Music, Religion and Politics

I had the urge to drop you a line or two this morning, not least to comment on the guilty verdicts in the Stephen Lawrence murder trial. Some little justice for the family but as Doreen Lawrence rather effectively stated yesterday, justice delayed is justice denied.

This morning some commentators seems to be suggesting that this is some kind of watershed moment. They suggest that by looking at this result and other matters in the public eye surrounding racism in football, Britain is a less racist and more tolerant place...I would invite them to look a little closer and they can start here in Mansfield where racism or xenophobia directed towards Eastern Europeans is rife.

We have a long way to go and I fear that we might never really get to where we think we should be, mostly because our intolerance is driven by ignorance and by differing religious beliefs.

Which reminds me, I am making nice progress through the Bible, there are a few passages which have caused me to scratch my head - like the giants mentioned in Genesis.

'There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown'

This passage comes before the story of the flood so I can only suppose that Noah decided to leave the giants to their fate which is why we don't have many giants around today. You see the Bible can make sense if you only read it and understand it.

I suppose I better start thinking about reading The Book of Mormon if Mitt Romney makes it to the White House. He is the narrow leader in the Republican race to secure the nomination to run against President Obama. The only thing I know about The Book of Mormon is that is was created by a man called Joseph Smith and the words were allegedly revealed to him on golden plates which only he was allowed to see and he dictated their contents from behind a screen to a series of scribes. The Book of Mormon is also an award winning musical written by Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

This combination of religious philosophy combined with music, even in parody, is another reason why I think religion will survive...there are some really good stories which when augmented with really good music make them seem even more powerful.

Much of the great classical canon was inspired by religion and faith and many great works were paid for by churches. In latter years we have the likes of Lloyd Webber and Rice putting Jesus Christ Superstar on stage and doing it really rather well.

Music, religion and politics, three things that people can argue about more than anything else I suppose but let me close with this song from The Book of Mormon and I do beg you to listen to all of the song and hear the words, then you too will believe!

I Believe from The Book of Mormon