My Obsession

Jason searched for the Golden Fleece in order to claim his inheritance from Pelias. Diogenes searched for an honest man. Abraham searched for ten righteous people to save Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction. Johnny Lee was “Lookin’ for Love,” while the rest of us have endlessly searched for the meaning of life. Mythology and history are littered with accounts of quests for love, fame, revenge, immortality and redemption.

So, is there a universal answer to all these questions? Probably not, but that doesn’t stop us from searching. My obsession, since I was old enough to read and ask questions, has been to understand why people behave in such illogical ways.

I grew up in a world that most young people today would find particularly strange. We had no television, because it had not yet reached our part of the world, in what was Rhodesia at the time. Our exposure to the outside world came via newspapers, radio and newsreels at the local cinema. We were also fortunate enough to have access to good libraries and dedicated teachers who tried to stimulate our curiosity in more than just the “official” curriculum.

As a self-governing British colony, we were taught in English and our high school examinations were set in Britain and reflected British history and cultural values. My first exposure to history therefore had a strong English bias and many of my contemporaries, whose parents had emigrated, post World War Two, were of British descent. My very limited grasp of other countries and cultures would mainly grow from my own research and experience of events which Harold Macmillan described as the Wind of Change during his visit to South Africa in 1960.  

As schoolchildren, our first exposure to political developments in our part of the world was when we saw the arrival in Salisbury of large numbers of people who spoke a language we could not understand, coming from a country most of us, in July of 1960, had never heard of, and certainly not encountered in any school lessons. We were, of course, seeing the first of what would soon number 5,000 refugees, of an initial 40,000, fleeing the chaos developing in the newly independent Congo. A number of the refugees were housed in accommodation used by RAF training staff during the Second World War.

The full significance of what we were observing only became apparent as we grew older. We knew nothing about the cold war and even less about the growing clamour for the independence of what had been British, French and Portuguese colonies prior to 1939. Post war developments, which had already seen the Korean War, the tragedy of events in India and the escalation of opposition to French involvement in Indochina, were accelerating and were the harbinger of unimagined global change.

 Without realising it, we were seeing a small part of the accelerating African decolonization process, which was to result in so much conflict in years to come. Of 54 African countries, only two, Ethiopia and Liberia, were independent in 1914. By 1960 only 20 were not. In our happy, sunny, cocoon in Salisbury, we were blissfully unaware of what the future would bring.

On the 11^th of November 1965 the Rhodesian government announced that it considered the country a sovereign state, independent of the United Kingdom. It was a fateful decision which was to dramatically alter the lives of an entire population and was also the catalyst for my obsession to educate myself in the ways of the world. Little did I know that, like Socrates, the more I learned, the less I would know.

In an era before personal computers, the internet and mobile telephones, books were the main source of information and research was time consuming. Retaining information required a very good memory or lots of note - taking, but we survived! Each good library had a set of Encyclopaedia Britannica, which was updated by means of yearbooks, which meant that staying current was a challenge.

My research was a bit of a shotgun approach. Options were unlimited, with each continent offering new vistas to explore. Africa was a fast changing continent with 54 histories, and looking past our school history lessons about 1066 and the Magna Carta, real British history offered a smorgasbord of murder, civil war and royal intrigue, which made me realise that the “United Kingdom” was really a misnomer of note.

Trying to make any real sense of Europe and Asia presented enormous challenges, forcing me to truncate my original timelines somewhat. Researching almost 100 countries, with their individual cultures and changing histories is not for the faint hearted, as I was about to discover.   

If I said that I had a specific plan and a specific goal when I started out, I would be lying, because one doesn’t know what one doesn’t know, so I asked myself, ”Quo Vadis?” What were the ingredients in the mix – politics, religion, race, philosophy, history or ethnicity? In hindsight, all of the above were parts of the jigsaw, but the one common denominator has always been religion.

My understanding of religion was limited to what I had learned growing up in a, nominally, Christian culture but, once again, I realised that I had a long way to go before I could claim any real understanding of the subject. I had always had questions about the Catholic/Protestant divide, but it was at a very superficial level. The one constant was the difference between the theory and the practice of any given religion.  One might be able to grasp the concept of Christians being persecuted by the Roman Empire or the motivation for the Crusades, but the horror of centuries of conflict between Catholics and Protestants is hard to understand and even harder to justify.

