Back to work with a bang - A few random thoughts about One Barnet

I've been away for three days in Centre Parcs in Sherwood Forest. We met Robin Hood on our travels. He was a bloke who used to rob from the rich to give to the poor. He is a big inspiration to Barnet Council. Sadly they've got it a a bit wrong. Seems to me that these days it is fashionable to rob from the poor and give to multinational corporations.

In "Barnet - The Billion Pound Gamble" we heard John Sullivan tell how his daughter gets charged £1.20 for a cup of coffee in a Church Hall by the councils provider of choice. This is the same council which is spending £1 billion of our money with Capita. Capita aim to make a 17.5% return on investment. In otherwords. In a simplistic world, we could say this means we'll give Capita shareholders approx £175 million pounds to do what the the council used to do. The leaders of Barnet Council believe that this will work out cheaper than doing it themselves. When I say they believe, this is a belief rather like my belief as a Roman Catholic in the Virgin Mary, The Holy Trinity and the Communion of Saints. The difference between my belief and that of the Leaders of Barnet Council, we will all know long before we die who was right. In fact anyone who followed the Capita Week blogs will have a pretty good idea now, how all of this will go.

Shortly before Christmas a Jehovas Witness knocked on my door. He seemed like a perfectly pleasant chap. He asked if I believed in God. I replied "Yes, I'm a Roman Catholic". I won't bore you with all of the details, but he informed me that I am destined for Hell as a result of my beliefs. Whilst he may well be correct  in his idea of my final destination, he was sadly unable to provide any tangible evidence to convince me.

I then said to him "I've listened to your sales pitch for five minutes, will you do me the courtesy of listening to mine?" He looked a little worried. I replied "Don't worry I'm happy for you to continue in your system of belief. I want to discuss the "One Barnet program". I asked if he was a Barnet resident and he said he was. I asked if he had heard about the One Barnet program and he said "No". I then explained to him what it was all about and asked if he thought it sounded like a  good idea. He was a little perplexed. He said "Well, I don't think it sounds as if they have thought it through". I agreed to take one of his leaflets and read it if he took one of mine and promised to read it. As the witnesses have a huge operation in Mill Hill and presumably many members, I suggested that they should at least familiarise themselves with what is going on. I suggested that if it all goes wrong (as I suspect it will), they will end up paying more Council tax and so have less money to pay in tithes to the religion. They are likley to have to spend more time dealing with the chaos caused  by the council and have far less time for knocking on peoples doors. This concerned him.

He then told me a very strange thing. Did you know that many large corporations and multinational firms are controlled by Satanists and are deliberately stirring up trouble on behalf of the devil? At that point the penny dropped. I had been totally unable to figure out why any sane person would sign up to One Barnet. but as reasons for signing a ten year contract, having done no public sector comparator, it is about as a good a reason as I've heard yet.

And the devils work must be done. As I sit in my office, preparing a VAT return for my business, with heavy cold, I considered all of the faith communities in Barnet. Jews, Muslims, Cristians, Jehovas Witnesses, SiKhs, Buddhists, Athiests, Hindus, Zoriastrians, to name but a few. The effects of One Barnet will affect all of us. There are people of many religions, no religion and some of us who just aren't sure. We could spend hours trying to convince each other that our own flavour of faith was the best, and I doubt any of us could stratch the surface of another persons belief. This only happens at times of great trauma.

What I do know is that in just five minutes I convinced an articulate young man, who is used to dealing with all manner of arguments, that he really should be worried about the changes Barnet council is making to the way it runs our services.

It has been suggested to me that the One Barnet Contract was finally signed sealed and delivered on the day of the Mayan apocalypse. Is it a sign ?

Belief, Faith and Religions

Last week I read a sentence that made  me think. I am still pondering what it means

"Believing is a human act, conscious and free, corresponding to the dignity of the human person"

There are three words, which many people wrongly interchange. These are belief, faith and religion. I suspect that most of us have belief. This could be belief in Athiesm, Socialism, Conservatism, Christianity, Islam or Manchester City FC. As the statement above clarifies, we can only really give this if we are free to give it. If you sign up to something in which you have no belief, then that demeans your human dignity. If you sign up to something because you have been forced to sign up to it, then that demeans us all. That is why we should all fight for an individuals right to freedom of expression and belief.

