Movement 134

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lssue 134 .
ent
Spring 2Ol O
Magazine of the Student Christian Movement
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www.movement.org.uk

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Student
Christian
Movement
SGM is a movement
seeking to bring together
students of all denominations
to explore the Christian faith
in an open-minded and nonjudgemental
environment.
Editorial and Design.'
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Movement
Magazine of the Student Christian Movement
lssue 134 / Spring 2O1O
Movement Editorial
3 The Gommunity lssue
Movement Interview
4 Talking about the Ark
Jonathan Spoor talks to Jean Vanier, founder of LArche.
Movement Feature: The Hope lssue
7 Reimagining community for a new century
Simon Barrow of Ekklesia sets out the manifesto.
11 The problem with the tourists
How would you feel if your home suddenly became a public rightof-way?
Karen Chalk has seen it happen.
12 Voices from the Cem Evi
llker Gurer's photographs of the Alevi people of Turkey.
15 Awounded body
Has the church failed as a community? By Jessica Rose
18 Think of the children
The plight of the children of prisoners, by Oliver Robertson.
20 On the farm
Ceri Owen's experiences among the Catholic Workers.
22 Finding community
Susannah Rudge on the Jesuit Volunteer Communities.
Movement Golumns
23 Listen to Ghristopher: Worth doing
Christopher Carney wants you to be happy.
24 Ten propositions on prayer
Kim Fabricius knows it's a conversation.
24 Dorky Bird: Neighbours
Becky Lowe ponders finding community where we are.
26 We fought the law: Musical
The first in a new series of columns from Symon Hill.
Movement Fiction
27 They'll Have Teacups
Part 1. By Chelsie Bryant.
Movement Departments
29 Reviews
Why Animal Suffering Matters o What is the Bible? . Holding On
and Letting Go
31 The Spengler report
It's all a load of Papal Bull.

The Gommunity lssue
We all have to live with each other. Like the man said, no
one is an island. But how does that work? Where do we find our
community? ln faith communities? ln ethnic groups? ln deliberate,
intentional communities that come together for a purpose? ln this
issue, we're looking at community from as many different angles
as we can fit in.
On friendship
I suppose I'm one of those people whose community is formed
around friends. When you're a teenager, you believe that your
friendships will endure forever, that they will never change.
lntro
They change. And sometimes you find that they've changed so
much that allyou have is history.
History binds and holds together bonds that should otherwise
have fallen apart. lt has to be the right kind of history. True, it can
do nothing more that remind you of painful experiences, but history
can also cover a multitude of sins.
You meet new people all the time. The pace of meeting new
people slows as you get older, but you do meet them. Sometimes,
they're people you can trust and you form these new friendships,
get new history. There are people I haven't known so long who I
count as very close friends, because we already have history.
I find myself thinking about this kind of thing at this time of year
because I write on the third anniversary of the day on which we
heard that SCMer and friend Mike Blakey had died, suddenly, far
away. I think a lot about how these things we say and do touch each
other's lives and shape them and mould them, and how valuable
are the relationships we have with those we share this common
history with, this common story of our lives.
And how suddenly it can be ended, how quickly it can all be
taken away.
Symon says
It's lovely to have Symon Hill, an old friend of SCM and
Movement, begin his new column with us. Once, a long time ago,
an employee of SCM, Symon is perhaps best known now for being
the face of the campaigning organisations who took the British
Government to court over their handling of the BAE Systems/Saudi
Princes scandal. He's now an associate director of Ekklesia and
works as a trainer and consultant. We're looking forward to seeing
more from him.
Pope Benedict lends a hand
So. That business with the pope offering refuge to disgruntled
Anglicans. ls he poaching the faithful or generously offering
to take the CofE's homophobes and misogynists off our favourite
Archdruid's hands? We don't know. We think Gartield Spengler has
an idea, in the first of a new series of Spengler Reports, freshly
thrown through the window of the SCM office, tied to a breezeblock.
Which is no mean feat, given that the SCM office is on the
third floor. But frankly, it's hard to tell. See what you think.
Wood
3

-
a
Jean
Jonathan
a
ut the fuk
Vanier, founder of Llfuche, talks to SCM member
JS: The story of L'Arche and
H:lJ,T:t"1ilr""*;,H'" fii
Spoor about vision, community and hope.
In 1964, Jean Vanier invited Rapltael Simi and Phillipe
Seux, tuso men uith learning disabilities, to live with him in
perhaps you could share one his horne inTrosly-Breuil, near Paris. From the original sn'tall
n::"""|t:Trl;t-T;1""t" t" house, LArche ("7h, Ark") grew to becorne an international
JV: Essentially, LArche has been
^
federation of ot,er 130 member c,rnrnunities in 36 countries'
d.iscovery.Iweicomedthatfire,that including nine in tlte LIK. People uith learning disabilities
and volunteer "assistants" share their li,ues in active, intenof
welcoming the poor, the weak. tional community living uorkshops, educationalprogrammes
iTlifr:11,H'"tfflt #ff:l
And I must sav that "::" l"f,t:: and other activities. Jean, nr,u) nearly 80, still takes an active
then I had been very attracted to
Friendship House in N"* v*f., part in the organisation. Jonathan wisited /tirn in TroslywhichThomasMertontalksabout,
Breuil this December to talk about the birth of LArche, its
living in the black areas. I had also
been very touched by i;";w^;kr, place as a potitical entity and about zohat keeps hirn going
who was an Englishman who was ushen s0 rnan)t other people migltt have stopped ,sorking.
living with down-and-outs. It was
something obvious for me to live
with those who were broken. I had discovered how
mistreated people with disabilities were. There was an
element of putting things right.
But then it's been a discovery. What have been
the main moments, I'm not quite sure, but it's been
a gradual discovery that they are the ones who are
healing me, and healing assistants, because I had been
in the navy, I knew how to command; I taught philosophn
I knew how to teach, more or less; but to start
living with Raphael was not a question of commanding
or teaching. It was a question of entering into a relationship.
When you command or when you teach, you
have power. When you start entering into a relationship,
somewhere you're losing power. Entering into a
communion, a relationship, and every relationship is
beautiful but also wounding, if it's a true relationship,
you can hurt people without wanting to hurt them,
for they can hurt you, without wanting to hurt. So
it's been a discovery that they are the ones that heal.
And I am beginning to see in a very clear way that the
danger of we human beings is creating walls around
our hearts to protect ourselves, and these walls in a
way are prejudices. We are prejudiced in respect to
people of other religions or people without religion...
somewhere there's a need for all of us to know we're
right, not only that we're right, but that we're the
best, that we're an elite. There's something in all of
us and that's something about our culture, about how
my culture is the best culture, the British culture is
the best, and the French think that they're the best.
Of course the Russians know that they are the best
and you fall into all these things with football matches
and rugby matches and God knows what. We have to
prove something and we're in a culture of competition
where we have to prove that. So when you start
living with people with disabilities, we begin to touch
our own brokenness and our own difficulties with
accepting people as they are, and not as somebody to
whom or over whom I have to lord or be superior and
such.
So in point of fact what we're discovering here is
that living with people with disabilities, they bring
down our mechanisms or defence and they bring us
to enter into relationships which are very life-giving,
to discover I am loved as I am. And so it brings to celebration
- q7s'1s happy to be together. And so we're
moving from this system of competition to discovering
the world of relationships, and relationships with
the different. And particularly in this situation, particularly
relations with people who are at the bottom
of the social ladder, who could be seen as just of no
value at all. And so it's a rediscovery of a completely
new vision.
From a Christian vision, I would say it's reflecting
Matthew 25, where Jesus says, "I was in prison and
you visited me, I was naked and you clothed me"
- I
love the sound of it -
"but whatever you did to the
least of these, you did to me." So, the discovery there
4 Movement

that as we enter into relationships with people, there
is a sort of healing. We're growing in love. It can be
also that we grow in faith, but that's not what the
text of Matthew 25 says. What it says is really that
we will be judged through love. And love will grow as
we welcome those who most of the time are despised:
people in prison, people terriblypoor, who are hungry,
people who are naked. So for us it's not just a question
of doing good, but that relationship is entering into a
personal relationship, one to one.
The other day, I was speaking to a group in Paris
which is called Aux Captifs Ia Libiration, who work
with people in prostitution, and one of the volunteers
of this group said, "The other day I listened to
the story of one of these people and it has completely
changed me, because I discover, you know, that I
can judge people because they are prostitutes, and I
discover something else, I discover a history of pain
and a desire for liberation. "
Movement
lnterview
I
I
\
So it's the same thing here, we discover people
who are different, who frequently we think we are
better than. Now, what we're discovering also is that
we have Muslim assistants, we have Hindu assistants,
and they're living the same experience. And Muslim
assistants say to me, "Being in LArche, I feel closer
to God and I'm becoming closer to my own religion."
So it's not a question of competition, but it's about
everybody finding an interior conversion when they're
growing in love. And we can only grow in love as we
begin to touch what is not lovable in us.
So this is our community life. We just live together,
have fun together, pray together, fight together and
all the rest.
JS: People often idealise the notion of community,
but L'Arche seems to be very focused on the
realities of life. How do you manage this?
JV: It's not a few people living in community together.
It's livingwith broken people, who to begin with didn't
choose to be broken, so they can come with their
anger, with their violence, with their psychological
disturbances. We saythat LArche is notforpeople with
disabilities, it is to create relationships with them. The
heart of community is not the person with disabilities
the heart of community is relationships. Which is
-
healing for the people with disabilities and healing
for the assistants. And it's true that we move away
from an idealism of community to the reality which is
obviously sometimes quite painful.
People with disabilities can be angry, upset and be
uazy I mean, that's the reality. And assistants come
-
also with their hang-ups, with their need to prove and
such. What I say is, LArche is a school where we learn
to love. And that means going through bad spots, discovering
who we are and all the rest. But at the same
time, because it's a school of love, and it's a school
then offorgiveness, we know also how to celebrate. To
5