The history of the Christian Church has a Jekyll and Hyde aspect to it. The Renaissance era produced a plethora of artists, architects, writers and philosophers, many sponsored by the rich and powerful, in competition with one another to show off their power and influence. Some of the most famous and prolific of these artists included Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli, who gave us The Last Supper, The Pieta, the statue of David, the ceiling of The Sistine Chapel and the dome of St Peter’s Basilica, incredible works of art and architecture, lovingly depicting the beauty and majesty of Christianity. Studying these works makes it difficult to deny the sincerity and dedication of the artists and makes it even more difficult to understand what was soon to follow.

The bipolar official religion of Britain during the reigns of Henry V111 and his offspring is a perfect example of the relationship between church and state. One wonders what good Christians made of the religion de jour in those turbulent times. Even today, 500 years later, it is difficult for some casual observers to decide if there is a significant difference between the Anglican and Catholic observances.

Henry might have won his personal battle with Rome, but the Wars of the Reformation in Europe were yet to unfold, culminating in the horror and destruction of The Thirty Years War, which led to the realisation by the Catholic Church that the Lutherans and Calvinists were not going to submit. It was not the end of the struggle, but a grudging admission that the hegemony of Rome was at an end. Some might find it ironic that the death toll in a war between two Christian groups, according to some historians, was higher than the combined total of all deaths during The Crusades. John Fox’s “Book of Martyrs” is another harrowing account of the persecutions of Christians, by Christians and “others,” from AD76 to the first American missionaries.

In my fledgling search for knowledge it became apparent that politics and religion are conjoined and that, to a large degree, where one is born determines one’s religion. A person born in Pakistan has a 97% chance of being a Muslim and an Indian child has an 80% chance of being a Hindu, and while the majority of people born in South and Central America are Catholics, the majority in North Africa are Muslim. Having said that, many religions have been adopted, often by decree, in countries occupied by various conquerors.

The more I searched, the more I realised that religious tolerance was, largely, a myth. It appeared that the best an “other” could expect was ostracism and the worst was death, mainly by being burned at the stake, after confessions were obtained under torture. Brotherly love, apparently, was reserved for those of similar beliefs and political affiliations.

Just one example of the relationship between politics and religion was The Popish Plot, which illustrates what can happen as a result of malice and lies. Also, during the Scottish witch hunts between 1563 and 1736, thousands of women were accused, and many were found guilty and executed. Apparently the Scottish execution rate was five times the European average. The Salem witch trials in America are another example of the terrible consequences that misguided zealots can inflict in pursuit of “the truth.”

Ireland, as we know, has been far from immune to the toxic mix of politics and religion which culminated in The Troubles between 1968 and 1998. With origins dating back as far as Cromwell’s crushing of the Irish Rebellion in 1649, the battle between Catholics and Protestants claimed many lives and yielded few resolutions. Another chapter of the sad Irish story was the revelation of widespread abuse in Catholic mother and baby homes, resulting in 9,000 deaths. A separate report describes 2400 cases of violent sexual abuse in hundreds of church run schools. Claims are that the incidents were pervasive and could not have taken place without the knowledge, and condonation, of the church.

In contemporary Christendom, criticism of the church in western environments no longer results in being burned at the stake and atheists are able to debate the pros and cons of the various religions. In my search for a wider understanding of the subject I came across a variety of opinions, some humorous, some academic and some bitingly critical of formal religion.

Dave Allen, a former catholic, achieved fame, some would say notoriety, with his comedic sketches which mocked the Catholic Church and rituals. He described himself as a practising atheist. His brand of subtle humour earned him praise from his fans, but also landed him in trouble with some authorities.

An American comedian and social critic, George Carlin, was far more controversial than Dave Allen. Also an atheist, often using profanity in his sketches, he was arrested and charged with violating obscenity laws, but the charges were dropped. He has been described as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time. Although humorous, his commentary on religion was scathing.

Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry are known for a far more intellectual approach to discussing religion. Fry’s debating skills and self-deprecating approach to life are an education and I have watched numerous of his videos, some more than once. Christopher Hitchen’s views on religion were controversial, but his intellect was unmatched. The story of his life was a revelation to me, particularly his relationship with his brother, Peter. Christopher was described as ” a beacon of knowledge and light in a world that constantly threatens to extinguish both.” Shortly before Christopher’s death George Eaton of the New Statesman wrote, ”Throughout his career, he has retained a commitment to the Enlightenment values of reason, secularism and pluralism. His targets – Mother Teresa, Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger, God – are chosen not at random, but rather because they have offended one or more of these principles.” If I were to recommend something important, my choice would be to listen to what these two men have said in their books and debates. They have been an inspiration to me.

