Best-selling novel and upcoming film The Shack invites us to reassess how we interpret the holy trinity and to recognise the inclusivity and compassion that it represents 
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Central to the theology of what are called the ‘three great’ (Abrahamic) monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is the declaration: “The Lord our God (Jehovah; Allah) is One.” While the belief that there is only one God is essential to all three religious identities, Christianity has always had an added conundrum, insisting that God is ‘Three-in-One’, traditionally depicted as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 
This is known in theology as the Trinity which, while not a word actually used in Hebrew or Christian scriptures, was used from about the 4th-century onwards. If true, then it should have made of ‘Christianity’ a revolutionary, authentic, world-changing way of life and the fulfilment of the entire direction of Judaism towards the revelation of the long-awaited Messiah (or “Christ” from the Greek χριστος christos). Indeed, for a minority from among the Jews and then non-Jews (“Gentiles”) for the first three centuries following the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, it was so. However, for the last 1,700 years, this has clearly not been the case. 
In his classic study The Trinity, Karl Rahner, a German Jesuit, writes: “Christians are, in their practical life, almost mere ‘monotheists.’ We must be willing to admit that, should the doctrine of the Trinity have to be dropped as false, the major part of religious [Christian] literature could well remain virtually unchanged.” 
This seems largely true, notwithstanding fervent claims by certain movements such as the Pentecostal and Charismatic wings of the Evangelical denominations to have re-appropriated the power and ‘person’ of the Holy Spirit. The Trinity may well have remained a misunderstood pre-occupation within a Christian enclave had a certain William Paul Young not written what has become an all-time best-selling novel (over 20 million copies sold to date), The Shack. 
For the first time since the 4th-century Cappadocian Fathers (from Cappadocia, in modern day south-eastern Turkey), the Trinity has become the inspirational topic of dinner table dialogue and cappuccino conversations. Ten years since its publication, The Shack continues to inspire, excite, enrage or transform its readers, to varying degrees. 
First, the book: what is all the fuss about? The Shack is published as fiction and tells the story of one man’s “Great Sadness” which is turned into a Great Hope. Mackenzie Allen Philip’s youngest daughter is abducted during a family holiday and all the evidence points to her having been savagely murdered in a remote and derelict lake-side shack. Four years after the tragedy, Mack receives a bizarre note in his mailbox inviting him to return to the shack for a weekend. Even more curiously, the note is signed “Papa” – the very personal name that Mack’s wife, Nana, uses for God. 
Upon arrival, Mack encounters the Papa of the note in the person of a large, black, African-American woman. He then gets to meet the ‘other’ aspects of God: Jesus, the son, depicted as a not-especially-handsome, brown man of Middle-Eastern origin, and Sarayu, an Asian woman, typifying the Holy Spirit. As the story unfolds, Young, through Mack, asks the big questions, like: “Where is God in the midst of human tragedy, unspeakable pain and suffering?” The answers he gets and which are played out in the book are astounding and, according to thousands of verifiable testimonies, absolutely life-changing. 
Even so, the book’s implications concerning the identity and persons of God have divided Christian opinion – the fundamentalist, Evangelical wing of the Christian church in particular – with many taking issue with the presentation of God the Father as a woman and, ‘worse’, a black woman. In addition, depicting the Holy Spirit also as a woman has further challenged traditional interpretation and exposed the corporate ignorance of just who this third person is supposed to be. 
In fact, the Holy Spirit as female is a fundamental element of Hebrew Scripture and has been since, literally, the beginning. This identification has been hiding in plain sight. Indeed, the Hebrew book, Genesis, opens with these famous lines: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving [literally, ‘brooding’] over the surface of the water.” The Hebrew word throughout the Old Testament for Spirit is Ruach, a feminine noun. Furthermore, the Genesis account goes on to state, “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness,’…God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.” 
<figure id="attachment_12621" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12621" style="width: 277px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://www.the-platform.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Trinity-The-Shack.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-12621 size-medium" src="http://www.the-platform.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Trinity-The-Shack-277x300.jpg" alt="Trinity The Shack" width="277" height="300" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-12621" class="wp-caption-text">The Trinity, Andrei Rublev (15th-Century)</figcaption></figure> 
While traditional doctrine rightly states that God is neither male nor female (but both male and female) no observer of Judaism, Islam or Christianity can fail to notice the vehemently patriarchal nature of these three religions and the absence of any female element in the portrayal of God. 
Repeatedly quizzed about the ‘shocking’ depiction of God the Father (Papa) as an African-American woman, author Young explains that words are metaphors and that he was seeking to avoid common stereotypes about the person and nature of God. Most of all, he was eager to avoid what he calls the “Gandalf-with-attitude” image of a stern, distant, difficult-to-please and demanding, white Father figure. He is also aware from his own experience of just how traumatic and loaded the term ‘Father’ is for so many of us today. 
While The Shack clearly tackles our image and understanding of God from an arguably Christian perspective, its themes are not meant to be exclusive, or even Christian. In a conversation with “Jesus” in the book, Mack is struggling to understand what being a Christian means. “‘Who said anything about being a Christian? I’m not a Christian,’” Jesus replies, pointedly. He goes on to explain: “‘Those who love me come from every system that exists. They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats, Republicans and many who don’t vote or are not part of any Sunday morning or religious institutions. I have followers who were murderers and many who were self-righteous. Some are bankers and bookies, Americans and Iraqis, Jews and Palestinians. I have no desire to make them Christian, but I do want to join them in their transformation into sons and daughters of my Papa, into brothers and sisters, into my Beloved.’” 
Mack then asks if he means that all roads lead to him. “‘Not at all,’ smiled Jesus… Most roads don’t lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.’” 
Because of the above scene (among others), Young has been accused of ‘Pluralism’, by which it is argued that all religions lead to the one, true God. The above quotation suggests otherwise, but does imply a second charge brought against the book which is of ‘Universalism’. To this criticism, Young accedes, insofar as <a href="http://www.christianuniversalism.com/">Christian Universalists</a> hope and believe in the ultimate redemption of all mankind. Crucial to this idea is that God’s judgements are not retributive, as both Catholic and Protestant (especially Evangelical fundamentalist) traditions have always claimed, but restorative. 
Not only does The Shack aim to enlarge our vision of who God is, but also how much more there is to God than our feeble metaphors or allegories can grasp and iterate. Since the publication of the book, a lot has happened in modern Christian theology and practice, not least of which is the way that a totally new understanding and interpretation of what was always supposed to be a Trinitarian faith: God as Three-in-One, is ‘hot’ news again. In fact, a number of commentators have realised that it is not a new understanding so much as a recovered one. Indeed, there has emerged a whole new dimension of modern theology being promulgated by people described as “<a href="http://www.christianuniversalism.com/2014/04/t-f-torrance-and-the-new-trinitarians/">The New Trinitarians</a>”. 
One independent theologian had been grappling for years with Trinitarian theology and the implications of what he saw as the traditional misrepresentation of the Gospel by all organised Christian traditions, when he was urged to read The Shack and recognised in it the ideas he had been working through. 
Dr. C. Baxter Kruger is founder of the <a href="http://www.perichoresis.org/">Perichoresis</a> groups in America and Australia. The group name comes from the 4th-century Cappadocian Fathers who coined it as a description of the nature of the relationship among the Trinity. Perichoresis (from Greek: περιχώρησις perikhōrēsis, &#8220;rotation&#8221;) is a term referring to the relationship of the three persons of the triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to one another. We get the word ‘choreography’ from it and, in addition, the relationship has been called The Great Dance (see Baxter Kruger, <a href="http://www.perichoresis.org/product/the-great-dance-paperback/">The Great Dance</a>) and The Divine Dance (see Fr Richard Rohr, The Divine Dance). 
So impressed was Kruger by the themes explored in The Shack that he wrote a theological study, titled <a href="http://www.perichoresis.org/product/the-shack-revisited-signed-copy-paperback/">The Shack Revisited.</a> At one point he explains: “that this triune God, in amazing and lavish love, determined to open the circle and share the Trinitarian life with others. This is the one, eternal and abiding reason for the creation of the world and of human life. There is no other God, no other will of God, no second plan, no hidden agenda for human beings. Before the creation of the world, the Father, Son and Spirit set their love upon us and planned to bring us to share and know and experience the Trinitarian life itself. Unto this end the cosmos was called into being, and the human race was fashioned, and Adam and Eve were given a place in the coming of Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son himself, in and through whom the dream of our adoption would be accomplished.” 
Rather than our traditional monarchist view of God, whereby there is a pyramidal, hierarchic chain of command (even among the trinity), The Shack offers a completely new paradigm. In another theological exploration of the book, Finding God in The Shack, Randal Rauser, associate professor of historical theology at Taylor Seminary, Edmonton, Canada, summarises this alternative (page 15): “The question here concerns whether the Father is ultimately in charge of the Trinity so that the Son and the Spirit eternally submit to him. Or could it be that the Father is as submitted to the Son and Spirit as they are to him? Deciding whether there is authority and submission or mutual submission within God could have radical implications for how we organize our relationships here on earth…The view of The Shack is that all the divine persons are submitted to one another and to the creation, and so all human persons should also be submitted.” 
Regardless of the theological implications and the often-heated discussions surrounding The Shack, it has clearly had a huge impact on the over 20 million readers, not only of Christian persuasion, but of all faiths and none. In the Foreword to The Shack Revisited, Paul Young explains: “The Shack was never intended to be a systematic theology or another book of pragmatic proof texts useful for badgering unwitting unbelievers into religious submission. It is fiction and it is a story. It is an utterly human tale, rife with the mystery of journey and failure, of loss and uncertainty, of deep and precious desires and questions.” 
Not only have the book’s sales been stratospheric, but its message is about to gain an even wider audience. Liongate have now finished making and editing the film, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL0yUbSS5Eg">The Shack, directed by Stuart Hazeldene</a> (Life of Pi and The Blind Side), and starring Sam Worthington (Mack), Octavia Spencer (Papa), Aviv Alush (Jesus) and Tim McGraw (Mack’s friend, Willie), due for release next month. 
Whatever one gets from reading The Shack, or through experiencing the (text-faithful) film version, it is through the eyes of our spirits and the ears of our hearts that revelation comes, rather than our limited intellect. As Randal Rauser concludes (page 160): “Perhaps the most we can hope for is to attain glimpses of the beauty, harmony, and unconditional love at the heart of God.” There can, surely, be no better hope for our beleaguered world. 
Book: The Shack by William P Young (Hodder &amp; Stoughton General Division, 2007) 
Film: The Shack directed by Stuart Hazeldene – US release date 3rd March 2017
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The-Shack-Sam-Worthington-Octavia-Spencer

