Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: October 2007

Shock tactics

Like most European Christians, I have little understanding of the life of a Buddhist monk. I know about the shaved heads, of course, and the coloured robes. I have a little understanding about their life of abstinence, their dependence on the charity of others. I have heard snatches about their good deeds in the community, such as running schools and feeding the hungry. I know even less about their beliefs regarding, for instance, reincarnation and the sanctity of all life.

Given all this ignorance, and the vast religious and cultural gap which separates us, I am left with a nagging question. Why should I find it more shocking that a monk is imprisoned or beaten or killed than any other member of society? The news that troops in Rangoon were shooting to kill on the streets of Rangoon was shocking enough.

However, to hear that monks were amongst their targets sent shockwaves of a different order through me. Why should this be? Perhaps it is because of their peaceful nature. The clash of the indiscriminate bullet and the peaceful man of contemplation seems particularly harsh. Then again, it could be because of their good deeds. The rewarding of charity with murder seems especially cruel. I believe it is something deeper, though. The taking of these religious lives seems like an act of spiritual vandalism - like the sacking of a temple or spraying graffiti on a church altar. The loss of respect for a life of holiness feels like the last bastion to fall before a government descends into the abyss of brutality. I say all this without in any way sharing the religious beliefs of the monks concerned. This is to do with the spiritual, rather than any specific expression of religious faith.

As Christians, though, we should not be surprised by this. Jesus warned us to expect that faith would be met with doubt, peace with violence, and spirituality with materialism. A view of the world which interprets it in the light of spiritual truth flies in the face of many a totalitarian regime - and there are plenty of Christian graves to prove it. Our high calling is to maintain that spiritual view of the world even in the teeth of opposition and persecution - as many Christians are doing around the world right now.

To return to the monks for a moment - it is ironic that I should treat their deaths as more shocking than anyone else's. After all, they hold a strong belief that every life, human or animal, is sacred. This means that their lives are no more or less precious than those of the protesters marching and falling and dying alongside them. However, I would always rather treat someone as too special rather than too ordinary - wouldn't you?