It would be unfair of me to quote Professor Richard Dawkins in support of my beliefs, but he recently voiced a fear that if religion were abolished it would “give people a licence to do really bad things”. Saying that security camera surveillance of customers appeared to deter shoplifting, he thought people might feel free to do wrong without a “divine spy camera in the sky reading their every thought\u201d. Of course, he didn\u2019t warm to the idea and nor do I. God isn\u2019t a cosmic CCTV operator, surrounded by banks of screens which record our sins.<\/p>\n
But God does hold us accountable. It\u2019s put concisely in the New Testament: \u201cFor we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.\u201d[3] There\u2019s an unspoken view that this will apply only to subscribers, as though the formula, \u201cBut I don\u2019t believe\u201d will earn immunity at the Last Judgment.<\/p>\n
Perhaps we in the Church became too complacent when the majority in this country claimed to be at least nominally Christian. We had forgotten that each generation needed to be converted afresh.<\/p>\n
The commemoration of Christmas reintroduces each of us \u2013 believer and non-believer \u2013 to the astonishing picture of a powerless baby as the closest representation of the Almighty Creator that human beings could bear to contemplate.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Read my article @thesundaytimes<\/a> today \u2018To heal a divided nation, we must devolve power\u2019 https:\/\/t.co\/utvafArrxL<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 John Sentamu (@JohnSentamu) December 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n