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What must we do and what must we stop doing to escape from bondage to our basest desires, from being held captive by powers quite beyond our control and from being lost in a cycle of anger and desolation?

As the Bible puts it, by ourselves we are left 'following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air ... All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath.'

It's good sometimes to see the mud in which we stand without God, even when those who choose our lectionary readings choose to start them where things begin to cheer up; but we must start with the extreme, for a very good reason named Khalid Masood - the man responsible for the London terror attack last week.

Masood started life as normal as anyone else, but ended up going to London to perform an unspeakable act of multiple murder, having at some point been radicalised, perhaps while in prison for his violent crimes. Beyond the shock we feel that something like this can happen, we need to seek a radical alternative to terror, if we are to find hope for society.

The think-tank Theos recently published a report called Doing Good, which begins with an analysis of the state of religion in Britain.

In spite of a steep decline in nominal belief, religion is much talked about today, perhaps because of its capacity to shake the status quo. 

Roland Riem | Read the full article from Christian Today

Image available from Christian Today