Is there ever an entirely shared belief system?
Oh, David Mitchell, I normally like and approve of your columns, but this one?
Our forebears’ unquestioning belief in a higher power gave them a confidence that it’s hard not to envy.
Which made me think of pretty much all societies, 'throughout history', where just because there was a belief in a higher power didn't mean that there wasn't massive conflict over: who was the real higher power and how best to worship that higher power. And even when there was a generally accepted overall belief system, there are differences within between schools of thought and practice (cf persecution of Christians or Muslims who are not of the predominant category within a particular nation). Heretics get persecuted at least as much as infidels.
And you may like to think I know in my heart that had I been brought up in such a setting - say, in Anglican Victorian England - I wouldn’t have quibbled with those answers and would’ve been comforted by them.
That would Anglican Victorian England which a) pretty much invented the concept of honest doubt and b) within the C of E, massive conflicts between High and Low Church, no? Not so cosy.
Paging Mr Blake and the Ever-Lasting Gospel. Written at the same time that a large number of actual clergymen had gone into that line of work because they were the third son and it was a living, and why would anyone trouble themselves over the 39 Articles? and it gave them plenty of time off for hunting. This entry was originally posted at https://oursin.dreamwidth.org/2672535.html. Please comment there using OpenID. View
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