10/01/06

Multiculturalism

I was surprised to find that the word is of recent usage. The Oxford English Dictionary I have does not include the word - the edition is 1937. The Concise Oxford Dictionary 1970 edition does not include it. It appears for the first time when the Oxford English Dictionary  notes the appearance of the word in its 1941 edition. Yet it seems to have been with us for centuries.

I confess that I am not in favour of the idea. It seems to me that it is far better that we think of integration. For cultures to retain all that belongs to that culture negates the idea of assimilation into the whole cultural character of the one into which one moves. There are cultural usages which it is proper to retain, but to hold to them to the exclusion of the one into which one moves, appears to go against the culture of that one has adopted.

 I was struck by a comment by the late Bob Santamaria. He was of Italian parents who were members of the small Italian immigrant community in Melbourne. As a child, along with other Italian children, he suffered from what multiculturalism was in practice. Nevertheless,  he says, "We all knew that we were Italian by blood, but Australian by national allegiance. Should a  conflict between both arise - as it did during the course of World War 11 - national allegiance must prevail." I can think of no better way of looking at the whole vexed question that has erupted so violently on some of Sydney's beaches, than that.

a post script

 Jill Rowbotham  The Australian's religious affairs writer mentions the Whitford Pentecostal Church  in Perth. 'The congregation is multicultural  including people of 27 nationalities. It has a complex internal network of groups meeting throughout the week, catering for all ages the church is heavily into collecting and donating  food and clothing. "We have a culture of 'thinking outside the church,' says the pastor. You can be sure that there will be no ethnic groups gathering at that church! They will have been submerged since they "are all one in Christ".

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Halloween

During my early years there was no mention of Halloween. The reasons soon become clear bearing in mind the state of things in England at the beginning of the of the reign of James 1 when  the Catholics saw some hope of  anti-Catholic legislation - being repealed. When James, while sympathetic,  showed no signs of doing so, a group ardent Catholics headed by Guido (Guy) Fawkes, took the law into their own hands. Leasing a small house in Westminster and stacking it with barrels of gunpowder, the plan was to blow up the Houses of Parliament when Parliament next sat, November 5th.  The plot was discovered and the conspirators fled, only to be rounded up and executed. England breathed a sigh of relief and bonfires were lit to mark the way the nation had been spared.

Instead of Halloween,  Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes night was celebrated , fireworks let off, bonfires let and effigies of Guy Fawkes burnt. The jingle that we grew up with said...

     Remember, remember the fifth of November

       Gunpowder, treason and plot.

     I see no reason, why gunpowder treason

       Should ever be forgot.

That little bit of history explains why Halloween was not observed in England, and yet persisted in other parts of Great Britain , particularly in Ireland.

But what about Halloween or the eve of All Hallows, or All Saints?

From the days of the Early Church it had been the custom to  commemorate the death of the martyrs. When, during the persecution under the Emperor Diocletian early in the fourth century, there were so many who sealed their testimony with their blood, a day was set aside for this purpose - May13.

Those of you who have been to Rome will no doubt have visited the Pantheon ( a temple to all the gods) a remarkable building and one of the survivors of the building passion of the Emperor  Hadrian. He was also responsible for the Mausoleum that stands beside the river Tiber near St. Peter's, and parts of the wall he constructed across the north of England - Hadrian's Wall-can still be seen. It was  Pope Boniface IV (609) who dedicated the Pantheon to the memory of the martyrs  on May 13. That date was changed by Pope Gregory iii in the eighth century to mark the dedication of All Saints Chapel in Rome - establishing November 1st as All Saints Day and October 31st as All Hallows Eve. It was a date soon extended to the rest of Christendom

The next stage that brought Halloween into prominence was no doubt due to the tendency to mingle Christian and pagan traditions. This process of assimilation can be seen wherever two religions or cults have existed side by side. The results have always been unfortunate for the followers of the traditional truths. The Celts had the festival of the New Year on November 1st. referred to as Samhain. It marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter. They believed that the dead  were accessible in their burial grounds. Against this background all kinds of fanciful beliefs sprang up - marked by customs designed to perpetuate them. This was very marked in Ireland, where the last Monday of October is to this day a public holiday. It was the migrations of the Irish following the potato famines of the 1850's that saw Halloween carried to America - where it is kept on a huge scale. Usually spooky things are prominent -ghosts, witches bats, spiders, goblins and figures involving death or magic. Last year - 2004 - it was estimated that 2.15 million children in the United States dressed up as Spider Man, the year's most popular costume. Think of the commercial kudos!

