. The Psalmist prays: ‘Remember the shortness of my life and how frail you have made the human race’ (89:47).

Our politicians assure us that we are passing from a state of pandemic to a state of endemic. That is small comfort to those millions in mourning. That mourning becomes even more poignant as we have learned of parties, booze-ups and dancing in the Ten Downing Street bubble, even on the eve of prince Philip’s funeral. A recent article in The Tablet opined that a culture of non-compliance has grown up within the bubble, perhaps modelled on the attitude of the prime minister towards rule-keeping.

As Christians we cannot but ask ourselves how are we to live as a society, a nation, as a faith community. As a society we are deeply divided along class, race and gender lines. There does not seem to be room for dialogue. As a nation we are insisting upon nationalism over and against patriotism understood as love of country and of its peoples in all their diversity. Over the last decade or so we have been challenged in our sexual identity by new thinking and doing regarding gender differences and transitions.

A recent issue of the Friend reported that the European Union is running a Conference on the Future of Europe. Invitations have gone out to all and sundry to give input. A body called Faith in Europe, representing Christian denominations along with other faiths, has submitted a contribution. It covers several areas: among them are solidarity, sustainability, stewardship, service of justice and law, subsidiarity and so on. The situation in Ukraine will doubtless prompt further thoughts.

Emerging from the contribution has come a focus on climate change and migration as Europe’s most sensitive and urgent issues. The Faith in Europe contribution has sought to recover Jacques Delors’s concept of ‘giving a soul to Europe’. This implies, among other things: a recognition of each person’s identity; neighbourliness and trust; the common good rather than balancing interests; and equality of opportunity wherever one lives so that migration does not become an escape.

Here in the UK we could well ask ourselves about the soul of our nation and its diverse peoples. Given the scandalous behaviour of those entrusted with guiding us and stewarding our values, we need to ground our efforts in our villages and neighbourhoods.

Many of our neighbours are just scraping by. Waiters, bar staff, beauticians, cleaners earn between £7.93 per hour to £9.61. The national living wage is £8.91 per hour. Disabled benefits claimants have committed suicide upon having their benefits cut. Errol, 57, with mental health issues, starved to death in his flat after his benefits were stopped. His corpse weighed just over four stone. More than a million children live in poverty and in cold homes. And pensioner Yvonne, 76, daily faces the dreadful choice between heating and eating. This is a year of a perfect storm: pandemic, cost of living crisis, soaring energy bills and political scandal.

Our people cry out to its leaders for a just and equitable solution to the poor and vulnerable in their economic plight. Their voices are not heard, in part, because their leaders are partying. There is something rotten in the state. More than 150,000 citizens have died and businesses have gone bust. The beginnings of our parlous situation go back to the Iraq war, the banking meltdown, the Brexit debate and the parliamentary expenses scandal. These have had a corrosive effect on government and have corrupted our political culture which traditionally was based on the ideal and ethic of public service. That grand ideal has been debased. Politics, always considered a noble vocation, has become a nasty profession.

Politics is the arena where the just society and a good life are debated and built. It is difficult to see how politicians can help to build a good and just society in the present climate. What will our present way of doing politics contribute to a just income with its related issues of housing, nourishment and health? How will it contribute to personal growth and community solidarity? How will it help to combat climate change and defend bio-diversity? And how will it build up and enhance our ethical and spiritual domains?

At the end of his Guardian article, Rowan Williams invokes religion as a motivational source for building local community. He says that the different religious traditions point to the Other as someone we can look at with reverence. Every human being is a vehicle of God’s presence. We must be open and attentive. A deeper connection will not galvanise our fragility, but will help us to set aside our suspiciousness and tribalism. We are all in this together. Only together can we heal, build, deepen, transform and transfigure.

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