celebrate together, have fun together, and give thanks
together because we're human beings.
JS: What gives you hope?
JV: For me I can say it's about living day-to-day. I'd
like to add: and celebrating life.
What gives me hope is the assistants who come
and who say to me, "I feel transformed." It's people
with disabilities with whom I'm living and I see they
too have been transformed. So the hope I have is the
possibility of human beings to be transformed. And
that transformation isn't just a question of doing
a bit of theology. It doesn't mean taking one's part
and singing in liturgies. It's about the discovery that
we human beings, we become fulfilled as we enter
into relationships of compassion. We enter into a
relationship with people that we have considered
no good, and who are lonely, and things then begin
to change. Hope rises up because we see that human
beings are made not to do beautiful things, but to
live relationships, and live universal relationships.
Charles de Foucauld talks about becoming a "universal
brother," and becoming a universal brother or sister
through relationships with people who have been
pushed down.
JS: Could you talk a bit about L'Arche's relationship
with the Church?
JV: There's something to say that the church encourages
us, but personally I get upset when I hear people
saylng, "You're doing good work." I'm not interested
in doing good work. What is interesting for me is a
vision which is ecclesial, social, a way of relating. As I
say, LArche is not a school of theology. It's a school of
relationships. And it's not a school of prayer, though it
leads to prayer. It can lead to theology. But it's essentially
a place where we're touching our brokenness. So
the heart of LArche, which I think is the heart of the
Gospel, is humility. And we're not there to tell people
what to do. We're there to enter into relationships
with people and the church can very quickly fall into
the trap of telling people what to do: what is right,
what is wrong, in the various rules on morality, of
liturgy and you can see a need sometimes for church
to do that, but if that is done in such a way which is
different to the washing of the feet, it can be seen as
a quest for power.
We have been lucky; first of all there are many
priests who are standing up, and wonderful bishops
who have been close to us. But we are not legally or
economically a religious organisation or a catholic
organisation. We're an organisation which is able to
move into countries where there are Muslims and
Hindus and we're not seen as a Christian organisation
we're seen as an organisation of truthfulness and
-
healing.
JS: What do you think that Jesus'model of leadership
humbling himself has to say to politics?
JV: What one sees in politics is so much fighting!
But to rise to the top means that we are people of
extreme wisdom, who are not fighters. But most politicians
have become fighters. Men of ambition. So
the implications of LArche... we like to say, "Change
the world, one heart at a time." Which is a very small
way of doing things. What I see happening now... I see
in a certain number of towns, Lille and Paris. There,
associations have started to create people who are
off the streets and they see that it's living together.
There's a movement for people with mental sickness
in Besangon, and they're creating these little homes,
living together. So there's a sort of movement, and
LArche, I think, is seen as a model that healing comes
from living together.
But it's not just healing. What would be the
situation in a place like Israel,/Palestine? What I see
is little groups of Palestinians meeting little groups of
Jews. They can't bring down the wall. They can't. But
they can get to discover their common humanity. The
same thing I see with groups in Northern Ireland: the
wall is maybe finished, but are people really coming
together? People coming together, Protestants and
Catholics, to discover their common humanity. And
I see that happening also in Rwanda: Tutsi and Hutu
women are meeting together to share.
So I think there's a model that must move
forward, that peace comes as we discover our common
humanity. Peace does not come when I am imposing
my beliefs on you, or that my culture is better than
your culture. Everything has to begin with mutual
trust, mutual understanding and therefore mutual
growth. We grow together.
And there's something new that's happening,
the whole question of the importance of the human
person this wasn't around before the 1940s or
-
1950s. There is a movement now which will never
permit at least visible slavery. There are still children
who are taking up arms, there are still women coming
from Asia or North Africa and into prostitution. There
are Mafia organisations.
And there is no longer a real dialogue with children
about what it means to be human.
So there's something growing, which will take a
number of years more.
JS: Many people would have given up a long time
ago. What keeps you going?
JV: Well first of all, I'm in a place where I am happy
and I feel loved. Something changed: I used to be more
or less in charge. But now I sense that they feel responsible
for me. Lulu will say, "You're looking tired, you
must go to bed," or "You haven't taken your sleep after
lunch." There's a mutuality because I'm growing older,
because they can see me weaker, there's a mutuality
of trust, and of love and of looking after each other.
And all of these people are people that have suffered
a great deal, had no real family experience. There's a
sort of growth. We're happy to be together. So LArche
is a place of celebration. You couldn't think of a better
place.
JonathanSpoor
is a student at the
University ofYork,
currently ensconced
in Paris.
6 Movement
i

ls there really no such thing as society?
Ekklesia director Simon Barrow investigates
the things that hold us together.
What is it that can hold us together in a world of astonishing variety,
difference, competition and cultural asymmetry? Whether the concern is
ecological destruction, rampant consumerism, or violent conflict -
all of which
threaten people and planet right now -
the answer is often posed in terms of the
need for community, for tangible expressions of common belonging appropriate to
the local, regional, national and international contexts we find ourselves in.
wediscover,r.:i":;lT,'i:L jl,l#'l?ililf ff :ilI,',"rT:Ifi ,?"":T;
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fUlly When We Tt.l*":,:*taining
communal bonds even greater. Traditionally,
'a community' has been defined as a group of people interacting
d iSCOVg f t h at
together and sharing a common location. But now that every locality
has taken on a global dimension and finds itself sharing innumerwe
bel3ng ;:::*:T#i#:f
rocarities ('grocarisation'), that cha[enge has
tOgethef.
It has often been said from Christian and Jewish theological
perspectives that human beings are properly understood not in
terms of atomised individualism or coercive collectivism, but as 'persons-in-community',
existing through a dynamic synthesis of free relation and active solidarity. So
we discover ourselves most fully when we discover that we belong together, but in
ways that utilise our differences rather than denying them that is, in communion
(rather
-
than mere contract).
This spiritual insight has been reinforced by the experience of a brutal 20'h
century in which the ravages of both command-economy communism and unfettered
free-market capitalism have made many of us deeply suspicious of totalising
photography @ 'solutions'to our problems: ones that cast us either as go-alone heroes or as effective
ZataBiril-hlooil
Movement
7

slaves to 'the cause', 'the party, 'the Reich', 'the
market', 'the faith', or some other dangerously
homogenising ideology.
So we have a good idea of what we don't
want. But that still leaves us with the problem
of what genuine community is, and how it can
be realised. For example, family, kinship, belief
and identification-with-place can all create very
powerful ties. But we know from painful experience
that these can be damaging and oppressive
as well as unifying. If a sense of belonging is vital
to whatever we mean by community, so is the
impulse to define ourselves apart from, or overand-against,
others. Inclusion creates exclusion,
and vice versa.
At the organisational, legal and economic
level of human interaction, all societies depend
for coherence on their capacity to prescribe and
defend an 'in' group, to establish codes of acceptable
behaviour for that group, and to arrive at
cultural or systemic norms. At a more primallevel
this often entails seeing other people as 'friends'
or'enemies' and treating them accordingly.
In modern mass societies, however, the
majority of people we relate to do not fit obviously
into either c ategory,and so the politics and procedures
we have developed exist to regulate, civilise
and control what is overwhelmingly "a society of
strangers" (to use the stark term employed by
Gernot Saalmann, Roger Scruton and others).
The Gospel message radically disrupts these
arrangements, however. First, it enjoins us to
think of those who are neither immediately
intimate nor immediately antagonistic to us
in a new way. They are not merely strangers or
'nobodies'. They are neighbours and companions
in the journey through the world. This is a theme
in many other religions too, and it carries with
it an invitation to connectedness and obligation
that goes beyond'natural' ethnic or the familial
ties.
In biblical terms a 'com-panion' means
someone with whom we share bread, and neighbourliness
is created by'com-passion'
- which
is not sentimental regard, as many suppose, but
a recognition of the other through the common
experience of suffering. By expanding our
compassion through shared effort and persistent
prayeritis evenpossible, says Jesus, to respondto
enemies by loving them rather than eliminating
them. This path towards renewedhuman relationships
subsists not in abstract concepts (the first
refuge of those seeking to evade responsibility)
but in the tough business of character-building
action.
In other words, it is shared endeavour and
regular commitment that creates community,
not some mystical ideal that somehow magically
enables us to feel a 'togetherness' which will
match our romantic aspirations. This is a point
that Dietrich Bonhoeffer makes rather forcefully
in his 1937 bookLifeTogether, which describes
the basis of a tiny, unprecedented Lutheran
experiment in communal-spiritualliving as an act
of resistance in a world increasingly encroached
upon and defined by Nazis the illegal
Confessing Church seminary at Finkenwalde.
Similarly, if we remain in expectation of a
one-size-fits-all theory of community adequate
\---
li
l

