Those rock-solid readers of Madonna over the years would know that I am a great fan of the late Jonathan Sacks, for several years the Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth. A gifted writer and speaker, he presented a three-minute segment called ‘Thought for the Day’ on BBC Radio 4 in the morning for nearly 10 years. Indeed, it began as a three-minute religious reflection until the BBC luminaries reduced it to two minutes 45 seconds on the grounds that ‘no one can concentrate for three minutes anymore’. In contrast, Pope Francis has recently advised priests across the globe to restrict their homilies to eight minutes.
Sacks invested much energy in this brief BBC radio program because he saw it as an invitation to ‘each of us, whatever our faith, to talk to people who are not of our faith. It asks us to broadcast, not narrowcast. It forces us to speak inclusively, respecting the diversity of those listening. It is a standing invitation to generosity of spirit. It reminds us that though our faiths are many, our fate is one.’ (From Optimism to Hope, Continuum Books, 2004, p8)
FOOTBALL CLUB IN COMMON
To illustrate this point about the dignity of difference, the Chief Rabbi relates a true story in Optimism to Hope about discovering in 1990 that he and the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, were both passionate supporters of the Arsenal Football Club in the Premier League. Somehow, they were both invited to a midweek match, where they were feted in the comforts of a spectators’ box, where they were taken down to meet the players and then escorted on to the sacred turf itself and their presence announced to the huge crowd. As the Chief Rabbi summarised the occasion, ‘it was little less than heaven itself’.
Sadly, the joy ended there. Arsenal suffered their worst defeat in 63 years, going down to Manchester United 6-2. The press next day ran a story concluding that, if the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Chief Rabbi could not effect a win for Arsenal, it proved that God did not exist. On the contrary, the Chief Rabbi replied that the defeat proved that God exists. ‘It is just that he supports Manchester United!’ In other words, as Jonathan Sacks went on to say, ‘God is on our side, but he is also on the other side . . . we are all on the same side, the side of humanity’.
UNITY IN DIVERSITY
This same message of unity in diversity proclaimed by the former Chief Rabbi has been trumpeted across the globe by Pope Francis. In a splendid TED talk from April 2017, the Pope speaks of ‘how wonderful would it be if solidarity, this beautiful and, at times, inconvenient word, were not simply reduced to social work, and became, instead, the default attitude in political, economic, and scientific choices, as well as in the relationships among individuals, peoples, and countries’.
Francis takes this idea further in his TED talk when he challenges all of us ‘to remember that the other is not a statistic or a number. The other has a face. The “you” is always a real presence, a person to take care of.’
As someone who has spent many years in schools as a teacher and administrator, I have always thought that there is a good deal of fear and ignorance about diversity and difference. While many people find it threatening, we have worked hard to offset this fear by endeavouring to build a community which respects and celebrates difference – understanding that rights make no sense without corresponding responsibilities. Both must be constant companions. For example, the fact that every member in the community has the right to be happy, safe and welcome enjoins on every one of us certain responsibilities to protect that right.
MANY DIFFERENCES
Difference and diversity can take many shapes in our communities: differences of age, colour, nationality, interests . . . Some young people and adults are interested in music (and there are many different tastes in music), others will have no interest in music but will be fanatical about sport. There are differences in size (we have all shapes and sizes), sound (some people speak differently, some have a low voice, some a high-pitched voice), talent (some are gifted in drama and public speaking; some are capable on the sports field). And some are multi-talented.
People fearful or disrespectful of diversity and difference can indulge in mindless bullying and fundamentalism that seeks to impose their vision on others. That being said, we need to heed the message of Pope Francis’ 2017 TED talk mentioned above: ‘The future of mankind isn’t exclusively in the hands of politicians, of great leaders, of big companies. Yes, they do hold an enormous responsibility. But the future is, most of all, in the hands of those people who recognise the other as a “you” and themselves as part of an “us”.’
