The prime purpose of any religion...
Friday, 9th February 2007

Dear friends,

Dr Armen Gavaskian, whom you will remember for his contribution to our special series on the Spirituality of Young People sent me some promotional material for a National Interfaith Festival which is coming up in March. Click on the image below, or here, and you can read the detail in a pdf document.

I have to confess I know very little about this endeavour but its appearance does not surprise me in the least. Is it not another sign of the many of the "spiritual hunger" out in the wider community at the moment? It would be interesting to get a report from Armen, or anyone else who might be attending, in due course. My gut instinct after reading through the material — and the program — is that this is likely to be a successful initiative much like the festival that my daughter Phoebe attended in the Hunter Valley in January (and which she mentioned in part in her commentary and the interview she gave us at the time).

Of course we have our own World Youth Day coming up next year which should eclipse all of these in terms of overall numbers. Linking in to what I wrote in yesterday's email though about the Contemporary Christian song, "I can only imagine", I do think serious questions might be asked about "what, precisely, are these various spiritual endeavours trying to sell?"

There is little doubt today that there is much spiritual searching going on out in the wider community. At the same time I think one can also pick up considerable disagreement and uncertainty as to what the answer actually is. It is hardly surprising that in the present atmosphere there are many offering false certitudes and the sort of "idolatry" of the symbols, sacred texts and rules or guidelines that are meant to lead us to God rather than "the real deal" of a porthole into the Mystery of God and the Divine.

Young people in particular are very susceptible to what might be dubbed "guru-ism" — any Tom, Dick or Sally trying to turn the Mystery and the "Otherness" of the Divine into accessible, concrete certitudes; simple hoop-jumping sets of rules; and other solutions that try and substitute spiritual comfort with emotional or sentimental comfort.

I would argue that the prime purpose of any religion is not some attempt to take "the mystery and uncertainty out of The Mystery (of the Divine)". The prime purpose is to show us pathways into the Mystery and being able to "live in peace" with the incertitudes of life and the often mysterious ways in which the Architect and Animateur of Life works.

Since writing the above, Milly has posted a link on our discussion forum to a new video on New Age spirituality which makes this discussion even more interesting. You might like to check out the discussion Milly's post has sparked.

You may recall, but have forgotten because we announced it on the eve of our holidays, that Armen has also made a fresh appeal for funds for the Nersisyan family in Armenia. I will ask Armen to give us an update on that in the next few days. Tomorrow our regular schedule returns with a further thought-provoking lead commentary from Ian Elmer.

Blessings on your day wherever you happen to be in the world, and in life,

Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher
Catholica Australia