A few quotations on the topic of religion which have given me pause for thought include:

“God either wants to eliminate bad things and cannot, or can but does not want to, or neither wishes to nor can, or both wants to and can. If he wants to and cannot, then he is weak- and this does not apply to god. If he can but does not want to, then he is spiteful – which is equally foreign to god’s nature. If he neither wants to nor can, he is both weak and spiteful, and so not a god. If he wants to and can, which is the only thing fitting for a god, where then do bad things come from? Or why does he not eliminate them?” – Epicurus

“Man is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion – several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbour as himself and cuts his throat, if his theology isn’t straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother’s path to happiness and heaven” – Mark Twain

“Since it is inconceivable that all religions can be right, the most reasonable conclusion is that they are all wrong” – Christopher Hitchens

The discussion of religion is obviously incomplete without all religions being included, but restrictions on time and, particularly, space have abbreviated my contribution to a single dimension in something multi-dimensional. Also, my thoughts are only my thoughts and I claim no superior knowledge or understanding of the topic.

My current obsession is with trying to make sense of the train wreck that America has become. I ask myself how the most powerful nation on the planet is about to self-destruct, when it has so much potential to thrive and so much to offer its own people and, potentially, the world at large.

Once again, as outsiders, we try to identify the ingredients in the toxic stew. It is obvious to even the most apolitical observer that The United States are anything but united. In spite of the best intentions of the founding fathers, the Constitution, with all its checks and balances, appears to be fallible and open to interpretation by the 9 members of the Supreme Court, who answer to no one and hold lifetime tenure.

What is particularly sad is that dignity and decorum have disappeared from public discourse and been replaced by open hostility and threats of violence and revenge. The fact that there are 400 million privately owned guns, and an unknown number of illegal weapons, in the hands of some very strange people does not bode well for the country’s future.

My observations of the political battles being fought at every level of American society, from Congress to the media and the courts, school boards and communities like Springfield,  have left me wondering if America has reached a tipping point where visceral, rather than cerebral, reaction has triumphed and truth and logic have become irrelevant.

Einstein said, ”It is harder to crack prejudice than an atom.” I ask myself where America’s prejudices come from and if they can be cracked. My gut feel is that it is unlikely.  

Quite apart from the political turmoil, America is experiencing some self-inflicted social maladies. Having the highest prison population in the world is not a laudable achievement and the annual loss of 100,000 lives due to drug overdoses is an enormous problem. Although politicians accuse illegal migrants of flooding the country with drugs, OxyContin produced by Perdue Pharma, an American drug manufacturer, has been a large contributor to the loss of life.

Another scourge is mass shootings. A mass shooting is one in which four or more people, excluding the shooter, are either killed or wounded. There were 656 mass shootings in America in 2023, undoubtedly exacerbated by the constitutional right to bear arms, so proudly defended by the NRA. 

The unresolved issue of America's Illegal immigrants has been a political bone of contention for decades and is a perennial debate in every election campaign. A June 1985 National Geographic article observed that, on average, there were two million illegal border crossings from Mexico into the United States every year, and approximately six million of these illegals had not returned to Mexico. Since 1985, there have been 4 Republicans and 3 Democrats as presidents, none of whom has been able to solve the problem. The fact that several European countries are experiencing variations of a global migrant crisis does not appear to feature prominently in the current American dialogue.

It is probably not an exaggeration to say that the pending elections are the most important in America’s history, for many reasons. Given electioneering tactics since 2016, it is difficult to imagine an orderly election with no disputes or litigation. Americans, their allies and enemies are all watching developments closely and hoping for their given outcomes to prevail. Someone is going to be disappointed. Let us hope that, ultimately, sanity is the biggest winner.

 In hindsight, my lifelong obsession with attempting to understand why we do what we do has been fascinating, frustrating and probably meaningless. The thousands of questions I have asked, books I have read, debates I have watched and battles I have fought as the saying goes, “don’t amount to a hill of beans.” Do I regret the time and effort? Not for a moment. What I do regret is that I don’t have much time left to listen to all the music, watch all the films, read all the books and argue with the “opposition.” Another small regret is that sharing a lifetime obsession in 3,000 words is impossible. It’s like cooking a five course meal with only half the ingredients.

Bon appetit everyone!