The Shack: An Invigorating Revelation of God

New book by Rob Donovan imagines the pilgrim on a journey of rampant inequality in Britain 
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There has been a lot of speculation about the political and social context in which Jeremy Corbyn came to be<a href="http://www.the-platform.org.uk/2016/07/06/editorial-labour-pains/"> leader of the Labour party</a>, despite the opprobrium of the majority of Labour MPs. 
Former political editor of The Times, Philip Webster, suggests that it is the result of <a href="http://www.harpercollins.ca/9780008201333/inside-story-politics-intrigue-and-treachery-from-thatcher-to-brexit">“one of the biggest blunders”</a> of New Labour following the death of John Smith in 1994: the so-called Granita Pact, in which a ‘gentlemen’s deal’ was done to give Tony Blair uncontested leadership without the need to hold a leadership election. That was fine while Blairism was popular, but the largely unpopular Iraq war and the business-friendly nature of New Labour were to become increasingly despised policies among both traditional Labour supporters and the wider electorate. 
Commenting on the Left’s increasing influence in The New European magazine (October 14-20), Webster asserts: “Much of the British Left has always been more interested in winning the Labour party than winning the country… they insist that the country has never had the chance to vote for a diet of true socialism or a leader who really believed in it… Now they have Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran of the Left’s last attempt to take over Labour.” 
Author Rob Donovan paints a bigger picture of what he sees as the actual conditions that have resulted in the renewed appeal of socialism, and therefore Corbyn’s coronation, in his new book. 
In The Road To Corbyn, Donovan has created what the publishers describe as “the conceit of a dream” – a modern take on one of Christianity’s classic pieces of allegorical literature, The Pilgrim’s Progress. That book, written by John Bunyan in 1678, was detailed as “The Pilgrim&#8217;s Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come; Delivered under the Similitude of a Dream”. The central character, Christian, is seen making the journey from this world to the “Celestial City”. 
So: what a conceit! For many people of faith, particularly Christian, I suspect the hijacking of a masterpiece on faith and the spiritual journey by a left-wing author will grate, especially as Donovan’s Interpreter points out that Pilgrim’s journey “will be a journey without the support of faith”. 
Donovan’s version of the Pilgrim, far from being Bunyan’s earnest believer in God, is an every-man seeker after ‘truth’, in particular during the lifetime of the 2010-2015 UK government. The Pilgrim is aided and abetted in his quest by three key characters: Lady Hope, Charity, “a bird whose colours, crimson red and honey yellow, flamed in the sunlight”, and the Interpreter, who will be Pilgrim’s guide on “the path… that leads to the most content for the many and the least misery for the few.” A Socialist Narnia, then. 
There follows an account of Pilgrim’s journey through a Britain of rampant inequality and unjust distribution of wealth – a country run by those who deceive themselves and others to justify the policies and politics that reinforce those perceived inequalities and injustices. 
Along the way we meet some of the protagonists such as the Prime Minister (Head Boy), the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Pocket Money), and No Benefit, in charge of Work and Pensions. All are pretty predictable caricatures of the <a href="http://www.the-platform.org.uk/2016/08/19/boyish-smirks-and-outrageous-insults-why-boris-johnson-is-the-postmodern-proteus/">Conservative-led government</a>. 
Once the “I saw in my dream” nonsense is abandoned, Donovan gets down to marshalling and quoting an impressive range of political, social and economic commentators. There are numbered footnotes (132 in all) to explain references and support his arguments. He cites some of the obvious, including Thomas Piketty, Dr Ha-Joon Chang, Naomi Klein and Joseph Stiglitz, along with several contributors to the Guardian and The Observer. 
The Road To Corbyn is more than a pastiche of Pilgrim’s Progress, however. If you can get past the allegorical characters and concentrate on what the Interpreter (Donovan, obviously) explains, you get a broad picture of the Left in particular, and the renewed appeal of socialism among Labour supporters. There is also much about the nature of democracy and its alleged abuses by the Right, as well as an offer of alternatives to austerity, market forces and the monetising of healthcare, among other references. 
Corbyn’s rise, according to Donovan, was inevitable. Inevitable, too, the concerted effort of the Right, bolstered by a largely sympathetic majority of the (capitalist-owned) media, to trash him. 
“Jeremy Corbyn is a man who has consistently seen the world as a fundamentally good place filled with people who are shamefully let down by an elite who are half-crazed by power and wealth,” the Interpreter claims – and this impression is what has clearly galvanised not only the Left, but an increasing number of ordinary men and women who believe that real, practical socialism is finally within reach. 
If you believe in socialism, then, Donovan is preaching to the converted, and if you are a sympathetic doubter, you might just be persuaded. 
Rob Donovan’s <a href="http://www.troubador.co.uk/book_info.asp?bookid=3971">The Road To Corbyn: A Modern Day’s Pilgrim’s Progress</a> is published by Matador (2016)
<pre>Image from: http://politi.co/1X1ItSA</pre>