to the lesions of the 21"t century, and then
hope to inhabit it, we will wait in vain. But if we
invest in creating practical bonds of common life
across all that divides us be it greed, conflict
-
or indifference then we have some chance of
-
developing the alternatives we so badly need.
Moreover, in a world of almost stultifying size
and complexity, we should not despise the small
and apparently ineffectual. The levers of change
are much tinier than the vehicles they move, and
we delude ourselves if we think that only the
powers-that-be can find them. In those terms,
no-one could have predicted the fall of the Berlin
Wall or the collapse of apartheid.
Whereas some modern 'communitarian'
political thinking (associated with Amitai Etzioni,
MaryAnn Glendon, William Galston and others)
seeks to rebuild social bonds through a rather
functionalist, top-down socio-political stance,
there are other approaches which see community
more in terms of counter-cultural action based
on witness (good example) rather than social
control.
Perhaps the most famous recent expression
of this comes in a passage at the end of the
second edition of moral philosopher Alasdair
Maclnty:'e's classic book After Virtue, where he
talks, with reference to those who set themselves
apart from the declining Roman Empire, of the
need for "new forms of community within which
the moral life [can] be sustained so that both
morality and civility might survive the coming
ages of barbarism and darkness. If my account
of our moral condition is correct, we ought
also to conclude that for some time now we too
have reached that turning point... This time,
however, the barbarians are not waiting beyond
the frontiers; they have already been governing
us for quite some time. And it is our lack of
consciousness of this that constitutes part of our
predicament. We are not waiting for Godot, but
for another
- and doubtless very different - St
Benedict." (1984, p. 263).
Civil society and faith-based movements
against racism, ecological degradation, poverty
and exploitation have undoubtedly created a new
sense of communal longing and hope in recent
years, against an increasingly perilous global
backdrop. But assisting these initiatives, both
local and globai, into something more sustainable
and developmental requires the kind of
deep-rooted personal and social transformation
than good intentions and willpower alone cannot
create.
That is what the reference to St Benedict flags
up. Under the old conditions and constraints
of Christendom, with it collapsing empire and
top-heavy church, the founder of the Benedictine
order established living patterns for a network of
communities that signalled new paths for both
the temporal and the ecclesiastical order, ones
based on the simplicity and primacy of daily life
held in common.
Today the historic churches in the West are in
rapid decline and are tempted to try to cling on
to the vestiges of disappearing prMlege
- rather
than renewing their spiritual roots in seeking
God's just and peaceable kingdom in our midst,
addressing practically and theologically the global
threats to life we face together, and investing
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in creative experiments in reconciliation,
hospitality, restorative justice, cate for the earth,
economic sharing and many other charismswhich
lie at the heart of the Christian vocation.
Practical experiments in hope might be what
we need. But a 'church of power', which has
fatally mixed-up Christ's subversive lordship
with earthly domination, is of little use for these
tasks. Rather, as Rosemary Ruether poignantly
observed, writing in The Christian Century
magazine some 45 years ago, "if the church
is really to be reborn from its past, it must be
willing to do a lot more dying." The rebirth that is
needed, not for itselfbut for others, is surely that
of new possibilities for unity in the world based
on a vision of human being and becoming, rather
than the suasions of money and might. After all,
our modern word community is derived from
the Latin communitas (cum, "with/together" and
mttnus, "gift"), indicating that the recognition of
the gift of the other is what generates true bonds
of affection and solidaritY.
In his important book Belonging Challenge to
a tribal church (SPCK, 1991), Peter Selby points
out that whereas human communities 'naturally'
depend on their ability to exclude, to say who they
are in terms of who is being left out, the church
- rightly understood -
is constituted in a quite
different way. It is made up of those who belong
not because they are members of the 'right'
ethnic group, gender, social strata or spiritual
club, but precisely because God loves people
without regard to such things, and demonstrates
what that looks like in the odd group of people
who gathered around Jesus in his struggle to
show the ruling political and religious elites of
his day that they had no right to condemn those
whom God was including.
This is the final and decisive way in which the
Gospel radically disrupts those'normal' patterns
of human life that divide people, and that acclimatise
us to see others as threatening strangers
rather than prospective neighbours. It is this kind
of radical shift in perspective and understanding
(what the New Testament calls metanoia, a
wholesale turnaround of heart, mind and life)
that is alone adequate to the task of re-imagining
and re-creating possibilities of community in the
face of global threat. Policy and prescription are
not enough.
SimonBanow
is director ofthe
religion and society
thinktank Ekklesia.
www,el

KarenChalkworks
for Quaker Peace
and Social Witness
as an ecumenical
accompanier with
EAPPI, aninitiative
of the World Council
of Churches.
EAPPI monitors
and reports human
rights abuses and
supports prace
workers in Palestine
and Israel.
eappi.org
The
problem
with the
tourlsts
a
Karen Chalk tells a short story
of a community under siege.
"What's the problem with the tourists?"
The Israelisettler, armedwithhis two small children
and with one big gun slung across his shoulder, had
stopped my fellow Ecumenical Accompanier Olav
during his morning run and politely but pointedly
plied him with questions: "How many internationals
are in Yanoun? How long do you stay; why are you
here... and what was the problem with the tourists?"
The first few questions are easy. There are four of
us here, providing a permanent international presence
to this small farming community which is home to
100 people; around 40 adults and 60 children. We stay
for 3 months and are then replaced by a new team of
internationals. We are here to provide presence and
to observe, because Yanoun is surrounded by illegal
settlement outposts, and in 2002 the inhabitants
were driven out by settler violence.
The last question posed by the settler is far more
complicated. By "tourists", the settler meant the
large group who had together come over the hill from
Itamar settlement the previous day. We were alerted
at around 8.30 in the morning that there were 80
settlers at Um Hani's house, but received no more
immediate details. Of course this is alarming, given
the well documented history of attacks on the village
and our knowledge of recent settler violence nearby.
In addition, the sheer number of them was twice the
adult population of Yanoun. We took the short but
tense journey with the mayor to the house, which is
relatively isolated, to find out what was happening.
The settlers were just on the other side of the house
when we arrived; we could clearly see them listening to
their armed guide. They had walking shoes, backpacks
and cameras - a hiking group. Their guide was talking
to them in Hebrew and after a few minutes, during
which time we took pictures of them and some of
-
them returned the gesture they moved on down
-
the hill towards the village well.
The well, providing all the drinking water for the
village, is visited by settlers every so often; the men
sometimes bathe in the well and have been known to
bring their dogs and let them swim in the water too.
The guide Ied them down to this spot as the Yanoun
villagers, mostly out of their houses by now and
watching events unfold, watched from a safe distance
away up the hill. Rashed, the mayor, approached the
group as some of the men in the group were beginning
to get into the well. He had an exchange with the guide,
who he later told us he recognises from the nearby
settlement of Itamar, and the guide then requested of
the men that they moved on, and they did.
So; what's the problem with the tourists? The vast
majority of them weren't armed, they moved through
the village, they began to swim in our drinking water,
but stopped when it was requested. It is undoubtedly
very threatening for the village when large groups
come, as it takes a while to establish their intent, but
these were not injuring anybody.
There are reasons to suggest it is inappropriate for
them to be walking here; the Yanounis are Palestinians
living under occupation in Palestinian territory, and
the hiking group is from an Israeli settlement in very
close proximity. This village has suffered greatly from
direct violence from local settlers in recent years. But
still, even inappropriate behaviour does not have to
be threatening; it would still be possible to argue that
the group weren't really'doing' anything.
The thing to worry about is what this kind of walk
can represent, and its wider context. Without doing
too much violence to the activity, it seems it can be
connected directly to the field of Zionist education
known as Yediat ha-Aretz; literally "knowledge of the
land", which was established in the 1920s to advance
patriotism. The tiyul, or "hike" was an important
feature of this project. Sometimes people do just walk
here, but it didn't feel much like that was the overall
intent of this group. A point was made, a land claim
was being supported, the message felt clear although
it is difficult to articulate when it is equally possible to
look at the group and only see hikers.
The "problem with the tourists", apart from the
gun on their leader and the attempts to swim in the
well, is that they are not quite tourists. We are told
some Israelis come hiking here, the wells are on hiking
maps and they go through peacefully; we are told they
are no problem. Maybe they don't even know or really
understand about the history or politics here, difficult
though that is to believe. But it seems that the hikers
from Itamar were contributing to something quite
difficult to quantify; they were showing the Yanounis
that they can just come right into the village, approach
the well, walk across the fields and make connection
with the land. They were making their presence here,
in the settlements that are illegal under international
law, appear benign and leisurely. They were creating
the incredulity behind the question "what's the
problem with the tourists?"
Movement 11

i:
Ne./.s ine
II idcletine
Iiline
Diline
R eline
Sahip OI

__-'
"'..'FF_
Facingpage: Men and wonten pray together in the Cent Evi irt lstanlail. lJnlike tlrc Sunni rnajority, Alevis nrcet once a week only, on Thursday
evettings.
Above: Alet isnt is related to tlze Bektashi Sufi branch of Islant like the Bektashi, the Alevis Hacibektag Veli, a saint of the 13th cenutry. Here,
dervishes are prayingin Galatasaray Bektasi Dergahi in Istnnbul.
Alevis number up to 1O million officially in Turkey, but ii's widely believed that there
may be as many as twice that. They're the largest minority in Turkey after Kurds. The Alevi
were violently persecuted under the Ottomans, and although they have been given more
freedoms during the republican era, persecution has continued in some form or other into the
present day. Alevis generally supporl secularism, but the communities have still not been not
granted the same rights as the majority Sunni Muslims, who do not consider the Alevi people
to be true Muslims at all.
Alevis fund their own houses of worship (known as "Cem Evi"). ln the Cem Evi, men and
women stand side by side, because the Alevis recognise no gender discrimination - they
say that God does not discriminate. They use music to bring themselves closer to god, as
they say music raises the spirits. The "sema" is a form of meditation in the form of dance,
which brings one closer to god. Alevi rituals are mostly practised in Turkish, rather than in
Arabic, as they are in Sunni mosques. Alevis consider their faith to be a branch of Shia lslam,
as they venerate the lmam Ali.
Movement 13

Above: Tttrkic Alevis front Ardahan, in tlrc nortlrcast ofTurkey, on the outskirts of the Ardahan MoLtntains. Tllousands of Alevis are believed to live
in the city of Ardahan, but despite their nunbers, tlrcy still face persecution by the Turkish authorities.
Below: Yowtg wornen prayingin the Cent house, Istartbul.
Ilker Gurer has
been a freelance
photographer
since 2004. His
work concentrates
on urban
transformation and
htntan strengthin
the face of hardship.
14 Movement