Then there is faith. Less of us have faith than belief. Faith is what sees us through difficult times. Again we can have faith in many things. I have faith in the people I love to support me through hard times. Some of us have faith in God. Some of us have faith that there is no God. Faith is good when it supports us, but we must also be open to the fact that sometimes our faith may have misguided us. Scientists have worked for centuries towards a cure for cancer. Many of these scientists have progressed down dead ends long after it was clear that science didn't support that particular line of enquiry, because they had faith in their theories. Sadly today many adherents of all manner of disproven ideas and outdated concepts are still bound to them by faith in both the secular and religious world. This takes us on to religion.

Religion is in effect a prescription of faith and belief. There are in the main three reasons why people belong to a religion. Because they are compelled to, because they receive benefit from belonging and because they believe and have faith in the teachings of that religion. Some religions prescribe terrible punishments for people who lose their faith and become "apostate". Once you lose the faith and belief, you are then living a lie and your personal religious commitment has no validity.

There is another factor which we need to throw into the mix. This is in some ways the most important element. This element is reason. The world has moved on and developed as humans have developed reason to analyse the world we live in. Many see reason as an enemy of belief, faith and religion. I do not. I see reason as a tool to make our own belief, faith and religion (if we have one) better. Reason means listening to other viewpoints, analysing evidence and improving our understanding of our existence. I do not belief that truth can ever be contradicted by truth. I do not believe that reason can contradict honesty. If honesty, truth and reason contradict the tenents of our beliefs, faiths and religions, then we have to adapt these to reflect the truth. If we believe in a God, then we cannot possibly believe that God contradicts Gods rules. If we do not believe in a God, we have only reason to validate our own beliefs and faith. We see the world through our own eyes and experience it through our own senses. These can mislead us, so we need to validate what we see.

Let me give you an example. I had a friend who believed that when he took LSD he became a visionary and he understood everything in the whole cosmosphere. He came up with a cunning plan for himself and a group of friends to have an evening where they took LSD and tape recorded all of the conversations. One person, who did not wish to partake, agreed to sit there and work the tape recorder. The LSD team had an amazing night. They managed to solve all of the problems of the world. They had a three hour debate on the subject and at the end decided that they could distill all of this into one sentence. A week later, they reconvened to listen to the tapes, convinced that they had achieved a world changing breakthrough. They were shocked to hear three hours of incredibly dull psychobabble. After three hours, they came up with the solution to all the worlds problems in one sentence "We should all be nicer to each other". This was followed by an hour of everyone saying "man, it is so simple, why has no one ever figured this out before?".

What the tape had done, rather brutally, was show them that their own perceptions of what happened had been wrong. Of course it would be lovely if we were all nicer to each other, but sadly it is more difficult than that. The mistake we often make is that when our beliefs are shattered, or we lose faith in an ideal or we lose our religion, we lose much of the good things that these things brought us. This may be companionship or it may be security. I spoke to someone who had been a committed athiest, who changed their mind about God following a near death experience. She told me that she'd fallen out with most of her friends who were athiest, who couldn't accept her new view of the world. I know many former members of churches who have had the same experience. Often it is not a choice on the part of the person who has developed their beliefs, faith or religion, but a decision on the part of the former friends to ostracise the person.

I happen to think that this is done as a defence mechanism to resist change. Anyway, what is the point of all of this, you may ask? Well I happen to believe we are all on a personal journey and each one of us will take a different route. None of us will have the same experiences and share the same views about everything. Seeking to impose our views on others is against reason and to me it lacks respect. Sometimes we do this for the highest of intentions. I happen to believe that religious groups who deny members urgent medical treatments to preserve life are evil. I would urge anyone in such a position to reconsider whether a religion which damaged their health and wellbeing could really be a force for good. I happen to believe (note the use of the word) that if God hadn't intended medicines to be used, God wouldn't make them effective. Now I have no right to impose my view on that person. They can reject my view.  Where I believe society has a right to intervene is when that group seek to impose their views on third parties, who are in no position to decide for themselves. I believe in religious freedom for the person, but where that person practising their religion causes suffering to another person, we have to say "sorry, you are now abusing the concept of religous freedom and you must desist".