The Pilgrim&#039;s Progress: Corbyn&#039;s Long and Winding Road

Pope Francis agitates conservative U.S. Catholics with a presumed softer policy on homosexuality 
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That Pope Francis was determined to set out a very new kind of Papal stall became apparent very early on. Returning on “’Shepherd One’” (The Papal 747) from World Youth Day, Francis surprised reporters with an impromptu, stand-up press conference where he said: 
”When I meet a gay person, I have to distinguish between their being gay and being part of a lobby. If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them? They shouldn’t be marginalised. The tendency [to homosexuality] is not the problem… they’re our brothers.” 
Commenting on the online blog <a href="http://www.catholicvote.org/did-pope-francis-say-homosexual-behavior-is-ok/">Catholic Vote</a>, Joshua Bowman wrote: “Some people with homosexual tendencies choose to accept the salvation of our Lord and maintain a life of chastity. This is the key to what Pope Francis is saying: people with homosexual desires who are able to exhibit this level of self-control should be welcomed as our brothers and given encouragement in their struggle. This is a very beautiful statement. However, it does not say anything about people who give in to carnal desires and live promiscuously — whether gay or straight.” 
Not surprisingly, then, the Roman Catholic Church’s intractable homophobia got onto the agenda for an exceptional synod in the Vatican recently. 
Proposals for a wider acceptance of homosexuals – not homosexual practice, though – failed to get the two-third majority it needed to become a Roman Catholic basis for informing the church’s contact with homosexuals. The original proposition was that, &#8220;people with homosexual tendencies must be welcomed with respect and delicacy.” This was replaced with something very different: “homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community.” Gay Catholics (an oxymoron to a very sizeable section of Christians of all denominations &#8211; though they may not admit it publicly), gay rights groups and allegedly the pope himself, felt let down. 
It is important to note above the euphoria with which large sections of the Roman Catholic Church, especially among the younger adherents greeting the “Revival Pope”, that he has not suggested changing one iota of Catholic doctrine on abortion, contraception or homosexuality per se, but has now simply stated the obvious: that homosexuals should not be marginalised by the church. “God is not afraid of new things,” Pope Francis said during the conclusion to the synod. “That is why he is continuously surprising us, opening our hearts and guiding us in unexpected ways.” 
Cue the catatonic outrage from U.S. conservative Catholics. Philadelphia <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/01/pope-francis-catholics-americans-culture/18263293/">Archbishop Charles Chaput</a> sums up the response by saying that under this pope, the Roman Catholic Church is ”a ship without a rudder” and that “the faithful are feeling a bit seasick.” He even went so far as to condemn the recent Vatican conference as producing “confusion of the devil”. 
However, Pope Francis, who quickly established a reputation for humility, sincerity and even humour, should not be misunderstood. He is not planning any fundamental changes in doctrine; what he does want to encourage is a more humane and, dare we say, Christian, response from the Catholic hierarchy towards a number of topical issues, most controversially here, homosexuality. 
“The conservatives had it all their own way for about 30 years, and now the shoe might be on the other foot,” quotes Rev. Paul Sullins in <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/01/pope-francis-catholics-americans-culture/18263293/">USA Today</a>, a priest who teaches Sociology at the Catholic University of Washington, Washington DC. ”Now they feel on the outside a little bit, which is exactly how the progressives used to feel.” 
Some believe that the pope is not getting a fair hearing, and that he is being quoted according to what people want to hear. Arina Grossu, a 31-year-old University of Notre Dame graduate suggests, “A lot of mainstream media reporting is based on what people hope Pope Francis is saying, instead of what he is actually saying.” The result, she concludes, “only adds to the noise and confusion.” 
Perhaps not so confusing is the fact that Pope Francis has had meetings with leading Evangelical and Charismatic church leaders, including the high-profile billionaire Kenneth Copeland. Fears of a worrying <a href="http://www.christiandoctrine.net/doctrine/articles/article_00171_the_charismatic_movement_web.htm">rapprochement</a> between the Evangelical movement and the Roman Catholic Church go back to the 80s. Long treated as apostates, and dubbed ”The Whore of Babylon” as described in the book of Revelation by traditional evangelical fundamentalists, it comes as a matter of grave concern to many that the Catholic Church should be co-operating with the Evangelical Church at all. 
As the Evangelical/Charismatic/Pentecostal churches continue their fractious debate on homosexuality – highlighted recently by the ‘coming out’ of much sought-after worship leader, <a href="http://www.premierchristianity.com/Past-Issues/2014/October-2014/Profile-Vicky-Beeching">Vicky Beeching</a>, as gay – more people than expected, perhaps, are not at all surprised to see the Roman Catholic Church’s global leader and alleged Vicar of Christ coming out himself! (In favour of a more homosexual-friendly approach, that is.) 
Elizabeth Dias, writing in <a href="http://time.com/3524471/pope-francis-synod-catholic-homosexuality/">Time</a> notes: “If there is a single takeaway, it may be this: Pope Francis showed the world that he is not afraid of making mistakes. He takes risks, and his commitment to listening allows a host of voices to rise and controversy to surface.” 
Amen to that.
<pre>Image from: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-requests-baby-whose-parents-rejected-abortion-be-presented-during-offe</pre>