A wounded body
Jessica Rose, author of Church on Tria[ examines
I
i
the church community and finds it wanting.
Church means many different things to
different people, but whether it is 'two or three
gathered together', or two or three hundred at a
Sunday service, or the huge structure of popes,
patriarchs, priests, people, monks and nuns, it
always involves a community. At the same time
the church is the continuing incarnation of the
God who became human and part of our history
it is the body of Christ. If Jesus the man were
-
to walk in to one of our churches today, would he
recognise his own body?
Sometimes, we can say yes. The body
functions in recosnisable wavs:
rr
I ngfC) SG)gms as groups of p"opl" giving
to be no each o.ther.mutual ,tYppott: lt
continuity
between
praying
together
and the WaV -'
pgOple behaVg
parr or socrery, reacnrng our ro
help others and speaking out
for justice and for the care of
creation; as a community of
prayer bringing us closer to God;
and as a 'community of saints'
connecting people across time
and space.
It was-the first of these that
interested me when I decided to
write about church life' I mvself
grew up rn a vicarage, and shook
tOWafdS ln" a.rr, from off my feet when
each other. LTj;':l":ffi:;'.i*jj"f;
Only many years later did I find
myself very involved in church, and decided to
see what other people's experiences were like,
and how they might relate to being Christ's body.
I found, of course, a huge range of experience
-
much of it good.
For example, a university chaplain described
what she sees in her college chapel: 'Newcomers
are met by a real generosity motivated by faith,
which says, "You may be isolated, and this may
not be your cup of tea and you don't have
-
to stand up and say you believe all this
- but
you are welcome anyway."' And when Teresa's
husband had a long stay in hospital, people from
church visited regularly: 'I cannot tell you,' she
said, 'what a godsend that was, because I was
under such pressure with work and visiting
hours. I would walk in and see someone from
church the relief that would give me, to know
-
that someone cared enough to spend a little time
with him.'
The support a community gives may be more
subtle. When I first started going back to church,
I was looking for a God-space, a place to pray,
maybe some music, ritual or a building to help
me to do that. I began by going to services at an
enclosed convent where no-one spoke to you:
it was both hospitable and undemanding, and
there are quite a few people who need this kind
of space. 'I have a big problem in taking an active
part in the church', said Ted, a regular churchgoer,
'I don't participate in any groups or take
any offrcial positions. But I go every Sunday and I
feel I need to be there and I want to be there'.
Being part of the church community can
also be an important part of how we experience
ourselves. John, for example, started singing
for services in his college chapel because he
liked singing, not because he believed in God
-
he didn't. But he soon began to read about
Christianity, and eventually was baptised.
'Becoming a Christian helped me find a sense of
forgiveness', he said. 'Forgiveness is built into
the Christian story: Jesus accepts all the consequences
of sin and lives through them on our
behalf. He overcomes, and helps us overcome.'
John's experience is that the church, too, lives
out this story. 'The way Christ overcomes is
found actively in the church', he said, 'in the
way people are Christ-like. I was made welcome
without reservation. This was something
and practical as well as theoretical.'
Sometimes, however, the redemptive story
can be hard to find, and church life can be a rough
ride. Sooner or later we run into conflict, and
what really disturbs people is when there seems
to be no continuity between prayrng together
and the way people behave towards each other.
'So much time is wasted at PCC meetings,' said
Bill, 'So much bitterness over absurd little things.
People are just not willing to engage it drains
-
the whole point of it.' Jane, a pastoral worker,
says she often unwittingly upsets people. 'I try
to do something and it turns out that "somebody
else always does it" or more often it turns out
-
that somebody else always does something that
Movement 15

is not the same thing at all. I don't mean to tread
on people's toes, but people are quick to take
offence',
Again, the church community can have avety
negative effect on our sense of self if we feel we
don't match up. When her marriage broke up, for
example, Ann was horrified to find that people at
church stopped speaking to her. And a number
of people I spoke to were concerned at the lack
of fit between a gospel of love and what Teresa
calls 'the unloving aspects of the church'. She is
scandalised, for example, by the churches' stance
on homosexuality. Like many others, she looks
ather gay friends who go through all the joys and
sorrows of relationships in the same way that
other people do, and is simply plzled 'I have
marry gay friends,' she said, 'and I don't want
them excluded any more than divorced people.
I can't say it is unnatural to be gay: it is part of
creation. We should be loving as a church and we
are being unloving to a huge group of people.'
Jesus tells us
- in word and action - that
God is on everyone's side. He loves us all, indiscriminately.
Yet right from the start in Acts
-
we can see the problems that church life
-
throws up. As one woman said, it more often
seems that the church 'allows a lot of reactionary
people with views that are full of hate to have a
place where they can feel them- Thg ChUfCh
selves justified and better than
other people.' 'People inside the COmmUnity Gan
church, 'she added, 'are actually
nastier than people outside.' have a very
Does the coming of Jezus
neqative gffect
bring joy, healing and wonder '--:rintoiheworld?Certainly.
Butin On OUf Sen5e Of
the wake of that joy and wonder
comerivalry,betrayalanddeath. Sglf if We dOntt
Why? Not because that is what
God wants, U,rt U.."use that matCh Up'
is the way we oPerate' As Jane
said, 'People in churches definitely behave worse
than non-believers. A non-believer always has
the hope of being converted. But we have the
message and twist it. That is much worse.'
Jesus' resurrection did not make everything
suddenly all right again. His resurrected body
carried the wounds from his violent death, and
he carried those wounds still when he ascended,
taking our human nature with him into heaven.
Similarly, in this world the church will never be
about everything being 'OK. It should hardly
surprise us that the body is wounded and frag'
mented. After all, it is made up of us -
and
we have a powerful propensity to identify over
against other people in order to make ourselves
feel secure. We easily turn to violence.
)
rhe othowa covwvwlw*g - Essgx
Studying Architecture? lnterested in Ecology?
Or perhaps concerned about the future of our planet
and the sustainability of new buildings?
We would like you to get 'hands on' with our current
project - a solar-powered building - and are looking
for volunteers to visit and help with the erection of
rammed earth and straw bale walls. This will be
happening from end of March 2010 - please get in
touch with us to find out more about this exciting
opportunity. E-mail: bradwell@othona'org
Spring Events
19'h-21"t March - Spring Retreat
"For everything there is a season under heaven"
Led by Sheila MaxeY
1"-8tn April- Easter at Othona
Worship and Easter fun - led by Rev Nihal Paul
17'^-20'h May - Spring Watch
Led by Essex Wildlife Trust
For further details of these and other events, please
see our programme at: www.bos'othona.org
t
$
Come and ExPerience the
Beauty, Peace and TranquilitY
of Othona - Bradwell-on-Sea
Why not have an experience of Othona at one of our working
weekends during this coming Spring?.
5th-7th March around the solar building and reed beds
30th April- 3rd -work
May planting and new building internal work
-
Half rates appty for these and all other working weekends'
For further information about the Othona Community, to book a place for any of the above events or to find out
details of our full programme, please contact us via:
phone: 01621 776564 E-mail: bradweil@othona.org website: www.bos.othona.org
16
Movement

How does this happen? A key to understanding
can be found in the works of Ren6
Girard, who points out that human beings are
born imitators (how else would we ever learn
how to live?). And we also tend to imitate when
it comes to wanting things we see
-
what other
people desire and desire it too (how else would
the advertising industry survive?). So far so
good: this is how we become good disciples, and
plug in to church communities. When we set out
to imitate someone we like and admire, however,
envy can set in very quickly we want the same
things they have got. This -
was precisely Jesus'
problem: 'it was out of envy that they delivered
him': even Pilate could see this
(Mt 27:18).
We miSS the
obvious: that o,J;:H iil?::"ri-in,?T:::
God is not tife- 3:#,';xl,T:Ti:::ff'"":il"1
destroying, but ffi*:::'j:il'J,*i'j**.i1,,*:
I ife-c reati ng. ilJ,?"' .ffi;|i:: ;:::.ff:I
the church today. 'I think,' said
an Anglican priest, 'for most church people Jesus
was the last sort of person they would want to
welcome in to the church'.
This would have been bad enough if Jesus
were just another prophet, but he also claimed
to be the Son of God, and this was really intolerable
for the powers that be. What they could not
see was that he was not just another religious
teacher in competition with the others: he was
beyond rivalry. He had no need to cling on to
power, or to rival or envy his disciples as they
began to take on board what he was telling them.
He could simply rejoice that as they grew, so did
the presence of God in the world. Being fully God
as well as fullyhuman he knew there was enough
to go around. For the authorities, however, Jesus
became a problem.
So they did what any of us do when our
understanding of the world is disturbed: we try
to restore order. We join in with those who have
apparently identified what 'the problem' is and
therefore know how to put things right -
and
there is hardly anything so bonding as a common
enemy. Caught up in communal condemnation
of almost anything we feel restored to ourselves,
and this is often what we do as church. We read
a'feel-good factor' into the Gospels: we are going
to be all right, and everyone else, the nuisance
people, will be cast out. A church that is for
everyone becomes 'my church'.
In the same way, if we are not careful, we get
drawn into the idea that the crucifixion itself was
a setting aright of this kind: God became angry,
Jesus endured the punishment for our sins, God
was appeased, and is on our side again so long
-
as we know what's what and behave ourselves.
So much Christian teaching is based on this
fundamental misunderstanding. We tend to
miss the obvious: that God is not life-destroying
but life-creating. God does not set out to make
life unpleasant for us: he sees that life is hard in
a fallen world, and enters into it, sharing all the
consequences. God did not want Jesus dead: he
wants all of us alive and since we are incapable
-
of overcoming death, the only way to achieve this
was to become one of us and to go through the
whole process not calling -
on angels or divine
power to wipe out the enemy, but going through
the middle of it.
St Bernard tells us that we need to learn to
love ourselves for God's sake. We need, then, to
move from a 'law court' model of atonement -
that we were so wicked someone had to die to
appease God -
to an understanding of at-onement.
God entered the created world, in history,
as an act of solidarity: to heal the division that
had opened up between himself and creation -
including us.
The implication for the church community,
then, is perhaps not to try to make everything
squeaky clean. It is perhaps to acknowledge that
the body is wounded and fragmented while still
remembering the core message of love. That way
we can maybe begin to ask ourselves what makes
us a church community, rather than just another
dysfunctional group of people.
Jessica Roce ls
author ofChurch
on Trial, now available
from Darton
Longman and Todd,
priced 814.95
Movement 17