Of course there are some arguments which will never be satisfactorily resolved for everyone, but as a democracy, we have to choose to allow the majority to set the rules. For those who disagree, if they want to change the course of the debate, they must use reason. Ultimately if they have the best argument, they should have the faith to see this through. If they haven't they must accept this and either reexamine their beliefs or try and refine their arguments.

I don't really expect that too many people will agree with all I have said. Actually, I suspect that many will disagree with most of it. That doesn't matter, what matters is that we as a society have to learn to address belief, faith and religion in their proper context. A Rabbi, Imam or a Priest may have a large following. They do however only have one vote. It is the responsibility of the members of their society to ensure that these people represent the views of the community and don't use their platform to represent something entirely different. I believe that all of these must put the fight for social justice at the forefront of their work. There are many problems in the world, but while we have inequality and injsutice, I cannot believe any of them will ever be resolved. Any religious leader who is not prepared to stand up and be counted in the fight to ensure that in the eyes of the law and the state, all men are equal and we are all treated equally in matters of justice and law, to me has forfeited the right to be a community leader.

I was asked to publicise a meeting on the 7th November at 8pm at St Michaels Church in Mill Hill run by a Justice and Peace group. Paddy Lyons is giving a talk about night shelters for Homeless people run by local churches and a synagogue in Finchley.  The organisers have asked that as many local people as possible, who care about Justice and Peace attend to hear about this important work. It can only be positive for society when diverse groups come together for the common good.

Has Boris gone Bonkers?

Boris Johnson had this message for the voters of London.

''Whether it's in theatre, comedy, sports, music or politics, Muslims are challenging the traditional stereotypes and showing that they are, and want to be, a part of the mainstream community," he said.

''That's why I urge people, particularly during Ramadan, to find out more about Islam, increase your understanding and learning, even fast for a day with your Muslim neighbour and break your fast at the local mosque. I would be very surprised if you didn't find that you share more in common than you thought.

''Muslims are at the heart of every aspect of society. Their contribution is something that all Londoners benefit from. Muslim police officers, doctors, scientists and teachers are an essential part of the fabric of London.

''Islamic finance is contributing to the economy by changing the way Londoners invest, save, borrow and spend. There are valuable lessons that people of all backgrounds can learn from Islam such as the importance of community spirit, family ties, compassion and helping those less fortunate, all of which lie at the heart of the teachings of Ramadan.''

This was reported in yesterdays Daily Telegraph. Whilst Boris Johnson is right that the vast majority of Muslims in London are fine upstanding citizens and some people could learn a few lessons if they read the Koran, I find it abhorrant that the Mayor of London seeks to promote a single religion in such a way. I'm a Roman Catholic and I passionately believe that community spirit, family ties, compassion and helping those less fortunate are also the cornerstone of my faith. I'm also sure that members of the Church of England, Methodists, Jews, Buddhists, Zoriastrians and all the other faiths feel exactly the same. I'm even sure that committed humanists such as Polly Toynbee and Richard Dawkins, don't feel that they need a lecture on this subject from Boris Johnson.

In my opinion, there is nothing more uplifting than attending the childrens service at my local church for the Christmas service. I love the hymns and the nativity story. Our family go every year and then we adjourn with a group of friends for a meal at one of the local restaurants (sometimes we are joined for the meal by some of our Jewish friends). I would be equally affronted if Boris promoted my faith above the other religions I've listed. It's not the role of the mayor to promote any religion. His job is to make the infrastructure of the City work properly. I'm always extremely suspicious of ANY POLITICIAN making any such public pronouncement of faith. It's a private matter. I feel it is correct for me to declare my faith in my blog, as it gives people some perspective on my views. Sometimes I mention things that this leads me to do, but I would never suggest that my faith has lessons for people of other denominations or faiths. That would be a supreme act of arrogance.

I happen to think that life is a journey. We learn things on the way. I believe that we should learn about other peoples faiths, cultures and ways. I believe we should be sensitive to other peoples beliefs and traditions. I think that if we are unhappy with aspects of our life, maybe we should seek change. If we are unhappy with what our faith does for us, maybe we should explore other faiths. What none of us needs is a lecture from Boris Johnson on the matter.

I've no idea what possessed Boris to make such a statement. I can only conclude that the pressure of the job is getting too much for him and he's losing the plot.