Pope Francis Rocks Conservative Catholics

The loss of Robin Williams has been a grim gain for depression as renewed interest ignites on the disease   
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We used to talk much about the &#8216;Big C&#8217;. Vast amounts of charitable action and billions of pounds and dollars have been thrown at the issue, and at research for treatment. On the other hand, the &#8216;Big D&#8217; – Depression – has remained a taboo topic in public debate and is the Cinderella of medical matters. It suffers from under-diagnosis, misdiagnosis, misunderstanding, confusion, shame and even contempt. It is usually accompanied by a shrug of annoyance and ’encouragement’ to ’pull yourself together,’ even though it is a disease. 
This Victorian approach to the problem only compounds the disastrous effects of depression on our society. The stereotypical depiction of someone with depression is of a listless mother (single for preference) with long, lank, lustreless hair; an expressionless face, dependent on a cocktail of “our” hard-earned, tax-paid-for drugs and welfare benefits. This is an egregious, unfair and shocking situation. I would suggest that it is up there with racism and bigotry, and therefore socially stigmatising. So it turns out our loss of Robin Williams is a grim gain for depression as the media turns its attention to the problem. 
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/13/two-thirds-britons-not-treated-depression">The Guardian</a> ran a report on depression by their health editor, Sarah Bosely, in which she points out: ‘Less than a third of people with common mental health problems get any treatment at all &#8211; a situation the nation would not tolerate at all if they had cancer.’ She cites Simon Wessely, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, who remarks: ‘people are still routinely waiting for &#8211; well, we don&#8217;t really know, but certainly 18 weeks, possibly up to two years &#8211; for their treatment that is routine in some parts of the country.’ ‘Imagine,’ he told her, ‘the reaction if I gave a talk that began: &#8220;so, we have a problem in cancer service at the moment. Only 30% of people with cancer are getting any treatment, so 70% of them don&#8217;t get any treatment at all and it&#8217;s not even recognised.&#8221; You would be appalled and you would be screaming from the rooftops.&#8217;  Quite. 
While England&#8217;s NHS Chief Executive, Simon Stevens, sympathised with Wessley&#8217;s horror at these statistics, he informed him that the issue would involve a ‘much longer dialogue with the public.’ His comment scantly conceals the real problem: the government&#8217;s insistence on austerity as £12 billion additional cut-backs are due to come on stream. While the chancellor has no choice but to match pound-for-pound money raised in the voluntary sector for cancer because it is such an obvious, multiple cause of death, the government and, to a certain extent, society remain indifferent to or intolerant to the problem of depression. 
Depression, however, is largely a hidden condition with a less obvious connection to death. It is on a spectrum ranging from occasionally ’feeling blue’, recurring instances of what Churchill described as his ’Black Dog days’, up to a clinical condition needing life-long chemical solutions. In extreme cases, depression can lead to schizophrenia and, exceptionally, suicide. From symptoms occasioned by bullying through circumstantial set-backs, anxiety,  panic attacks and beyond, the causes are various and often multiple. 
Of those burdened with depression, 90% of sufferers remain untreated inside the NHS target of 18 weeks, while many remain undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as doctors are divided about depression and uncertain about the variety of symptoms presented, as well as the appropriate prognosis. Ms Bosely writes: ‘A larger proportion of people with psychosis, who have severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, are on treatment but even that figure is still only 65% according to Wessely, who added: &#8220;For most mental disorders it is still the exception not the rule to be recognised, detected and treated.&#8221;’ 
Wessley further argues that ‘the concern over pills for depression, anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) could be misplaced’. He suggests that much of the criticism assumes that GPs are putting more people on pills because of an absence of talking therapies. However, the number of therapists being trained to provide Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has substantially risen thanks to a government programme called Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT). ‘If you say they [pills] are more effective,’ he concludes, ‘I don&#8217;t really think that&#8217;s true. I think they are cheaper and easier. CBT is certainly more popular with some, but others don&#8217;t like it. The truth is most people don&#8217;t get either.’  My advice on CBT is this: don&#8217;t be  shy, polite or ashamed. As the old BT ad used to say: ‘It&#8217;s good to talk!’ 
Unfortunately, to governments, disease is unprofitable and has a negative effect on the bottom line. So we cannot expect any more help from the Austerity State. Disease exposes our frailty. It challenges our infallibility and expectations of immortality. The government can always find the cash to bankroll rebels in Syria or resistance in Iraq. It can finance arming the entire military industrial complex that is Israel and its brutal Israeli Defence Force (IDF). State-sponsored murder has always been a profitable business; medical care, however, is too costly and time-consuming. 
The Victorians abandoned sufferers of depression and dementia in asylums. It is high time we provided them with asylum – literally, &#8220;shelter&#8221; – and the care, comfort, humane medical or psychological assistance we can. Above all, it is our acceptance, understanding, love and compassion that are what we really have to offer &#8211; and offer it we must.
<pre>Image from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-rottenberg/seeing-depression-in-the-wrong-light_b_4945290.html</pre>