Think of the
children
Oliver Robertson on the Plight of
the children of Prisoners.
If you were told your dad had suddenly
'gone to hospital' but you couldn't visit,
what would you do? And if your mum moved
to a new home a hundred miles away but you
weren't allowed to go with her, how would you
feel?
These are just two of the scenarios faced every
day by children of prisoners. Separated from their
parents by the state, they have to adjust to a new
life, with many moving home, changing school or
having new carers and guardians. They need to
work out what, if anything, to say to their friends
- assuming they even know (some children are
told that the missing parent is in hospital or has
joined the army). And many will have to deal
with the new reality of seeing a parent in prison,
often travelling a long way fot a short visit of an
hour or less.
In the UK alone it is estimated that 160,000
children have a parent in prison: children's
charity Barnardo's noted in a recent report on the
issue that this is double the number in care and
over six times the number on the child protection
register. In reality, nobody knows exactly
how many kids are affected, because nobody has
comprehensive statistics on the issue. Mostly it
is fathers who are jailed, but when mothers are
imprisoned the effects can be more pronounced,
as mothers are more often the main or only
carer for the children, which can result in the
children moving to live with somebody else and
experiencing other profound changes to their
lives.
Each child will deal with parental imprisonment
differently, even those in the same family.
For some, who have had little contact with the
imprisoned parent beforehand, the jailing will
make little difference to their lives, while for
others the removal of a disruptive or abusive
parent can be a relief. But a consistent reaction
following arrest and imprisonment is a feeling of
loss. As the daughter of one Kenyan inmate put
it: A family without one member is incomplete'
We can no longer get her advice and her role
has to played by someone else, which is a big
challenge.'
Many of the effects on children are similar to
what happens when parents divorce or one of
them dies, but with much less sympathy. Families
of prisoners can become 'tainted'
by the crime, with people in the
ln the UK alOne
community shunning them and
kids in school taunting them' it iS eStimatgd
Some children may turn inwards,
not speakins to anyone about that l6OrOOO
the situation, while others get
angryand defiant, i., uoir, ."r?r, Childfen haVe
behaviour and schoolwork can
suffer. Add to ,ht, ,h:;;;*t"i a Pargnt in
ffiriff ::::,"J,;::l*:'i'; p ri so n .
fill this role, though other familY
members, friends and foster carers also provide
new homes) or of being asked to fill new roles in
the family (such as looking afteryoungerbrothers
and sisters) and you start to see why children of
prisoners are described as the 'invisible victims
of crime'.
Invisible, but not alone. Over the years there
have been increasing numbers of individuals,
groups and academics working on issues of
prisoners' families, with Barnardo's one of the
newest and biggest. So you have Action for
Prisoners' Families with its dedicated helpline
and support services, Kids VIP, which focuses
on improving prison visits and providing childfriendly
visiting areas in prison, and Quaker
representatives in the UK, EU and UN, who
have been lobbying for the rights and welfare of
prisoners' children to be considered by policymakers.
Look globally and the picture is similar:
you see an American group promoting a charter
of rights for children of imprisoned parents,
Italian campaigners helping women whose
babies are born in prison and one astonishing
Nepalese organisations, Prisoners Assistance
18
Movement

Oliver Robettson
is a Quaker who
worked for two
years with the
Quaker United
Nations Office in
Geneva, researching
issues around
children of prisoners
and babies living
in prison. He is
currently continuing
to snrdy these
isxes at Oxford
University.
Nepal, which at any one time is schooling and
training over a hundred children who have been
living in prison.
This is all good work and concentrates on
all aspects of being a prisoner's child - before,
during and after jail. (One common misconception
is that if imprisonment is bad, then when
the parent comes home everything will be fine.
The reality is that it is much harder than often
expected, with both parents and children having
unrealistic ideas about how easy it will be,
returned prisoners facing practical problems
with finding work and accommodation, and
children having developed and changed during
the imprisonment). But the effects can be so
many and so serious that campaigners are trying
to get judges to consider the effect on children
before sentencing their parents to custody. As
with other things, they argue, prevention is
better than cure.
If that idea (that people with kids can avoid
prison because of their parental responsibilities)
sounds bizarre, then consider that it already
happens in lots of countries. Several of the
ex-Soviet republics have provisions whereby
mothers with children under a certain age avoid
prison, except for especially severe crimes.
South Africa's highest court ruled in 2007 that
the paramount importance of children's rights
meant that the impact on them must be considered
when sentencing 'primary caregivers'; this
may still result in a prison sentence, but it will be
one informed by its wider impacts.
And for those unmoved by the idea that
children are feeling the effects of punishment
without ever having committed a crime themselves,
there is another reason for changing this
situation: future crime prevention. Long-term
studies have shown that boys whose fathers have
been imprisoned are themselves more likely to
go on to be antisocial in the future, and many
prisoners have had imprisoned parents themselves.
Supporting children of prisoners and
their families can be highly beneficial, for the
people themselves and for the wider society. As
a child in one US study put it: 'It's hard to find a
sense of value if everybody tells you you're not
worth anything'.

On the Farm
Geri Owen's experiences of living in an intended community.
I spent part of last year living in
comrnunity at the Catholic Worher Farm,
near Rickmansworth. The farm is a shelter for
womenwho'have no recourse to public funds', part
of the international Catholic Worker movement,
which combines'houses of hospitality', anarchist
politics, and Catholic social teaching.
The 'core' of the London CW farm are a
Catholic couple, Scott and Maria. They have two
young sons who live at the farm, and two older
children away at university. There are up to two
'interns' who live there for several months at a
time, various regular volunteers from the local
area and the rest of London, up to six adult
women guests, one child and a very friendly
dog. Whilst I was staying, the other intern was
Martha, grand-daughter of Dorothy Day who
began the Catholic Worker movement, so I heard
a lot about the history of the movement, and the
many houses in America. The farm itself is a few
hundred metres inside the M25, in a surprisingly
tranquil setting with an enormous duck pond
which I fell in love with.
Each weekday morning we would get up at
7:30am, with prayers taken from a Catholic Daily
Office book and book of saints. Then we would
plan the day - usually what to do in the garden,
any visiting helpers due, if any of the guests had
anything to do with their asylum case coming up.
We would usually spend mornings working in
the garden, or restoring the large and dilapidated
farmhouse, and sometimes craftwork to sell to
raise funds. In the afternoons I would spend
time with the guests, work on their asylum cases,
or do cooking or crafts. In the evenings guests
would take turns to cook dinner, when we'd all eat
together, then often spend the evening together
in the lounge, talking, reading, or watching a
video
-
up.
I often found myself having my hair put
One afternoon each week we would hold a
vigil outside the military base at Northwood,
the joint military command HQ, from where the
final order to launch Britain's nuclear weapons
would be given. The farm is often used as a base
for larger symbolic actions, such as blockading
Northwood base and pouring red paint on
the sign. Many of the Catholic Workers also
participate in 'direct disarmament' of weapons
and infrastructure through the Ploughshares
movement, challenging the structures which
perpetuate injustice as an integral part of caring
for the victims.
I spent every Sunday awaywith friends, which
could be very strange though essential to coping
with life on the farm -
I would go from an
incredibly intense week where I'd be listening to
someone who'd had their family killed, and trying
with no legal knowledge to help put together a
case which could be life or death to them, and
then a short tube ride away the 'normal' world
was still going on around me. The disconnect was
also apparent in Rickmansworth itself, a very
rich area. We had no government funding, next
to no money, food was pulled out of the bins of
a notoriously posh supermarket, or donated at
harvest festivals so I d be wondering where we
-
could scrape up a few pounds for the tube fare
for an Iraqi woman to go to her Arabic-speaking
Chaldean church, over toast from bins, spread
with jam from Fortnum & Mason. The experience
of being on the receiving end of the kindness of
anonymous strangers at Harvest Festivals, when
most of the time we were literally living off waste
discarded by people who were offered more
luxuries than they could consume, was deeply
disconcerting and humbling.
Like every community, the farm had its
tensions. I was the only non-Catholic volunteer
living at the farm, and the others had children
my age. Whilst some of the guests found being
part of a family environment very helpful to
re-connect them into some sense of 'normal'life
after all they'd been through, I found it difficult
having just left university where I was used to a
much less structured environment, and looking
forward to making my own way in the world.
As a Quaker, I also found their adherence to
Catholic social teaching, and heavy emphasis on
Catholic liturgy, difFcult at times, particularly
with respect to the role of women, lesbian/gay/
bisexual/transgendered people, other faiths,
and understanding of priesthood. I struggled
at times to reconcile my Quaker understanding
of equaliry which had inspired me to become
involved in the work, with some of their beliefs. i
would describe the farm as radically adhering to
Catholicism, with a commendable disregard for
where this gets them into trouble with secular
20 Movement

powers, but I had difficulty discerning how this
had much to do with anarchism.
Were I to advise someone interested in
volunteering at the farm, I d suggest they
consider carefully how they will cope with
exposure to sometimes very distressing situations,
and ensure they have good support from
outside the situation whilst I wouldn't have
-
coped without the support of friends, if I'd
been involved in anything like this as part of
she couldn't prove she was entitled to NHS care.
When the police arrived, they thought we were
' amazing' and'wonderful' for doing this without
public funding. Quite a change, since usually
at that time of week we'd be standing outside
Northwood military base. The police weren't
usually calling us wonderful then!
Some women have been trafficked
- either
for domestic slavery, or to the sex trade. They
all have horrific stories, complex support needs,
You can't understand how dehumanising
a system is until you fully understand the
humanity of the people trapped in it.
CeriOwenis
aduck-loving
psychologist who
Iives inYork.
my formal Psychology training I d have needed
several years more experience and training, and
formal supervision and mentoring. If possible I
would also recommend volunteering alongside a
friend, or at least someone of a similar age and
background to yourself. Whilst they don't insist
on any particular characteristics for volunteers,
female volunteers are likely to find it easier to
develop a rapport with the guests, and you may
find fitting in easier if you've some knowledge
of Catholicism. There's another Catholic Worker
house based in Hackney, which takes male asylum
seekers in an inner-city environment.
Most often guests are asylum seekers who
are appealing an initial decision, often one that's
been turned down for utterly stupid reasons -
for example one guest was refused asylum when
all other members of her family were granted
because her lawyer spelt her name wrong, and
another from lraq had her lawyer not turn up to
the hearing, and she was unable to put her case
across as she doesn't speak English and had no
idea what was going on. It's hard to believe that
my country can treat some of the most vulnerable
people in the world like this.
Other women are here legally, but can't prove
it - we had several European women who have
had their partner hide or destroy their legal
documents as part of domestic violence. One
woman was brought to us by the police from
hospital - she d been discharged with a badly
broken jaw that wasn't treated properly, because
and need a lot of professional help and support
to prosecute their captors and rebuild their lives.
What they get is the experience of deportation,
treatment as criminals, and often a return to
their home countries straight into the hands of
those who originally traffrcked them. There are
only thirty -fiye government-funded hostel spaces
in the whole UK for women who have been
trafficked.
I thought I knew how messed up Britain's
asylum system is. I've been on protests about
it, I've stood outside detention centres waving
placards, I've signed petitions, I'd met a few
asylum seekers at church and soup kitchens, I've
done my bit for Stop The BNP. I thought I knew.
But this is different.
You can't understand how dehumanising a
system is untilyou fullyunderstand the humanity
of the people trapped in it. I thought I knew the
situation for 'asylum seekers' was bad. When
it's a housemate and friend who has to formally
prove risk to her life in a language she doesn't
speak, without being given even the necessities
of life that's another level of understanding,
-
not just intellectual awareness of injustice but a
gut-level fear for a friend's safety.
www.thecatho I icworkerfarm. org
www. I ondoncathol icworker. org
Movement 21

