麻豆社

From Leslie Griffiths, Methodist Minister:

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Twenty years ago a new album hit the stores. It was called 鈥淭he Holy Bible.鈥� Its cover was splattered with churchy stuff, - there was one of those three-panelled picture-frames you see on altars. But the panels didn鈥檛 carry biblical images, just three grossly obese women in ugly self-display. And the group responsible for all this, Welsh boys every one, dared to call itself the Manic Street Preachers. Holy Bible, churchy pictures, preachers 鈥� this was my territory 鈥� I decided to investigate. I learned about Richey Edwards who鈥檇 written most of the lyrics for the songs, and who sadly disappeared, feared dead, the following year. His lyrics were clever and passionate. He dared to look at heavy political and social subjects 鈥� racism, anorexia, war, self-mutilation and so much else. Edwards hated, I mean really hated, religion 鈥� he saw it as manipulative, obliging believers 鈥渢o pretend respect for people and institutions [they] think absurd.鈥� I heard a number of religious people at the time return the compliment, dismissing the Manics as irresponsible and anti-everything; in a word, losers.

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I鈥檓 a follower of Jesus and I ask myself where he would stand on matters like this. He could be critical of organised religion himself but, far more impressive, he had a rare knack for empathising with people who didn鈥檛 feel included in society. When Jesus came across people in need 鈥� hungry, suffering, unwanted people 鈥� he鈥檇 feel their plight like a kick in the gut, the pain of his compassion would tear him apart.

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It鈥檚 surely time for us, especially us religious people, to stop tut-tutting and finger-wagging -听 whether it鈥檚 a rock group,听 playwright or filmmaker. We need to listen harder to what they鈥檙e saying, feel what they鈥檙e going through, in the hope that, somehow, one day, we鈥檒l find a way to bridge this terrible gap between us who think of ourselves as 鈥渞espectable society鈥� and those we dismiss as serving little or no useful social purpose. That鈥檚 what Jesus did. I want to do it too.