The Big D-Word

The prime minister’s denial and authoritarianism is hindering several freedoms in Turkey 
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Thirty-first of May this year saw the first anniversary of the show-down between police and protestors attempting to prevent the destruction of one of the last green spaces in Istanbul – Gezi Park. Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had insisted that a mock-Ottoman building, housing yet another shopping mall and some luxury flats, would be built over this iconic site off Taksim Square. However, it was not only ‘”tree-huggers” who set up camp: lawyers, teachers, doctors and nurses joined students, taxi-drivers and market stall-holders in common cause to preserve this splash of green. 
Something gripped the imagination of those defending the park and the occasion marked the coming-of-age of dissent in Turkey as people took the opportunity to exorcise their many grievances against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its dictatorial leader. Pharaonic building projects that are proven to be ecologically fatal include <a href="https://speakerscornerme.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/a-bridge-to-disaster/">a third bridge</a> over the Bosphorus which will be completed at huge environmental cost to the city; the <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/news-322972-controversial-mosque-project-kicks-off-in-istanbul.html">country’s largest mosque</a> (a 15,000-square-metre plot holding 30,000 worshipers) which is to be built on Üsküdar&#8217;s highest hill, Çamlıca, on the Anatolian side of Istanbul; <a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-223699-pm-envisions-2nd-strait-in-istanbul-as-hedge-against-environmental-disaster.html">a second Bosphorus</a>, a parallel canal carved from the Black Sea to the Sea of Mamara, through which commercial shipping will by-pass the city leaving the original Strait for ferries, fishing and floating about; a third Istanbul airport with vastly more capacity than the country’s current foremost hub, Atatürk Airport, along with duelling of all A-roads, and a trans-Turkey high speed train project to add to the tram and underground systems already completed in Istanbul. 
More to the point is the involvement of the prime minister in these developments in the teeth of reasoned resistance. A million trees are wasted? So, what. People get injured or killed? Happens all the time. In response to criticism, Erdoğan bridles, branding opponents to his will, describing them as terrorists manipulated by foreign forces, hooligans or anarchists. He defends his democratic right to dictate on the basis of repeatedly winning elections &#8211; the last being the municipals this March that gave his AKP another landslide. 
Three million people hit the streets of Istanbul and other major cities across Turkey last May in defence not only of a scrubby bit of urban greenery, but of the right to protest, freedom of association, religious tolerance, free speech and equality. What started as a local, environmental issue became a bush-fire fanned by state-sanctioned police brutality of astonishing violence and, in particular, the prime minister’s astonishing authoritarianism. Street conflagrations erupted like beacons across the country during two weeks in which eight people died, 8,000 were injured (104 of whom sustained serious head injuries) and 11 lost an eye as a result of plastic bullets fired by the police. 
Turkish police wielding batons and firing tear gas canisters broke up groups of demonstrators last Saturday (31 May) as they tried to make their way to Taksim Square to mark the anniversary of the “Battle for Gezi Park” that had claimed those eight lives last year. 
Erdoğan had warned anyone planning to mark the anniversary: “Don’t think about trying to do what you did last year. But if you insist on coming, then the police have been ordered to do everything against you, from A to Z.” 
In the year between the Gezi demonstrations, a different kind of disaster occurred to test the government: an explosion in a coal mine in Soma, south-western Turkey, claimed the lives of 301 miners. What would be the reaction of most civilised governments to such a disaster? Certainly, disasters can shake governments to the core and even bring them down, especially if they reveal issues of preparedness, regulation and empathy that have not been answered in a way that satisfies the grieving people concerned. The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/20/turkish-miner-lax-safety-record-soma-mines">mine catastrophe</a> in Soma looks like it is going to join text-book examples (Hurricane Katrina, Fukushima) of “what not to do”. 
Five company officials, including the mine’s operating manager, Akin Çelik, have already been arrested on charges of causing death by negligence as part of an investigation into the disaster. 
What of Erdoğan’s reaction? A slap in the face of a protestor shortly after the prime minister’s arrival in Soma, for starters, followed by a bizarre speech combining regret for the disaster with ill-timed and ill-tempered remarks about how heavy loss of life in coal mining is “inevitable”, citing the numbers of British and French miners who have died in accidents since 1862. “These,” Erdoğan noted, “are normal things.” 
Last week, the two events came together. Uğur Kurt, a 34-year-old cleaner and father-of-one who lived in the Okmeydani district of Istanbul, had been attending an Alevi funeral near his home (22 May). Unfortunately for him, some 15 or so students <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/cleaner-shot-riot-police-istanbul-funeral">happened to be protesting</a> nearby. These protests were in response to the deaths of the miners and the eventually fatal wounding of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan, who had been hit by a tear gas canister fired by police last year. 
Injured in the neck and face by a stray bullet, Kurt was taken to hospital where he later died before the operation to remove the bullet could be successful. Angry crowds attended his funeral too and were treated to the usual ubiquitous and oppressive police brutality. 
Erdoğan still accuses “Gezi provocateurs” of plotting against Turkey: “[After the protests] the stock exchange started to drop and interest rates went up,” he complained at a recent AKP meeting. “They vandalised the streets. They pretended that terror reigned everywhere. The opposition poured gasoline onto this fire. MPs distributed provisions and money…For what? For 12 trees!” 
According to a report in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/29/gezi-park-year-after-protests-seeds-new-turkey">The Guardian</a> (30 May): “Incilay Erdoğan, a doctor who volunteered in makeshift clinics during the unrest, thinks the Gezi protests taught the Turks more solidarity across ethnic, religious and class lines. ‘When we used to do press declarations on workers’ rights, there were usually a few dozen people if at all,’ she says. “But after [the mine disaster in] Soma, there were several thousand.’” (See also Gareth Jenkins’s report in The Sunday Times, 1 June 2014.) 
Erdoğan is no more bothered by the death of an innocent funeral-goer or that of a passing 15-year-old boy than he is of the 301 miners murdered by officially sanctioned incompetence and criminal negligence. He certainly does not give a moment’s thought to the consequences of tearing up just “12 trees”. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/29/gezi-park-year-after-protests-seeds-new-turkey">Cemal Özay</a>, 68, was head gardener in Gezi Park for 20 years and remembers every tree he planted. “What is it with this government’s love for concrete?” he asks. “When I started, this park was a huge garden, green and full of flowers I had grown myself. They don’t like trees because trees don’t generate a profit.” 
Erdoğan’s ego and megalomania do not profit from people who protest or criticise, either. He cites election victories in mitigation for his high-handed manner of governance. What he declares to be his democratic right is, to more and more Turks, evidence of a dividing line through Turkish civil society. And the more he divides, the more he thinks he rules. He is almost certainly going to stand for the presidency this August: one he has already tailor-made for himself, arrogating increasingly far-reaching powers to the position. It’ll take more than a new canal to wash his hands of the Turkish blood in which they are steeped.
<pre>Image from: http://www.aol.com/article/2014/05/14/death-toll-in-turkey-mine-disaster-rises-to-232/20885516/</pre>