I
Finding community
Susannah Rudge introduces the work of JVC.
The Jesuit Volunteer Community (JVC)
programme offers 18-35 yearoldsthe opportunity
to spend eleven months volunteering
in an inner city area in Britain, working with
those who often find themselves on society's
margins, such as refugees, homeless people and
those with disabilities. As the project's name
suggests, the concept of community lies at its
heart, together with three other 'core values' of
social justice, spirituality and simple lifestyle.
In each city where JVC operates, volunteers live
together in small groups from which they are
encouraged to build community.
Guidance is offered by the project's organisers
but the shape that community takes is largely
determined by the volunteers themselves. Unlike
in established religious orders, there is no set
rule of life in JVC besides the four core values
and an agreement from volunteers to co-operate
with the basic structures of the year. Volunteers
are drawn from a range of countries. Most
(though not all) are Christians, but they usually
come from more than one denomination. A11
this means that living as a community can look
quite different for each group and nailing down
a typical experience is hard. Nonetheless, I would
like to share some reflections that emerged from
my experience of being a volunteer in Liverpool
from 2005-6 and of accompanying subsequent
volunteers as a'Community Partner' or mentor.
Communication and the desire to give and to
receive seemed to be the most influential factors
in community life. In every group I knew, times
when things were going well were times when
thoughts and experiences were shared, from the
mundane (making a compost bin, recounting the
day's events, laughing at stupid jokes) to the more
significant (thinking about the meaning of life,
discussing past experiences, celebrating Easter
together). In a balance of sharing the everyday
and the more profound, trust could develop and
people's different needs became clearer. It was
possible to see the community living together
rather than merely alongside each other, and
to notice its members moving beyond mutual
tolerance and seeking mutual growth. For me,
this spirit of 'togetherness' was the greatest
difference between a JVC community and a
houseshare. It was grounded in something more
deeply rooted than whether or not we liked one
another at any given moment and was purposefully
nurtured through communal meals, prayer
and social time.
Naturally conflict occurred at some point even
in the strongest community. It varied in severity
and duration. Sometimes it could be resolved
through one discussion; other times it was much
harder than that. In the diffrcult moments in my
community, I think we felt the 'flip side' of the
freedom we had been given; without a specific
rule of life, formal vows, or any hierarchy, it
could be hard to agree on the 'right'way forward.
However, there was the assistance of Community
Partners and an excellent programme of retreats
where we could take time to reflect.
Whilst the house of volunteers is the most
obvious focus for community in JVC, most
participants soon realise that'community', like
the other three core values of the programme,
has a remit that extends into many areas of
life. Community can also be sought within the
volunteers' work placements, the local surroundings
and the wider world. Usually it is fairly
easy to find a sense of community in JVC work
placements because they are with organisations
already committed to social justice, inclusion
and bringing people together. For example, I
worked with LArche, whose purpose is to build
community between adults with and without
learning disabilities. There, once again, communication
and sharing mattered most, particularly
the ability to share through simply spending
time with others. Building tangible community
beyond the house and placement, on the other
hand, can seem like a task beyond the scope of a
JVC project. Sometimes my community's efforts
- chatting to the woman at the bus stop, buying
eco-friendly washing powder, writing Amnesty
International Christmas cards felt rather -
feeble, to be honest, when set against all the
world's problems. Yet we reminded ourselves of
that well-worn but accurate saying the ocean
-
is made of many drops!
What has really encouraged me about
community in JVC, however, is not only the way
that it has numerous facets, but also the fact that
it seems to have a truly lasting impact. It has been
really encouraging to meet other former volunteers
and find that even those for whom JVC
22 Movement

SusannahRudge
is now trainingfor
ordination in the
Church of Englandwas
very challenging are continuing to look for ways to seek and build community
beyond their immediate family and friends. This has become a fundamental part of
their lives, a practical witness to a hope - and, for many, a faith - that is rooted in
mutual relationship, and which holds that true fulfilment of the individual self is
found in communion with others.
JVC offers fully-funded gap year and summer
programmes. For more info, see wvvw.ivcbritain.org
Listen to Ghristopher o Ghristopher Garney
Worth doing
Chtistopher
Carney started
Listen to
Christopher on
Facebook. lfyou
need help and you
can find it, maybe
you can join.
Some things are worth doing. It is a pretty good summation
for this column's existence to say that not enough people take
some time to do something just because it would be fun to do it.
Goethe, contrary to what Almost Famous would tell you, didn't say "be bold and
powerful forces will come to your aid."
I like that advice, but I think what Goethe actually said is better: Whatever
you do or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic
in it. This pretty much means that you should consider yourself to have
free reign to aim as high as you can. And remember too that your future
hasn't been written yet. No one's has. Your future is whatever you make it.
So make it a good one. Doc Brown said that and he invented time travel.
If you can't muster boldness, then I'm of the opinion that just the
search for wonder will bring great things. Find the things that would
make you gasp. The fun will almost certainly be in the looking.
This Listen to Christopher then is for any purpose that might have seemed beyond.
For anything you haven't got time for. If you would like, this is Listen to Christopher
in extremis.
So don't be scared, do something great. While you're sorting out something
great to do and mustering boldness there are other things you should definitely
do: And no, I'm not providing links, maps or directions for any of this.
It is the right time of yeer to find and read the "Yes, Virginia..."
letter; read A Visit From St. Nicholas. Or better yet On Christmas.
Search them out and take time to read them. Then share them.
It's been too long since you last watched the first BiIl & Ted movie
- and
actually you're mistaken. It is the better of the two. Sometimes you should listen
to the NWA version of Express Yourself and Curtis Mayfield's Move on Up.
This Listen to Christopher is also for the things that you used to do and would love
to do again. The stuff that you don't quite know why you stopped doing it in the first
place.
It is, I think, a reminder of what this column is meant to do. It's meant to make
your day better and to have you do something that makes someone else's day better.
From "I think you'd like this poem" to high fiving someone. Some things need work,
some things need changing completely. But some things, more than we think when
we're caught up in ourselves, some things are freaking brilliant. Go find them.
I love you.
Movement 23

il
Propositions . Kim Fabricius
Ten propositions
on Prayer
One: There is no more outrageous and presumptuous
idea than that we ought to be able to pray. Prayer is
an impossible possibility. Prayer is miracle, prayer is
resurrection from the dead.
Two: Prayer is a completely useless activity, a total
waste of time (Herbert McCabe). To ask if prayer
"works" is to reduce it to a kind of magic. Prayer is not
in the least bit necessary; it is more than necessary.
Three: We never begin to pray, we always enter into
prayer that has already begun before us and without
us, the prayer of the church the prayer of Jesus.
-
We may pray alone, but we are never alone when we
pray. "Our Father. . ."
Four: Prayer is a dangerous activity. In prayer we do
not enter the kitty's basket but the lion's den. Prayer
is a transformative activity. In prayer we are changed
- and change hurts.
Five: Prayer is not a private activity; indeed prayer
is the most political activity in which a Christian can
engage. "To fold your hands in prayer is to begin an
uprising against the world" (Karl Barth).
Six: It is nonsense to suggest that prayers ofthanksgiving
trump prayers of petition. We are children of
God. What would you think of your own child if she
always went about thanking, never asking, pestering?
You would think, "What an obnoxious little goody
two-shoes!"
Seven: Yet prayer does not begin with the mouth,
prayer begins with the eyes and ears. Prayer begins
vith attentiveness; prayer begins with listening.
Eight: It is also nonsense to ask whether or not God
answers prayer. The Father is the object ofprayer, the
Spirit is the subject ofprayer, the Son is the predicate
of prayer. How then can God not answer his own
prayers? If God seems silent, it is only because he is
listening - and thinking about his answer. And as for
those answers, William Temple said, "When I pray, coincidences
happen."
Nine: Do you have arid times of prayer? What else!
Wherever did we get the idiotic and disabling idea that
prayer must be a richly rewarding experience?
Ten: Ultimately, the question of prayer is the question
of God: What kind of God do you believe in?
Rim Fabricius is a
New Yorker, a baseball
fan and URC
chaplain at Swansea
University. Kint's
book, Propositions
on Christian
Theology:
A Pilgrim Walks
the Plank, is now
available.
I'd rather be a Dorky Bird in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked -
Dorky Bird o Becky Lowe
Neighbours
Psalm 84:10
When didyoulast speakto yournext-door
neighbour? If you answered last week, last
month, or even last year, you are not alone. In
a recent survey almost a quarter of people questioned
had not spoken to their neighbour for at
least a week. Some 40 per cent said they believed
there would be no such thing as community in
the future. The Mori survey revealed that almost
two-thirds of people said they expected faceto-face
contact increasingly to be replaced with
contact via the internet in the future. Across the
UK as a whole, almost one in 10 people
- nine
per cent admitted failing to meet other people
-
socially on a weekly basis. And 15 per cent go
a week without speaking to their neighbours.
Poorer communities are the least confident about
their future, with more than one in five saying
they had not spoken to a neighbour for at least
a week.
All in all, it's a pretty depressing picture
-
though perhaps not all that surprising. The
other day, I was on the bus and couldn't help
overhearing the conversation of the group of
pensioners behind me, bemoaning how society
had altered since the days of their youth. One
of their key themes was the fact that people no
longer seemed to have time for one another any
more, and it is true. Apart from the odd, snatched
conversation at a shop counter, most of us have
24 Movement

