Address at the Annual Church Service of the Auckland District Law Society Maclaurin Chapel, University of Auckland, 2 Feb 2005
In his book The Lexus & the Olive Tree, Thomas Friedman names two symbols of life in the 21st century. The Lexus (motor-car) indicates global aspirations for consumer icons known the world over. The olive tree symbolises our local roots in our own place, in our own culture, and among our people. It gives us identity as we engage in a new world which can destroy identity.
The inter-play of global and local is symptomatic of our age, and the cause of conflict if we do not get it right. We see it right here in Auckland, which in the 1950s was largely pakeha and based on western-style Christian. Today, with successive migrations of Maori, Pacific Islanders and Asians to Auckland, we are multi-cultural and multi-faith.
In 1950, in the absence of other cultures, it was easy to imagine that pakeha culture was the norm, and that naturally our race, our culture and our faith were pre-eminent. Today such attitudes lead to tensions which can explode, as we have seen in debates about the Treaty of Waitangi, the desecration of Jewish graves in Wellington, hate mail against Muslims after the events of 9/11, and the rise of fascist-type groups. On the world scene larger conflicts play out as cultures clash, backed by military and economic muscle.
In December last year I attended a government-sponsored Inter-faith Dialogue in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It was attended by 125 delegates from thirteen Asian and Pacific nations representing ten different faiths. Governments of the region promoted the event as part of an effort to address issues of peace and security in the region. They see religious leaders as representing large sections of any nation’s population, and want to assist them to be pro-active in building bridges in the community across divisions of creed and culture.
The conference expressed clearly its conviction that there was but one God (as St Paul said to the Athenians in Acts 17.24). And because there was but one God, so too there is but one global family on earth, as has been poignantly made clear to us by the many images of people in Asia affected by the recent tsunami. The conference agreed that no religion can properly be claimed as the basis for terrorist activity, but that all religions share in common convictions such as those expressed in Micah 6.8 : “What does God require of you but that you act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God”.
It is idle to pretend there are not significant differences between religions : the differences may cause conflict, but they are often used as a platform for far greater differences in culture, politics, economics. To achieve unity globally in the face of diversity, the conference suggested :
- A national statement on inclusiveness, such as exists in Indonesia and Singapore, which affirms every culture and creed, no matter how small, as an equal and valued part of society. This nurtures everybody’s olive tree, and helps to ensure that minorities do not feel excluded and turn to extremist strategies.
- Education in schools and communities on different cultures and religions. Instead of suppressing the religious dimension of Christmas, as some propose, we promote awareness of major festivals of all religions.
- We need to work on our attitudes to people who are different from us. As the late bishop John Robinson said : we can live with diversity while preserving our own identities if we have a faith which has a “firm centre but open edges”.
- Commitments and choices : all of us have choices as to whether we are agents of division or agents of building community. Leaders who start picking at other groups foment division, and the community reaps the whirlwind. By contrast those who steadily and patiently build bridges shape a future where everyone has a place, and communities unite in common endeavour.
In a new age the interplay between unity and diversity, the Lexus and the Olive Tree, is a pervading characteristic. The choice is ours, whether to build or divide. The words of Micah have great pertinence : “What does the Lord require of you but that you do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God”.
