In recent years we have got used to creation marking the fault line between believers & non-believers
In the last few weeks, reading Ruth Padel & Mary Lamb has reminded me how much store used to be set on being able to look forward to spending eternity with ones loved ones
The belief that one earned one’s place in eternity through one’s beliefs and through one’s actions in this life was both a powerful spur & a source of dread
And now?
Hardly anybody ever refers to this, at least not in public
Does everybody believe that death is The End – we live on only in the memory & record of our deeds?
Does this explain our obsession with health & ‘avoiding’ death – the Jane Eyre solution?
And is it the cause or the effect of the widely observed or assumed retreat from belief, in Europe at least
One effect is that it removes almost any understanding of martyrdom – the idea of giving up your life for (rather than just to) a cause which will earn you your reward in eternity
We may scoff at the reported belief of some suicide bombers about what awaits them
But …