very little interaction with those outside our
immediate circle of friends or work colleagues.
It's hardly surprising, given the busy lives we
lead. But there are more complex factors at play.
Many of the social institutions that people used
to rely on are in decline. The Church -
once at
the centre of many local communities
attracts only a minority. Membership of political
parties is in decline, whilst trade union membership
has been steadily falling since the 1980s.
Charities and voluntary organisations are struggling
to recruit new volunteers.
As individuals who value our sense of independence,
it's perhaps not that surprising that
many of us are less than willing to commit to any
particular cause or belief. In many ways, that's a
good thing, as it encourages us to question those
in powerwhen they do things that we don't agree
with -
the massed protest against the Iraq war
that took place in London in 2003 was a prime
example. But the flipside of this is political
apathy. If we don't feel we need to sign up to any
particular set of values or, worse still, feel that no
particular party can represent our own individual
views, then why bother to sign up to anything at
all? If we don't feel part of a collective 'society'
at all, why not just get on with living our own
individual lives?
It was Margaret Thatcher, of course, who
famously declared 'There is no such thing as
society'. She did so in the context of a society of
people who had become increasingly dependent
on State assistance. Her message was clear -
it
IttS in OUf
is up to each of us, as individuals,
to shape our own destinies.
best interest ",'.ill
Tiff",:L:t;'il*
to know our :fi,:'""1,j|i,i;',::* ffi|i
nei g h bou rs. y::ir.L'-"i:T j:T:j:l::
communrty groups or campalgn
for political causes, or pop in and
offer our neighbour a cup of tea, but more than
seven million of us still find time to while away
the hours sending our friends cyber hugs and
virtual presents on online networking sites like
Myspace and Facebook.
Perhaps one of the biggest changes in recent
years has been to the physical appe:u:rnce of our
communities. The growth of impersonal, outof-town
shopping malls has led to a decline in
smaller, independent stores, and the little corner
shop hasbeenovertakenbythelikes of Somerfield
Becl

We fought the Law . Symon Hill
Musical
"Before the service starts, wetll practise
the songs." There are few sentences more guaranteed
to make my heart sink.
This is because I "can't sing" or rather, I
-
can't sing conventionally. As John Bell points
out, everybody can sing. It's just that I sing
rather differently to most people, I hear music
differently and as a result feel alienated from a
lot of music-based worship.
My problems with music began when required
to sing at primary school. The teacher spoke
of "high" and "low" notes and I was accused of
"pretending" to be unable to tell the difference.
Although I can distinguish very high and very
low notes, I still occasionally arnaze people who
play severd notes and insist, "They do sound
different to each other, don't they?", to which I
generally reply "Not to me".
But please don't think that I don't like singing.
I sing in the shower. I sing while doing the
washing-up, although this often causes the cat to
walk out of the kitchen. And I enjoy singing in
church - if I don't have to do it the "right" way.
But'practising" songs unnerves me, as the priest
or worship leader speaks of keys, harmonies and
other such mysteries.
If you play music, or put a lot of effort into
singing, I hope you won't be offended by -y
attitude. I respect the importance that music has
for many people. Musical and singing talents are
gifts from God. Nonetheless, in an act of worship,
surely God's primary concern is with the sincerity
of our singing, rather than its quality' The same,
of course, is true for prayers, readings, flower
arrangements and so on. This is not a reason for
neglecting the quality of the singing or speaking,
but rather a matter of Priorities.
Unfortunately, churches' priorities are
skewed at a very basic level. Most worship
services function largely as performances' A
small number of people do things at the front
-
preaching, presiding at the sacraments, reading
from scripture, leading prayers or playing music
- while everyone else joins in when they are
allowed to. Even the layout of most church
buildings reflects this, with the congregation
facing the leaders as an audience faces a stage.
Some years ago, a friend who attended a
charismatic church told me he was responsible
for changing the OHP acetates that displayed
26
song lyrics. This was difficult, as the musicians
would choose each songbased on the Holy Spirit's
leadings, and my friend would have to find the
right acetate quickly. I wondered why the Spirit
could not lead him to choose a particular acetate,
with the musicians then responding, rather than
the other way around. God seemed to prefer the
influential people at the front.
However, it is impossible for worship to be
fully inclusive. Just as I feel excluded by the
centrality of music, those who tend to think
:'#.tJ, r.T3"a ;:'"H?t:" #t God's primary
readinqs and sermons.. n'hile
GOnCgfn iS With
people who think in words maY
be put off by icons or tJre dr3ma
the SinCefity
of an elaborate eucharist. Even
conducting a service in English is Of OUf Singingt
by definition exclusive, making
participation harder ro;
"'yo# nOt itS qUality.
not fluent.
It is necessary to be aware that all worship can
exclude and to consider how best to deal with this
reality. But if we want to make churches more
inclusive and welcoming, changing our worship
style is of only secondary importance. To make
a much bigger difference, we need to move away
from the centrality of worship services in church
life.
Being a Christian communityis not onlyabout
worship services. It is not even primarily about
them. Worship in a fuller sense means seeking
to model the radical inclusivity of Christ in our
daily lives, both as individuals and communities.
Like most people, I'm very far fuomachieving any
such thing. But if this is the aim, we can give up
defining church in terms of worship, denominations
by how services differ, and inclusivity by
who feels welcome on Sunday mornings.
In this context, phrases such as "before
worship" or "after the service" make no sense.
Worship happens whenever we sincerely
honour God with our thoughts, actions, prayers, SymonHillis
campaigns, words or music'
-
a
freelance writer,
trainer, consultant
and teacher of
theology, and now
an associate director
ofthe thinktank
Ekklesia. Along'
time contributor
to Movement, this
is his first regular
column-
Movement

Thqr'll Have II
I heard the bus brakes cough like
a sneeze,
as they farted out hot air
Teacups
Fiction by Chelsie Bryant, part one
Virginia Blu rammed her stick into the tree stump,
T
I
which sent a tremor like an earthquake through the
millipede and
I
ant cities that had bloomed there. She
+ imagined that if she were seeing Landon Graves he
would have taken a pocket knife to that trunk and carved "L.G.
hearts V.B." in it. And then they d lie next to it his head propped
-
against the bark of the stump and hers in the crook of his neck.
She would then nestle into him sort of like a child does its mother.
His smell would be faint -
armpit smell. Yet, pervading this
image was a squat man whose bald skin showed sun-freckles more
numerous than the ants of the stump city. His fleshyhead crinkled
at the top, as he bent down with hands the size of paperbacks to
pluck Virginia from Landon's arms.
The image fire-cracked.
A brown lady bug alighted upon Virginia's nose, drawing her
back into herself. It was one of those humid days where Virginia's
hair, straightened, would become a hybrid of its morning-self and
its natural, curly, one. She had woken up with a backache. Catcher
lay next to her the sheets wrapped around his legs like a boa.
-
He lay nude, and Virginia examined his body. It was a skin that
was clean in most places other than the few veins daring to make
tattoos along his wrists, spider-webbing themselves around those
hands that hours earlier had detached Virginia from her chaise
and thrown her onto the bed. She let loose a goose-bumped shake
her shoulders seizing forward, right then left, by some uncontrollable
force. She wished she could remove the night prior from
-
her head.
When Virginia and Catcher had started dating, she had been
mesmerized by the size of his hands. They were thick and several
inches long. She d imagined him tracing his fingers across her
bare back, as she had traced fingers across a table's top. Only,
this night, he had stolen her from The BelI Jar and demanded,
as he often did, that she spread her legs to him. That he might
spear her through. And, when she did not experience the ecstasy
he needed her to in order to feel assured of his masculinity, his
hands calloused at the tips, forming chapped lines like ridged
-
steps to the nails traced their way between her apple-breasts,
-
down around her bellybutton, into her, piercing her until she cried
out and relinquished the sugar beneath her tongue. Theyd ended
when he decided to get up and piss. So she'd lain there, exposed,
until morning. Then she got up, scrambled his eggs, and headed
into Burnet Woods where she started stabbing at the millipedes
that had taken up residence in her old oak.
My skirt caught in the wind
against the backs of my legs.
like I was Alice fromWonderland,
and I was a falling cupcake. Only,
I stood on the corner of Clifton and MLK,
wonderingwhen the next stop was
or when I would hear
a sneeze again.
Catcher the screamer yelled.
He said.
I said.
WeIl, I won't tell what he said.
But, he said,
"Take it off."
And I said,
"What?"
Then he grabbed hold of me and
speared me with his j avelin to the b ed
Now I'm gettinggassed.
Only, instead of coming face-to-face
with the bus,
I found myself back-to-backwith it.
So then I started praying,
"Lord Jesus," I said.
And then I stopped
when my thoughts were interrupted
by amovingbillboard,
adv ertizing G o d-know s-what
with some grandma-looking chick,
unblinkingJy staring at me
like somepunkkid
I feb like punching.
My stomach kind of threw up in itself
when Catcher the screamer yelled.
So I went for a walk down Clifton Ave,
and I stopped at a bus stop.
Movement 27