From Mines to Market Squares: Death Stalks Turkey

The name which Pope Francis has endowed upon himself tells us much about his spiritual direction 
&nbsp; 
It was in a moment laced with supreme, theatrical irony, that former UK Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, quoted the famous words of St Francis of Assisi: 
“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. 
Where there is hatred, let me sow love, 
Where there is injury, pardon; 
Where there is doubt, faith; 
Where there is despair, hope; 
Where there is darkness, light; 
And where there is sadness, joy&#8230;”
 And we all know how well that turned out. 
Now, Francis is back, promoted to pope, the inheritor of an institution built, allegedly on the words of Jesus Christ to Peter: “Upon this rock I will build my church.” 
There have been numerous conflicting interpretations in the Biblical exegesis of the infamous phrase. “Peter” is “Petros” in Greek, and means rock or stone. Scholars have long pondered whether Jesus was referring to the person whose birth name was Simon bar Jonah when he asked the question, &#8220;Who do you say that I am?&#8221; Simon is believed to have replied, &#8220;You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” This appears to have inspired Jesus to rename Simon, “Peter”, the “Rock”, and then declare, “Upon this rock I will build my church…” The inherent ambiguity has defied scholastic definition ever since (see Matthew 16: 13-20). That the church, and in particular the Roman Catholic Confession, should be dependent on this verse to choose one human being and his lineage to be given absolute and infallible authority has been a bone of contention since the days of Henry VIII and Martin Luther. 
The fact is – and recent horror stories have only added to a historical compendium of corruption and sleaze spreading across previous centuries – the Roman Catholic Church has in no way fashioned itself in the humble, modest, impecunious image of its creator. A more un-Christ-like construct you&#8217;d be hard-pressed to find. The new pope, however, has begun to take matters in hand if, perhaps, in a more subtle way than his Master who raged through the Temple in Jerusalem, overturning the money-lenders&#8217; tables and excoriating the priests for allowing religion to become a commercial enterprise. Pope Francis has taken a more sophisticated approach towards reforming the financial motives and methods of today&#8217;s money-maker, what is now, officially, his Vatican Bank (official title being The Institute for Works of Religion), as we shall see below. 
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 76-year-old Archbishop of Buenos Aires, changed his alias to become Pope Francis and a first too, from Latin America. He is also the first Jesuit and the first non-European for 1000 years. He is staunchly conservative, theologically traditionalist, an active anti-gay crusader (from a doctrinal point of view) and carries some <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/14/pope-francis-argentina-military-junta">mucky baggage</a> from the 1970s after accusations were made in 2005, charging that he had co-operated too closely with the brutal junta and even conspired in the rounding up of Jesuits. Nothing has been proved or disproved; all of it is denied. Most notable is the fact that, to date, there has been no sign of repentance or a verbalised, conscious break with his supposed relationship with the junta. To be fair, though, there appears to be evidence that he did much too to save up to a 1000 people from the Argentinean death choppers. 
Why is Bergoglio the first to take a new name since Albert in 1101? Does he wish to signify a break from tradition? He is reputed to be kind, mild-mannered, modest and even amusing. We&#8217;ll see. His humble manner and frugal life-style are a marked break from the opulent excesses of his predecessors, certainly, but doctrinally he cannot be expected to change an iota of Roman Catholic dogma: he may just show a different methodology of enforcing it. 
Perhaps, then, he really does mean to reference the saintly Francis of Assisi (1181/82 &#8211; 1226) and attempt to bring healing, hope, pardon and principle to the rotten state of the Vatican City. Pope Francis&#8217; namesake certainly had a reputation insofar as he considered poverty noble and the contemporary version, too, has avoided life’s little luxuries. He is known to have travelled by bus to keep his costs down and persuaded hundreds of Argentineans not to accompany him to Rome, but rather to re-sell their tickets and give the money to the poor. 
Or, maybe, he wishes to refer us back to Saint Francis-Xavier, a priest in the 16th century and one of the first Jesuits, an order of which he is a member. Xavier, in fact, founded the Society of Jesus (aka Company of Jesus) whose reputation down the centuries has been, shall we say, rather <a href="http://amazingdiscoveries.org/R-Jesuits_history_political_power_Pope">chequered</a>. 
Whatever else Pope Francis might or might not be, he is old and unlikely to last any great amount of time as pontiff. Is he a stop-gap-pope until a better model can be moulded? 
Well he has taken on the cabal of cardinals. He has begun to tackle accusations of money-laundering, drug cartel-financing and property-gazumping within the Vatican Bank&#8217;s management. So far so good. But, the question is whether he will be able to crush the serpent-head of paedophilia and criminal cover-ups. He seems to be making gestures in those directions. And it is unclear whether he will consider females as having a meaningful, contributory role outside of nunneries. He won’t be allowing <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/26/pope-francis-abortion_n_5215862.html">abortion</a> or <a href="http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/pope-francis-and-womens-ordination?splash=off">women priests</a>, so no female cardinals, then. 
The last one who even looked like he was doing anything lasted just 35 days: Pope John Paul I died in highly suspicious circumstances precisely because he wanted to clean up (rather than clean out) the Vatican Bank and tackle other areas of conniving and corruption. ‘<a href="http://www.prose-n-poetry.com/display_work/10583/%E2%80%8E">The Mysterious Death of Pope John Paul I</a>’ by Gregory Christiano and In God’s Name by David Yallop present conclusions that imply he was murdered. On the other hand, John Cornwell in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Thief_in_the_Night_(Cornwell_book)">A Thief In The Night</a>, after deep and meticulous research, draws an opposite conclusion that murder is a baseless conspiracy theory. 
His successor, Pope John Paul II was all charisma and lefty-talk until he got the mitre tailored to fit and then ran a ruthlessly traditionalist dogmatic church with his faithful guard dog (“<a href="http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/gods-rottweiler-silenced-many-head-doctrinal-congregation">God&#8217;s Rottweiler</a>”), a certain Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, by his side. Nothing by way of cleansing or reform was ever carried out. So, a kind pope, a charismatic pope and a crumbling pope. What have we now: a crafty pope? 
Certainly a clever pope. No, he does not condone homosexuality or same-sex marriage, but in a now infamous impromptu press conference on board his Airbus A340 (“Shepherd One”) he astonished the hacks and the watching world by saying: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Pope Emeritus must have vomited up his breakfast. 
And he is restructuring in the efficient manager of a newly installed CEO, albeit without the stratospheric bonus and champagne life-style. He has appointed a new Board, a group of eight cardinals (“<a href="http://www.catholic.org/news/international/europe/story.php?id=54293">the C8</a>”) to review the church’s organisation, and brought in McKinsey and KPMG (“<a href="http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/thoughts-rise-gods-consultants">God’s consultants</a>” – a marked difference from “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/may/12/roberto-calvi-blackfriars-bridge-mafia">God’s Banker</a>”, Roberto Calvi, found hanging under Blackfriars bridge, London) to look at the church’s administrative machinery and thoroughly overhaul the Vatican Bank. 
Nevertheless, and while the euphoria lasts and bums start re-filling Catholic Church pews – even in secular Britain – there are critical observers who maintain it is all incense-smoke and mirrors. In the meantime: Pope Francis rocks.
<pre>Image from: http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/01/29/268361194/on-a-roman-street-graffiti-celebrates-superpope</pre>

