Let’s not judge each other on what we listen to in the
morning. As it goes I often listen to Radio 4 and Today. Inevitably I have to
endure “Thought for the Day” from time to time. I say endure – but it’s about
the only time I ever engage with the idea of religion and faith so perhaps it’s
good for me. Especially when it’s the Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks who is about as
much of a dude as anyone I’ve ever heard on the radio. This morning however it
was Rev Dr Giles Fraser.
In a nutshell his gambit was this: some banking firm (let’s call it JRP – why the
frig not?!) recently lost 4 billion pounds in risk-taking blahs that went wrong
(you don’t understand so don’t expect me to). So far so normal – these are the
arseholes that are keeping you poor and your children poor. Yes, I’m sighing, I
know they’re bad; they should be put up against a wall (yawn) and shot* – a light
ticking off from the Church probably won’t make much difference. But no. Rev
was thinking outside the box. “Risk-taking is part of life. If you eliminate
risk, you pretty much eliminate life.” Yep – I’m with you there, Rev. “It’s a
risk to believe in God or fall in love with someone – the God you worship may
in fact turn out not to exist. [I’m paraphrasing here – I can’t be arsed to
wait two days for it to turn up on Listen Again and quote Rev faithfully – it’s
only a blog – and I really should be doing other things] The person you’ve
fallen for may not love you back. And we cannot prove the existence of God –
that’s why it’s called faith.” Whoa, you’ve lost me Rev, and that’s before the
strangely persuasive argument you’ve just purported that God does not and
cannot exist– ah but you’re a Christian and they don’t really believe in God do
they? Not really. I live near a mosque and bugger me do those guys look like
they believe in Allah. Anyhow, the hapless Rev had attempted to assimilate 3 wholly
different types of risk culminating in the conclusion that unconstrained monetarism
was synonymous with God. Quite remarkable.
Let’s take the 3 risks: 1) Bankers at JRP lost 4 billion
pounds of other people’s money, safe in the knowledge that the business wouldn’t
go bust and if it did, they could just go somewhere else and do exactly the
same thing, and if, as happened a few years ago, all the banks went bust at the
same time - which might actually pose a
threat to them personally in that nobody (including them) would be able to
withdraw cash from a cash machine, then the taxpayer (words chosen carefully –
I don’t keep my money in an offshore account – do you?) would be on hand keep
them in a well-paid job. All things considered, not really a risk. 2) Falling
in love. I’m not aware that people choose to do this – it sort of just happens.
And normally they fall in love with an actual person, not just an idea that professes
to love them eternally but routinely does bugger all to help anyone. Yes I know
love dies – but rarely does it wither completely where there are two people
committed to inspiring, amusing, challenging, supporting, romancing and caring
for each other. Otherwise known as making a fucking effort. I don’t always do
enough of this. And I know that if I don’t I’ll lose the love of an amazing
woman. But because I live with her and she’s real – she exists – it’s possible she’ll
give me an indication that I might need to try a bit harder. Love is something
that exists between two people, not something you scream out to sea waiting for
a reply that never comes back. Which brings me to 3) Faith in God. At first it
bears a similarity to 2) in that it is rarely a case of free will but it
differs in two key respects: firstly the majority of believers have been indoctrinated
from childhood (a period in life when the process of falling in love – as we
commonly understand it – is chemically, psychologically and physically impossible,
despite the best efforts of the Catholic church). Secondly, those who do find
God in adulthood tend to have self-esteem issues (and in religion find a
necessary crutch to help them live) or serial killers (who are putting in the
hard hours before explaining themselves in front of the big man). Both groups
find it hard to find willing partners to take the “risk” of falling in love
with. There is a third sector – those who have to convert to the religion of
the person they’ve fallen in love with. But since they can’t help falling in
love – let’s give them a break. Besides, they’re just doing it to get laid.
Having established then that Rev’s musing on risk taking is
towards the utter bollocks end of the spectrum consider then what it all adds
up to. According to Rev, the utter contempt banking firms like JRP or NOB or
DIK or whatever they’re called show for the societies that fund them is
analogous to our relationship with God: an omnipresent power we seem unable to
rid ourselves off despite overwhelming evidence that it does more harm than
good; benefits a tiny minority and enslaves an entire planet. Good work Rev. That
is what you meant isn’t it?
*This is a
joke – I don’t condone the killing of any bankers, nor the calling of any local
councillor an obscene term in reference to the large house he lives in.