III tr+:htr'fr**:
on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, scooting
down McMillan on her bike to University
Christian Church, which housed the Christian
coffee shop in its back room.
Rohs was the kind of shop all the atheist art
and music students went to when the parties they
planned to hit up were a bust. Virginia worked
during the day though and the only customers
that came in were the skippers who needed "God
time"; they kept to themselves usually, perching
on the cream sofa in the corner over by the stage
where they were often seen reading their Bibles
and gazing out the windows every so often.
Virginia usually tried to stay away from them
lest she find herself exposed as a sinner more
sinly than the rest. And so, whenever she needed
a break or just alone time, she kept to herself,
sitting at the few unpainted tables left.
Virginia had this thing where she liked to sit in
the coffee shop and stare at the wood tabletops.
Sometimes, if she looked hard enough, she could
see Jesus or the Mother Mary staring back at her.
This time, however, she was fairly certain she had
found a German Shepherd. Virginiawouldusually
then try and think of a price she could charge for
the section of the table with the image; that is, if
she were to try and sell it. She had just decided on
14.95 when Catcher walked in looking like Jacob
must have when he wrestled with God near the
river. He'd been in another fight.
Catcher yanked the seat in front of her out
from under the table. His rounded shoulders
condensed further, folding himself inward. He
began to say something about how he'd gotten
into a fight with some random stranger on the
street or with Matt, Virginia's brother, agairt,
when a man dressed in a salmon button-down
shirt approached them. His hands were the
kind manicured by soft labor, as his face was
Iikewise untouched by the sun. His eyes glittered
a soft honey color, surveying the pair
- Catcher
dressed in a white cut-off with basketball shorts
and Virginia clad in her work uniform, a black
t-shirt and jeans. Running his fingers over his
curled hair, he spoke:
"I see you have gotten yourself into some
more trouble Catcher." The man's mouth formed
into a tight smile.
"Pastor Landon," Catcher said. He leaned his
chair on its hind legs, spreading his thighs wide
and throwing back his head carelessly. "It was
over a pack of Marlboros. I'd seen 'em lying on
the street and some son-of-a-bitch beat me to
'em. I said, 'I saw'em first.' But he wouldn't give
'em to me, so I beat the shit out of him. I only got
this," he paused, gesturing to his swollen face,
"because he got lucky once."
Virginia looked at Landon, expecting him
to wince at her boyfriend's swearing. In fact,
she expected him to scold Catcher. After all, he
had scolded her for her language before. But
the pastor crossed his arms and leaned back in
his chair, offering nothing. Then he turned to
Virginia, who was still braced for the tonguelashing
Catcher was supposed to be receiving.
"I see you are studying your Old Testament,"
Landon said.
Virginia glanced up at Catcher and blushed.
She had not told him she began reading the
Bible like she used to back in high school. In
fact, since she had gone to college, she had not
read one verse from the Good Book. She'd fallen,
according to her youth group friends from home.
Frequently, she would get emails telling her she
was being prayed for. Pastor Landon had even
asked her to start reading the Bible with him. She
couldn't say no to him, so she took up the book
that she believed told her she was going to Hell
for fornicating and drinking and started reading
again to appease the one man she could wait to
have sex for.
Landon pulled the Bible toward him. "You're
reading the Psalms?"
"Yeah, my grandma always told me to read
them when I needed comforting." Virginia found
that her voice came out raspy like she'd been
interrupted having sex or making-out, and she'd
forgotten how to emit sound.
"oh?"
She didn't answer though, dragging the book
back in front ofher. Instead, she said, "I got a call
from an editor today. Her name was Eleanor, and,
after reading my poetry, she wants to publish my
work. I just need to make a few changes."
The honey in Landon's eyes glowed brighter,
as he placed his hand on her knee and exclaimed
congratulations. They talked for a half an hour
about Virginia's work; she could never have
spoken to Catcher about her writing because he
too often accused her of being pretentious. She,
however, was embarrassed to still be living in
Clifton at the age of thirty, working at a coffee
shop, with unrealized college dreams.
Chelsie Bryant
Iives in Cincinnati,
Ohio, where she
one day hopes to be
the crazy cat-lady
who survives off
thocolate cake.
28 Movement

Reviews
Why Animal Suffering Matters . What is the Bible? .
Holding On and Letting Go
laioRri;
I trilt I
IIIHY ANIMAI. SUf IIRIl'lG llilAIIIRS
-\
b_ ' s*,
Why Animal Suffering
Matters: Philosophy, Theology
and Practical Ethics
Andrew Linzey, OUR [16.99
There are people out there who think that Andrew Linzey is a
bit nuts.
But the very fact that these people exist proves Linzey is right, or
at least it does if you take seriously the arguments at the centre of
his masterful, provocative, punchy defence of the rights of sentient
creatures. I know: it's a circular argument (mine, not Linzey's), but
Linzey makes the very convincing point that our entire culture is
institutionally biased towards the mistreatment of animals. This
means that we live with a culture wherein someone who suggests
that it is wrong to make an animal suffer can be thought of as
bonkers by ordinary, decent, smart people. It's fundamental to our
society, he says. And if something's going to change, everythinghas
to change. In fact, he even singles out the word "animal" itself as a
linguistic flag that leads us towards finding it easier to commit acts
of cruelty. And that's fairly mind-blowing, if you think about it.
Which description pretty accurately describes large parts of the
book. At the heart of his argum ent, Linzey adopts the interesting
and provocative stand that most of the excuses we use to justify
the abuse of animals they don't have souls, they're different,
-
they're not moral agents, and so on are actually logical reasons
-
not to be cruel (for example, if animals do not have immortal souls
and aren't going to be in any afterlife, doesn't that make their
suffering in this world that much more signiftcant?)
In the second half of the book, Linzey concentrates on three
case studies the fox-hunting ban, fur-farming, the Canadian
-
government's defence of seal-clubbing. In each of them, Linzey
uses logic alongside that rarest of weapons, actual research, to
show up specious arguments and dodgy excuses for what they
are (for instance, is fox-hunting really that important to the rural
economy? The numbers may surprise you and infuriate your
average Countryside Alliance member).
Underneath it all, he drills into the reader over and over this
one simple point: some things are right, and some things are
wrong, and doing the right thing is not contingent on our convenience,
our comfort, or any other mitigating factor. You do the
right thing because it is right. And he doesn't mince his words.
Linzey is not afraid to say that if you consider the hunting down
and dismemberment of a creature that can feel pain to be a fun
afternoon out, there's something wrong with you.
I don't think Andrew Linzey is nuts. I think he's right. But
then, I gave up eating meat ages ago, so I'm in the choir. Will the
unconvinced buy his arguments? I don't know. They'd have to read
it. I hope people do read it. If you care about animal rights, this
Reviews
Movement 29

is an essential purpose, because it's probably
the most reasonable and well-researched thing
you will have ever read on the subject. If you are
not convinced, read it anyway: it's an important
book, or at least it deserves to be.
Wood Ingham
What is the Bible?
Third Edition
-
John Barton, SPCK, 89.99
Initially, I thought this book would be more
of an historical discourse, or even
an apologetic. It is neither of
these things.
ir1. ,i:rJ
The book is nicely presented
and laid out. It is in its third
edition, with supplementary
material reflecting the relatively
recent rise of fundamentalism as
a force in Christianityand in other
religions. Its general history of
the Bible and its developmental
origins enlightened my ignorant
mind as to, for example, in what
order the books were actually
written (while I knew the Old
Testament wasn't written in
order, I had always assumed the New Testament
was). That said, its lists could have benefited
from being tabulated.Much of the information
in the book isn't a great shock or surprise, but it
is non-condescending and simple to follow.
In terms of theology, What is the Bible? nicely
deconstructs the myth of 'Old Testament =
Vengeful God' and 'New Testament = Forgiving
God'. It gives a well-rounded overview of the
'sticky' points, which is both informative and
interesting. What is the Bible? Also asks us to
think about what it says in relation to political
democracy and also to the actions of Jesus in this
regard. It mentions Liberation Theology. A whole
chapter is dedicated to the Bible and the sexes.
But the last chapters seem to descend into
comparing Bibles. It seems a counterintuitive
strategy, given that the book never actually
answers its posed question, but rather leaves
the reader to form his or her own opinion. And
yet it then goes and compares books. What is the
Bible? claims that it wishes to 'whet appetites for
texts' (pg147), but that isn't how it turns out.
The book explains the history behind how the
Bible is formed, but it never answers the primary
question.
Joe Rogers
WHAT ISTHE
Holding On and Letting
Go: Reflections,
Stories, Prayers
Ghris Leonard, SPCK, [8.99
'Holding on and letting go: Reflection, stories
and prayers' seems to have a major personality
complex: it really doesn't seem to know what
it is. At times it reads like a Christian self-help
book, at other points a book of sermonettes, at
other times a worship resource.
BIBLEI
lr-c ec,i ort
:::.i. -...
Leonard approaches the topic of 'holding on
and letting go' by informing the
reader that there are some things
worth holding onto and some
things worth letting go of
wow! She's a genius!
-.
1:l :' -: - . -.:,i :::i :i:i: V :t
':: .. .':: :.' ::1s::1 :
.. :.. :]::.i+ii;i:: i,
':i:ir:: -.::i: .4 -:
:i:i::r " ::;-::1: ji - .
:::.:.::r :: :.: : :':.: ::l:.
,.'ii -,.t, . .' . i .'r. t:'
1't:;, ,,,. ,ir .r
JOHN BARTON
The book is split into four
chapters
the first two
chapters are divided into things
to be let go of, the third into
sections about letting go of
certain people/traits, and the
final chapter into the so called
'Essentials'
-
hope, love, Jesus...
that sort of thing. Each section
reflects on the topic drawing on
a bible verse or a story to back
up the authors' conclusions. At times it feels a
little condescending (the author admitting in the
section on addictions that her only experience of
addiction is playing Windows Solitaire too much
on the computer for example)
but the author is at least honest
and does seem to genuinely care
about her topic.
If you're ever in a position
where you need to give a brief
talk on a topic to a SCM group or
at your chaplaincy, this might be
worth getting to help you think
about a topic
-
but I don't think
I'd use any of this without some
adaptation. If you've never been
in this position or have other
commentaries and worship
resources I'm not sure that this is
worth adding to your bookshelf.
Sarah Henderson
HOLDING ON
o*o LETTING GO
30 Movement

- -,tr! \ +"
q+*
\*1

,#
Lilrlilngru@ffiiln
Gome along to SGM'S annual conference
(1 9 - 21 February 2OlO) at the Hayes
Gonference Centfer Swanwick, Derbyshire.
A weekend exploring spirituality, vocation, activism and mission
for students from all over the UK and beyond.
. How do we live out the good news oJ our laith in the
face of global economic iniustice, the politics ol lear
and climate chaos?
. Can we challenge the commercialisation oJ our
education and reclaim a sense of vocation?
. What does it mean today, in this generation, to be
missro naries, prophets, activists?
Take part in workshops and small groups and share your own
stories and skills in an informal, festival-like programme.
Engage with our key speakers as we discern our radical calling
within the church and in socie$/. Discover the spirituality of
activismn and find space to talk, relax and worship with others'
For more info and to book a place, please contact the SCM
office at scm @movement.org.uk
There's also a chance for SCM Friends
- senior and not so senior - to join in the
fun too. Come along, meet old friends and
make new ones, and give your suPPort
to SCM as it moves forward. There will
be a programme of talks and workshops
especially for Friends, as well as time to
think, worship and learn alongside today's
students.
To book online or for further information visit
wl rw.movement.org.uk/conference or contact
us: scm@movement.org'uk I 0121 2OO 3355.