Upon This Rock Star I Will Build My Church

Sexual assault and domestic violence are neither gender specific nor about sexual preferences 
&nbsp; 
Shocking statistics reveal that, according to a survey by Mumsnet, one in 10 women have been raped, and more than a third subjected to sexual assault. 
If that is not bad enough, such is the stigma attached that more than 80 per cent of the 1,600 respondents said they did not report the assault to the police, while a staggering 26 per cent said they told nobody at all. The facts of the assaults, as well as the frightened silence surrounding them, are morally outrageous and the issue needs to be debated on and dealt with. 
Rape and sexual assault are universally considered to be women’s issues &#8211; the victims are female, the perpetrators are male. Statistically, this is indeed overwhelmingly the case. However, as <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/17/stern-review-male-rape">Michael Amherst explained</a> in ‘Rape is not just a women’s issue’ (The Guardian 17 March 2010), the Stern Review published that week drew some surprising conclusions. 
According to the Stern Review, male rape victims make up about 8 per cent of all recorded rape cases. “The unrecorded figure is thought to be far higher,” Amherst writes, “UK charity Mankind suggests that three in 20 men are victims of sexual violence.” These figures do not include rape in prisons. “Male rape was only recognised in English and Welsh law in 1994,” he continues, “and as a result there is little statistical history, with what there is varying wildly.” 
One predominant reason given as to why very few men report rape or sexual assault to the police is that they do not want to feel less of a man, or do not want the associations with homosexuality. Three years later and as public and political attitudes to same-sex relationships and sexual activity are progressing, it is nevertheless true that homophobia remains a grave problem in society, especially on the political right. Traditional Tory voters, angry at Prime Minister David Cameron&#8217;s support for same-sex marriage, may turn to UKIP which has a homophobic subtext. 
Michael Amherst pushes the male rape discourse further to an area still taboo in society: female-male rape. Summing up the Stern Review’s report as being essentially concerned with male-male rape, “in line with the definition of rape as found in the law,” he goes on to point out: 
“This would suggest that the existing law, which always views the man as the agent in sex, makes it almost inconceivable for a man to report a sexual assault by a woman. 
Yet it does happen and denying it not only discriminates against the victims of female-male rape but also maintains a masculine discourse in which “real men” are agents and never victims. Furthermore, by always portraying the man as the agent and denying that men can also be anxious, passive or vulnerable, society prescribes a masculine behaviour that is distinctly aggressive.” 
I know of what he writes because I have been sexually assaulted by a woman. I have also been savagely attacked by a female partner in the past so I speak from painful experience. 
Sexual assault is therefore neither gender specific nor about sexual preferences. It is not, exclusively, a subject of the feminist preserve. 
Furthermore, the plague that is domestic violence does not uniquely concern women suffering at the hands of men: 50 per cent of men suffer abuse inflicted by their female partners. In his article, A Hidden Crime: Domestic Violence Against Men Is a Growing Problem (February, 2010), Bruce Watson writes: 
“Beyond its brutal physical and psychological costs, domestic violence against men exacts a cruel economic toll at the personal, societal and national levels. For the most part, the media, authorities and average citizens see domestic violence as a crime that is committed by men and victimizes women. Consequently, funding to combat the problem has overwhelmingly been spent on programs that support women&#8230;”. 
As with female-on-male rape, the low level of reporting of domestic violence by women against men is often attributed to the fear that men have of appearing to be weak and unmanly. Under peer pressure to be masochistic, men are even more reticent than their sisters to come forward and report violence done against their person by a woman. No man wants to be dubbed “a big girl&#8217;s blouse”. 
No government on earth has any funding, system or support strategy in place to address instances of men being raped or beaten up by women, whereas billions of dollars are dedicated to reporting, counselling and prosecuting in the case of male violence and sexual abuse against women. Men, it seems, can look after themselves and dare not say otherwise.
<pre>Image from: http://www.buzzfeed.com/spenceralthouse/male-survivors-of-sexual-assault-quoting-the-people-who-a</pre>

Men Get Raped Too

Being exposed to religious traditions abroad can be an alarming, yet insightful, experience 
&nbsp; 
It was meant to be a one-year project, a short EFL teaching contract in one of the world&#8217;s greatest cities, Istanbul. It was certainly not my first working experience abroad but it did feel more challenging, more exotic, more dangerous, even though the year was 1997 and there had been a &#8216;soft&#8217; military coup in Turkey. What was more to the point, Turkey was 99 per cent Muslim which, despite it being a secular republic since 1923, was clearly going to mean close-up exposure to a &#8216;fanatical&#8217;, &#8216;aggressive&#8217; religion. Islamophobia was just beginning to surface in the global media, although it was nothing compared to what it was to become as events unfolded post 9/11. 
Fourteen years later and I have finally returned to the UK after the longest, most exciting, demanding and rewarding period in my entire life. Among the many educational experiences were the Islamic holy days such as the fasting month of Ramadan and its Şeker Bayramı, Holiday of Sweets, that follows as recompense. Households give gifts of sweets and chocolates, and a bowl of sweets is also kept by the front door as children come knocking for treats. And of course there is Kurban Bayramı, the Feast of The Sacrifice, when Muslims commemorate the story of God&#8217;s challenge to Abraham to sacrifice his first-born son and how God stopped him and gave him a lamb to sacrifice instead. This is also known as Eid-ul-Adha on the Islamic calendar. This one would surely be the most culturally – and religiously – daunting Islamic tradition to endure. 
So it was that many years ago, I was walking up the hill from the main road that led to my school, when I heard the sounds of farm animals and remembered that it was, indeed, the first day of Kurban Bayramı. The street was unusually lively as trucks were busy unloading sheep and, for the wealthier families, cattle. There was a lot of activity and the whole neighbourhood seemed to be out en masse to participate in the operation. A cow was being goaded, prodded, pulled and pushed through the front door of my apartment block. Suffice to say, the frightened animal was sacrificed according to Islamic tradition and butchered in order to provide meat for numerous people. And the same thing was going on elsewhere, even in the street. The stench of flowing blood and eviscerated internal organs commingled with the odours of the preparations for cooking. It made me feel sick. 
Nationalists in Britain, who oppose immigration and in particular new arrivals from the Muslim world, constantly brandish the spectacle of Muslims slaughtering sheep and goats in the gutters of Britain&#8217;s cities. The apotheosis of their argument was expressed years ago by Enoch Powell in his famous &#8220;Rivers of Blood&#8221; speech (April 20, 1968). This prophecy has not, thank God, been fulfilled, and as far as religious sacrifice is concerned, it takes place these days in registered premises and under strict veterinary control. The same is generally true in Turkey today, at least in the cities, even if in rural areas such practices do persist.
<a href="http://www.the-platform.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Eid_003.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-9447" alt="Eid_003" src="http://www.the-platform.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Eid_003.jpg" width="350" height="229" /></a>
Regardless of our personal feelings and reactions, it is important to understand what Kurban Bayramı is about. Of the three world religions, Islam is the last to retain this ancient Abrahamic rite. Many would argue that the tradition of sacrifice in Islam reminds us of our need for repentance and forgiveness, as well as our duty to care for the poor and underprivileged in our societies. Many &#8220;westernised&#8221; and wealthy Muslims prefer to donate money or food rather than directly participate in sacrifices. 
Once, during the festival, I passed stalls of sacrificial animals on sale on the site of a suburban hypermarket. I immediately caught the pungent aroma of animal urine, excrement and straw. In large sheds set up along the entrance road to the shopping centre, cows and sheep were mooing and bleating as they stood in the stalls vaguely aware that something was going on. The smell of fear mingled with that of ammonia. Smart women heading for the shopping mall wrinkled their noses in disgust and stepped up the pace to get into the air-conditioned retail heaven. Meanwhile, fathers herded their city-raised children to the sheds to let them get what was probably their only glimpse of real live farm animals that year. 
As a foreigner and a non-Muslim, the major Islamic religious festivals were at first unusual to me, not having had much exposure to Muslims in the UK before. It can be an unnerving experience. This is not because the country itself is aggressive in the pursuit and practice of its religion &#8211; quite the contrary – but because many of us are ignorant and unaccustomed to living in such a society. Fortunately for westerners, the tradition of Sunni Islam spiced with Sufism, preferred in Turkey, allows us to obtain exposure and experience of a more tolerant form of Islam than may be encountered in more extreme Islamic states such as Iran. 
Indeed, I was quite astonished during the Festival to respond to a knock at my door only to be offered a piece of meat from a family’s sacrifice in my block. So much for “death to the infidel”!
<a href="http://www.the-platform.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Eid_6.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-9450" alt="Eid_6" src="http://www.the-platform.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Eid_6.jpg" width="377" height="245" /></a>
It is now with warmth that I reminisce about that event on the Islamic calendar and about my years spent among my Turkish Muslim brothers and sisters. That our Turkish fellows faithfully maintain these ancient traditions in a fast-changing and morally decadent world is actually quite refreshing. At times like this it is possible for us to see above the foray of fundamentalism so relentlessly marketed by the media, and observe how people of peace and goodwill can co-exist regardless of race or religion. 
The slaughter of innocent animals in cold blood (whether in ‘sacrifice’ or for sale as halal meat) seems barbaric and, for some, a violation of the animals’ rights. It is certainly not for the squeamish. 
Nevertheless, just as the iftar meal during Ramadan is such a joyful, shared experience following a whole day’s fasting from dawn til dusk, so too is the community and family feasting upon the butchered meat of the sacrificed animals. Foreign observers &#8211; and, especially, Christians among them &#8211; can find some spiritual education and enlightenment from this sacrificial feast and learn something from Muslims’ faithful dedication to their God. I, on the other hand, will keep my ritual slaying confined to rabbits and chickens!
<pre>Images from: http://newshopper.sulekha.com/romania-turkey-eid-al-adha_photo_2048925.htm // http://photos.thenews.com.pk/e_image_detail.asp?picId=29056&amp;catId=2&amp;date=11/2/2011&amp;dd=1&amp;albumId=0 // http://navedz.com/2010/11/27/picture-perfect-hajj-the-journey-of-a-lifetime/as-part-of-the-hajj-pilgrims-must-sacrifice-or-pay-someone-to-sacrifice-an-animal/</pre>