Few Christians understand the sinister aspects of Halloween. Is it a time for a harmless bit of fun? Or are we aware of the Satanic beliefs associated with it? The Word of God has nothing to say but condemnation of the practices associated with Halloween. I repeat, why not keep Reformation Day - October 31st - when Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg?

****************************************

The question of civil rights is a question more addressed in the USA than in Australia. Few Australians would know the name of Rosa Parks, but her name is etched in the history of the Civil Rights movement in America.

In December 1955 she was ordered to get up from her seat in a bus in Montgomery and give it to a white man. She refused and was arrested. it was her act of defiance that took the question to the forefront of the Civil Rights movement. She justified  her refusal by saying "I just wanted to be treated like a human being".

I was spending  some weeks in Florida just prior to this. I recall that whenever I used a bus, the coloured people were cramped in seats reserved for them at the back of the bus. I  was always given a seat in the front section.  Such was segregation then. It made an indelible impression on me. No such distinctions operated England.

Today no such issue dominates the news as her action did. The matter is  now no longer an issue, although many of the coloured people on New Orleans have been quick to point out they feel that relief efforts following the floods were not directed to their situation to the same degree as others

Perhaps the fact that I was brought up in Hull England gave the event greater significance than it might have otherwise done

. It was here William Wilberforce lived and from which city he served in Parliament. His house is now a museum and a column similar to Nelson's column stands near the city centre depicting Wilberforce on the top. It was in a pre-Elizabethan house I first came to an understanding of Christian truth. That house stood opposite Wilberforce House, and was used by a godly Quaker as a place of Christian teaching. It was then named the William Penn Chritian Institute. The initials of the founder of Pennsylvania were carved over the doorway. Sadly, the house was destroyed in an air raid in World War 2

It  was by the efforts of Wilberforce that slavery in the British Empire was brought to an end. He had introduced the first bill in 1804. In spite of fierce opposition - often from those in Parliament who benefited from the slave trade-  he persisted to press for abolition. It was not until 26 of July 1833 that the Bill for the Abolition of Slavery was passed. Wilberforce died 3 days later. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.  Rosa Parks ad William Wilberforce, so different in colour, state and circumstance. But both governed by a stand for a basic freedom, to the benefit of millions. How easy it is for us to close our eyes to injustice, excusing our inactivity with the plea so often offered "I don't want to get involved". May we be forgiven.

************************************

Today it is my birthday - I am 91

That was over a year ago. Just to assure any who may question I have had another birthday since that entry, and have not given up hope of yet another in April 2006.

That was yesterday April 22nd. The remainder of the day was taken up with shopping, a visit to the podiatrist, some gardening and dinner with family members. All of which reminded me of what the Good Book says about "the blessings of God extending to children's children".

I have been married now for 64 years come August. My two children walked in the steps we prayed for them.  I baptized my wife Mona and both daughters. I dedicated my three grandchildren, baptized them and officiated at their weddings. Now I am to have the privilege in  a few days time of dedicating Isaac, a fourth generation.

The role of parents

 Reflecting on the fact that I am a great grandfather, made me realise that I may be one of  what is almost an endangered species. How many children know their fathers let alone their great grandfathers. Roughly 20 percent of all families in Britain and Australia, are absent-father homes.  Add  to the physical absence, the socially and psychologically absence of some fathers, and the picture is rather frightening. The situation   is worse in the USA, according to Dr. Wade Horn,  Assistant Secretary for Children and  Families  in the US Department of Health and Human Services. Four out of every 10  children in America will go to bed in a home absent from their father.

All of which adds importance to the recent calls for responsible fatherhood by both Prime Minister John Howard and Mark Latham, the opposition leader. Is it all to be fixed by handing out reading books to the new born child?  The odds  are that it won't be the father who will do the reading,  but Mum!

