Northern Lights

I am just about to start Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman – as with a lot of authors I looked him up and his attitude towards religion intrigues me…

Phillip Pullman on Religion
Some of the articles and talks I've written are to do with the subject of religion, which I think is a very interesting one. The religious impulse – which includes the sense of awe and mystery we feel when we look at the universe, the urge to find a meaning and a purpose in our lives, our sense of moral kinship with other human beings – is part of being human, and I value it. I'd be a damn fool not to.

But organised religion is quite another thing. The trouble is that all too often in human history, churches and priesthoods have set themselves up to rule people's lives in the name of some invisible god (and they're all invisible, because they don't exist) – and done terrible damage. In the name of their god, they have burned, hanged, tortured, maimed, robbed, violated, and enslaved millions of their fellow-creatures, and done so with the happy conviction that they were doing the will of God, and they would go to Heaven for it.

That is the religion I hate, and I'm happy to be known as its enemy.

I would agree with most of this. That is – I have a sense of awe and mystery when I look at the universe and I have an urge to find a meaning and a purpose in my life. I feel a moral kinship with other human beings and I would include myself as having a religious impulse like that. I do dislike a lot of what organized religion stands for and what it has done but it’s not the be all and end all of religious organisations. My feeling is that the attitude and spirituality of the church depends on in its members and its priests or ministers. There are great variations in philosophies – even within the same denomination – depending on who has the most influence within the church. They also can provide a sense of community and kinship within towns and villages through out the world.

So, like most things, there is a good side and a bad side to organized religion. In our critical thought we must not forget the good when pointing out the bad.