Turkey’s Festival of Sacrifice

The spiritual aspects of fasting are emphasised to the extent that the physical and cultural aspects can go unnoticed 
&nbsp; 
The month-long fasting period of Ramadan started at dawn on Wednesday 10 July and will end at dusk either 29 or 30 days after according to the lunar calendar. 
One of the “five pillars” of Islam, fasting is a cornerstone of Islamic religious practice. Muslims believe that fasting is more than simply abstaining from food and drink. It also includes abstaining from falsehood in speech and action and any ignorant or indecent acts. In principle it therefore encourages good behaviour and inculcates a sense of fraternity and solidarity; everyone who fasts experiences something of the feelings of their more needy brothers and sisters. 
In many Muslim countries, charitable organisations such as the Red Crescent organise the provision of food for the poor and needy and, in association with local councils, set up tents for the serving of iftar, the evening meal that breaks the fast. Sahur, the pre-dawn large breakfast, would have provided sustenance to make it through the long, day without food and drink. 
In contrast to the hustle and bustle of our working day we often grab a quick snack at our desks or at a restaurant alone or accompanied, the observance of iftar brings groups of people together around the fast-breaking meal table. In shops, offices or on building sites &#8211; anywhere and everywhere &#8211; people gather round to share either a substantial or simple repast, or congregate in restaurants. There is a feeling of companionship and conviviality that differentiates Ramadan from the everyday self-absorption that afflicts most of us in these individualistic times. 
Fasting is not confined to Islam. Judaism and Christianity also observe the practice. It is written that Jesus fasted for the same 40-day period as Moses before embarking on the Prophetic mission that was to lead to his death and, according to Christian belief, his resurrection. This period is commemorated during Lent, the 40 days before Easter, and some Christians fast but most just commit themselves to abstaining from something they especially like such as chocolate, meat, smoking or alcohol. 
Contrary to Muslim countries, fasting isn’t a particularly prominent feature on the annual calendar of Christian countries. Rampant secularisation may be partially responsible for this. It is certainly not a part of either the culture or practice in modern “Christian” societies. Visitors to, or foreigners from, Christian countries who settle into Muslim countries may find this period in the Muslim calendar a little anachronistic and may not be sure how to react or behave, but it does matter, as being sensitive to local customs and culture is very important. Stopping to take some time to reflect on what fasting means in a Muslim society, or among Muslims in our communities here in the UK, would contribute greatly to one’s cultural and spiritual education. 
Apart from the symbolism and supposedly spiritual and social benefits of fasting, it is also worth considering what other beneficial effects fasting might have. Many rules applied in religion actually have sound medical and social benefits. 
According to a paper by research student <a href="http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f02/web1/wcarroll.html%20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Will Carroll</a> :
<ul>
<li>“The benefits of fasting must be preceded by a look at the body’s progression when deprived of food. Due to the lack of incoming energy, the body must turn to its own resources, a function called autolysis. Autolysis is the breaking down of fat stores in the body in order to produce energy. The liver is in charge of converting the fats into a chemical called a ketone body … and then distributing these bodies throughout the body via the blood stream. … The less one eats, the more the body turns to these stored fats and creates these ketone bodies&#8230;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“&#8230;Detoxification is the foremost argument presented by advocates of fasting. … This process is precipitated by fasting because when food is no longer entering the body, the body turns to fat reserves for energy&#8230; These fat reserves were created when excess glucose and carbohydrates were not used for energy or growth, not excreted, and therefore converted into fat. When the fat reserves are used for energy during a fast, it releases the chemicals from the fatty acids into the system which are then eliminated &#8230;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“A second prescribed benefit of fasting is the healing process&#8230; During a fast, energy is diverted away from the digestive system due to its lack of use and towards the metabolism and immune system. The healing process during a fast is precipitated by the body’s search for energy sources&#8230;</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“&#8230;Finally, the most scientifically proven advantage to fasting is the feeling of rejuvenation and extended life expectancy. … A slower metabolic rate, more efficient protein production, an improved immune system and the increased production of hormones contributes to this long-term benefit of fasting. In addition to the Human Growth Hormone that is released more frequently during a fast, an anti-ageing hormone is also produced more efficiently. …</li>
</ul>
In a time where obesity is the up-and-coming modern medical condition, even in children, the potential benefits of fasting for short periods would appear to be worth thinking about. The combination of the moral, social and spiritual, as well as the physical advantages to be obtained from fasting go beyond mere religious instruction. More and more of us live to eat rather than eat to live, and increasingly suffer the physical and spiritual consequences of our greed. It may just be that fasting could be a fast track to getting better, physically and spiritually, Muslim or not.
<pre>Image from: http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/ramadan-begins</pre>

Ashley Perks