Perhaps it would be better to deal with the problem of the break-up of marriage. Half the marriages in Australia end in divorce. Should not greater attention be given  by churches, schools and civic institutions to the promotion of healthy marriages characterised by love, mutual support and nurturing parenting?

Family News

Today April 20 I received  details of the Memorial Service for my nephew, John Lazenby who died recently in England. He was the son of my older brother Charles. Charles had a daughter who is married to an Angelical vicar, and a son John who for many years was lay preacher, and for the last seven years of his life was appointed by the Baptist Union to be Home Missions Commissioner for Essex. The day he entered hospital to be treated for leukaemia, he had been speaking at a Ladies' meeting. It is encouraging to see that the second generation of Lazenbys were so active in Christian ministry of one form or another.  Now the third generation. Two of our great grandchildren are missionaries to Muslims

Sunday May 1st. This morning I dedicated my great grandson. I guess there are few 91 year old minsters who have that privilege.  A son: it sets the mind thinking. Paul and Anna would have been as thrilled had their first child  been a girl. It has not always been so -the preference has been for boys. A papyrus scrap from Egypt contains a letter from one Hilarion at Alexander to his wife Alis. After the customary greetings the letter continues, "if by chance you bear a child, if it a boy, let it be, if it is girl cast it out" The exposure to whatever fate may be there was not uncommon. In many cultures the desire has always been for sons. Henry 8th longed for a son to continue the male dynasty. Catherine gave him a daughter Mary, but no son.  Anne Boleyn gave him a daughter Elizabeth, but no son. Jane Seymour gave him a son, who ironically died at the age of 16. Mary succeeded to the throne, and set the fires of Smithfield alight for those  who resisted her desires to take the realm back to the Catholic Faith. Many in England breathed a sigh of relief when Elizabeth came to the throne.

In these days of cloning and sex selection one wonders as to the outcome. An overplus of males! A recent book has made the point that history, biology, and sociology all suggest these 'surplus males will generate high levels of crime and social disorder'. Is it possible that the government of China could conceivably create huge armies to provide a safety valve for such aggressiveness? It is open to speculation. We are given by means of television a constant parade of male aggressiveness - more recently in Indonesia against Christian minorities. One longs for the universal  elevation of women that we find in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ.

Which  brings me to the words of Edward de Bono speaking at the National Press Club today - May 6th.

 He pointed out that the Koran explicitly prohibits suicide. Then what of the suicide bombers? The Koran he further stated does not permit anyone to cause women and children to suffer. But women and children do suffer all over the Islamic world at the hands of other Moslems. His explanation for the things that go counter to  the teaching of the Koran was that Islam has no pope - no authority to say this or that is wrong. Jesus said "Keep my commandments".

May 6th

The end is in sight. My autobiography has been shaping for some time. Today I am adding what may be the final chapter. "Reflections of Christian Nonagenarian" How does one crowd the events of over a life time  into a few thousand words, or tens thousands for that matter Of course everything cannot possibly be included - there has to be reflection - and in my case that's what it's all about.

June 3rd

Little prominence was given by the press to an outstanding "Address... given by Mr. Peter Costello "...To The National Day of Thanksgiving Commemoration" at Scots Church, Melbourne on May 29. One passage deserves special emphasis.  Speaking of the influence of the Christian in today's increasingly decadent society   he says, "There are many that have not, in their hearts, acquiesced to the kind of decay which is apparent around us. They do not believe it is right. They earnestly pray for the expansion of faith and yearn for higher standards. They will get up tomorrow and go to their places of worship in suburbs and towns across the country, affirm the historic Christian faith, and go to work on Monday as law-abiding citizens who want their marriages to stay together, their children to grow up to be healthy and useful members of society, and their homes to be happy. They care deeply about our society and where it is going.

These people will not get their names in the media.  They will not be elected to anything. They will not be noisy lobbyists. But they are the steadying influence, the ballast, to our society when it shakes with moral turbulence.  They give strength and stability and they embody the character and the traditions of our valuable heritage. It is their inner faith which gives them strength. Our society wont work without them".